the LORD will provide

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

- Genesis 22:9-14 (NIV)

the true test of faith comes when you lay your all on the altar of sacrifice, just as Abraham did when he laid his son, his only son on the altar of Moriah, on top of the wood.

[in doing so, Abraham typologises our Heavenly Father, who laid His Son, His only Son on the altar of Calvary, on top of the cross.

"When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" - Hebrews 9:11-14 (NIV)]

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he WILL give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4 (NIV)

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things WILL be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

not could, not would, but WILL!

links: crucified with Christ (6 mar 09), at any cost (24 sep 09)