Daily Devotion for April 17, 2017
Abraham and Isaac, by Laurent de La Hire, French (baroque), ca. 1650.Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red,
When the summer's ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning -
I'll be homeward bound in time.
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow.
If you find it's me you're missing
If you're hoping I'll return,
To your thoughts I'll soon be listening,
And in the road I'll stop and turn.
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I'll be retracing
When I'm homeward bound again.
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow.
On a quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
I'll be homeward bound again.
From an Irish folk tune
Collected and edited by Martha Keen
“A Little Prayer”
Let us be thankful, Lord, for little things
The song of birds, the rapture of the rose;
Cloud-dappled skies, the laugh of limpid springs,
Drowned sunbeams and the perfume April blows;
Bronze wheat a-shimmer, purple shade of trees -
Let us be thankful, Lord of Life, for these!
Let us be grateful, God, for health serene,
The hope to do a kindly deed each day;
The faith of fellowship, a conscience clean,
The will to worship and the gift to pray;
For all of worth in us, of You a part,
Let us be grateful, God, with humble heart.
For Married Persons
Father God, you have consecrated the state of matrimony between men and women to represent the spiritual marriage and unity between Christ and his church. Look with mercy, I pray you, upon those who are married, that they may love, honor, and cherish each other, and so live together in faithfulness and patience, in wisdom and true godliness, that their home may be a haven of blessing and of peace for them. Let your Holy Spirit dwell with them, and guide them from pride and selfishness, and into the spirit of service for one another, and any children they might care for, as Christ humbled himself to serve us. This I ask in Jesus' name,
Meditation
[The health problems I do not have.]
Benediction
The blessing of the Lord rest and remain upon all his people, in every land, of every tongue; the Lord meet in mercy all that seek him; the Lord comfort all who suffer and mourn; the Lord hasten his coming, and give us, his people, the blessing of peace.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Pride
He that rides to be crowned, will not think much of a rainy day.
~ John Trapp
Genesis 22:9-14 (ESV)
The Story of Abraham [37] - Isaac
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Notes on the Scripture
oday's Scripture is one of the Bible's most heart-rending depictions of faith. Having read through the entire history of Abraham, we appreciate exactly how important Isaac is to him. First, of course, Isaac is his son, and Abraham has the extraordinary love of a parent for a child. How many people, of any time in history, would be willing to kill a beloved child, even if God appeared to them in person and demanded it?
And added to that, Isaac is Abraham's heir. He has already sent his eldest son into the wilderness, never to see him again. And Isaac is a miracle child, given to Abraham when he and Sarah were no longer fertile. Issac is the answer to a prayer, given by God.
The importance of this story is not that we are going to be asked to kill our children. And the depiction of the monumental faith of Abraham is not the only meaning. We must also realize that God has done what he demanded of Abraham. God asked Abraham to do something that only God Himself would actually do. He recanted his demand to Abraham, and allowed Issac to live; but His own son, He would give up to terrible suffering and death by crucifixion.
The Bible here tells us just how deep God's love for us runs. It is absolute. It is so pure, it is beyond our comprehension. The closest we can come to understanding God's love, is by analogy. And so, the story of Abraham and Isaac approximates the story of God the Father and Christ the Son, but in terms we can fully understand: the sacrifice of a beloved son by a “normal” human being. For we can surely understand how impossibly painful these events were to Abraham.
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