Genesis 20-22

Genesis 20:6
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.

We must guard ourselves from thinking that we have any power in and of ourselves to overcome sin, to keep from sinning. It is God’s watchful eye that protects us from sin. Our part is to keep our eyes open to His protection.

Genesis 20:12
12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

Some times we can misrepresent the Lord by using truth in a misleading way. When I do this, I show my lack of trust in God.

Genesis 21:1-2
1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Oh how I need to constantly be reminded that God does what He says He is going to do. I need to remind myself every day, over and over again!

Genesis 21:16
16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

I have always been struck by the tenderness of this scene between a mother and her child. When we are broken hearted, there is nothing better to do then to lift our voice and hearts to the Lord!

Genesis 22:2
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

This is perhaps the most beautiful picture, foreshadow of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ in the entire bible. I inver grow tired of reading it. It inspires my faith greatly in how the Lord preserved this account some 1,500 years before the actual death of our Lord. Only God could have done that.

Genesis 22:12
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

God never intended that Abraham would sacrifice Isaac. He simply wanted to know that He had his absolute obedience. We must be willing to do whatever the Lord asks us to do, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

Genesis 22:14
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The- Lord- Will- Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

The ‘Mount of the Lord’ which God provided, was the very same mount on upon which Jesus was crucified…1,500 years later. Wow!