The Word of God for today
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
“A ram in the bush”
Genesis 22:13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Genesis 22:12-14 (in Context) Genesis 22 (Whole Chapter)
Yesterday was another example of the goodness of God in my life and the life of this family. We’ve been searching over the past few days for a replacement vehicle because Ericka’s car was declared totaled by the insurance company. Even with Ericka’s car we were already short one vehicle but with that one being no longer available to us, things were even more hectic. Elden needed to be at work, Theresa and Ericka needed to get to work and I needed to get to work; all at 3 different times and with only one vehicle. So yesterday morning to bring some relief to the situation, I had Theresa rent a car. Now usually Elden would drive the girls to work and then get him self to work later in the afternoon; he didn’t need to start until 4:15pm and the girls at 9 a.m. One of the nice things about the girls’ job is that once they are at work, they don’t need to go anywhere; so having Elden get up and drop them off is ok. Well, because they rented a car and Elden doesn’t have a credit card, they couldn’t put him on as a driver. The only solution is that I had to get Elden to work and because I had to be there early yesterday, I couldn’t leave my truck and drive the rental; they didn’t open early enough for that to take place. Anyway, I found a car that fell within our price range, a Honda that I had arranged for Ericka and I to go and see after work. We were prepared to buy it that evening. In the mean time, on my way to work, I decided to return a call to a gentleman from my church that left me a message last week. It’s been crazy and I hadn’t returned his call to answer a question he had. So on my way to work I called and he still had the question, so I was glad I was able to answer him. During our call, I told him that I had to rent a car. He said that I could use his, he had another one and he would be glad to save me the rental money and let me use his car. Great, I could now change my rental from many days to one day. I was going to purchase a car this evening and the great strain on this family would soon be over. Its 5:30 pm and the sales agent who I made the arrangement with called me and told me that when he went to get the car cleaned for my later arrival, he noticed that it had plates on it and some young lady sitting in it. They sold the vehicle right from underneath me. How discouraging was this bit of news. Then I thought, God has another way and I will not fret.
I didn’t know it but God knew what was going to happen with the Honda and he also knew that I didn’t want to spend our purchase money on rentals while we searched. It wasn’t until last night when I went to pick up the car from my church friend that I realized God had a counter plan and it encouraged me. You see the enemy will try to set you up for failure and disappointment to get you discouraged. Like Abraham, who knew that he needed to sacrifice his son for God; he needed to do something that was very hard. Abraham needed to bare a level of stress he had never known with hope that God would raise his son up after he proved himself to be faithful. If you know the story of Abraham and Isaac, this was a proving ground. How do we respond, how do we act in the midst of our great challenges? Do we cry and complain that life is not fair? I believe because Abraham didn’t, God had a ram in the bush. I believe because we did not cry, “woe is me”, we kept hope in God for a solution, God had a car, a free car, a ram in the bush for us as we continue our journey. We need to be like Abraham so when God calls, lift up your eyes and see the ram in the bush. In the midst of your trial, the midst of your challenge, listen for the voice of God because your ram will be caught in the thicket near by.
I love you, Dad
PRAYER Father thank You for Your Word today. Thank You for providing a ram in the bush in our lives. We are so grateful. Forgive us if we because of the trial stopped listening and have not heard your voice as to where the ram is. Help us we pray to do better. We thank You so very much. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen