The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatian's, in the scripture, said of Abraham:
"He trusted in God and was faithful to Him, and that was credited to his account as righteousness."
I use to ponder on the fact that God (YHWH, Elohim, Adonai, I Am that I Am, and other discriptive names and characters of Him alone) had a "chosen" people. A chosen of anything of Him seemed a bit prejudice to my young mind. Those thoughts left me with feelings of discriminatory injustice; and so I set out on a journey to find out why He chose the Israelites as a qodesh (set-apart) people. The first step I took on this journey was to 'ask' Him.
Why not go to people clothed in flesh like myself, first?
No, I would ask Him. I knew His answer would be the unadulterated truth.
Expecting this to be a long journey, I loaded my spiritual backpack with my Bible, hiking shoes, protective covering and hiking staff. Lastly, I threw in some pest repellant, knowing full well that as I treked ancient paths, the scripture as my compass, I was sure to meet with some irritating distractions along the way.
Off I went, my first destination being the book of Genesis in the First Covenant (Old Testament) of the scripture.
Settling on a quiet ridge beneath a brilliant star-laden sky, I unloaded packing gear, set up camp, gathered kindling for a cozy campfire, snuggled into a warm sleeping bag, protective ground pad beneath me, and began to absorb each set-apart word from the God whose intentions are
to bless, and not to curse; to clarify, and not confuse.
Beginning with chapter one, I began to pour intently into the scriptures, slowly and deliberately scanning each word for some hidden artifact of truth. Oh my, this was going to take me quite a while, I assumed, but I knew I must persevere on this path that I had chosen to trek alone.
Voila!! There it was in Genesis 22! What?? So soon? I had discovered the answer to my question without having endured longwinded debating and personal interjections.
Hear the word of the Lord:
Genesis 22:1-18 (CJB)
After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, "Avraham!" and he answered, "Here I am."
2 He said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz'chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you."
3 Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz'chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance.
5 Avraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you."
6 Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz'chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.
7 Yitz'chak spoke to Avraham his father: "My father?" He answered, "Here I am, my son." He said, "I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 Avraham replied, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son"; and they both went on together.
9 They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz'chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood.
10 Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 But the angel of ADONAI called to him out of heaven: "Avraham? Avraham!"He answered, "Here I am."
12 He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy! Don't do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
13 Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14 Avraham called the place ADONAI Yir'eh [ADONAI will see (to it), ADONAI provides] -as it is said to this day,
"On the mountain ADONAI is seen."
15 The angel of ADONAI called to Avraham a second time out of heaven.
16 He said, "I have sworn by myself - says ADONAI- that because you have done this, because you haven't withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will most certainly bless you; and I will most certainly increase your descendants to as many as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the cities of their enemies,
18 and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed - because you obeyed my order."
That settled it. I had found the treasure I set out in search of. This precious pearl came to me quickly. Other precious jems would take a more lengthy time to discover (I am still discovering). But I had found it! And in discovering this treasure I had discovered something else that would quicken my spirit and keep it with wick as I would trek many more footpaths along mountains of treasures yet to discover.
I had seen the faithfulness of this same God who had covenanted with Abraham, covenant with a simple flesh-clad soul, no more than a speck of dust, reaching little dust arms towards heaven in search of Truth.
And my heart was indeed glad!
~
Greatest Test of Faith photo compliments of Hope's Hollow
