We are better at believing God for what we do not have than we are at trusting Him with what we already have. I know that seems like a confusing statement, but I think you will find that it is often true in our lives. If we do not have a child, we will pray to get pregnant, and tell everyone that we know God is going to answer. If we have no job, we will rejoice in the fact that God is working it out. If we are not in a relationship, we are quick to thank God that His timing is perfect.
But then… that same child starts making decisions or saying that God is calling them to move to some place that was out of our plan, and we panic. Things begin to move on that job, and we forget that God was the one that opened the door in the first place. That relationship hits some trouble, and we cannot believe that God is faithful to help us walk it out in a way that glorifies Him.
Stop. Stop forgetting that every single blessing you have was a gift from Him. Don’t just believe in His ability to provide what you do not have, trust Him to guide you in all that you do.
-Pastor Conley
Genesis 21:1–22:19 (MEV)
1 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 that God had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. All who hear will laugh with me.”
7 Also she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 So the child grew and was weaned. Then Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 This matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset concerning the boy and your slave wife. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to what she says, for in Isaac your descendants will be called.
13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the slave woman, because he is your offspring.”
14 So Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and sent her away with the child. So she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she placed the child under one of the shrubs.
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 child.” She sat across from him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the boy’s voice. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18 Arise, pick up the boy and hold him in your hands, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy; and he grew and lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21 He lived in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22 Now it came to pass at that time that Abimelek and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
23 Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal deceitfully with me, or with my children, or with my descendants. Instead, according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you will show to me and to the land where you have lived.”
24 Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had violently seized.
26 And Abimelek said, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”
27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelek, and the two of them made a covenant.
28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 And Abimelek said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set by themselves?”
30 And he said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that they may be a witness that I have dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelek rose with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34 Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take 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 will tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place that God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship and then return to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place that God had told him. So Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood.
10 Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 Then He said, “Do not lay your hands on the boy or do anything to him, because now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your only son from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up as a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven a second time,
16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will indeed bless you and I will indeed multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies.
18 Through your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. Then Abraham lived at Beersheba.