An Abraham Moment

"We must WALK IN THE SPIRIT, which means HEARING HIM SPEAK TO YOU."

THERE COMES a point when you have walked past the line in the sand drawn by time, religious speak … and please understand my meaning there … the line drawn by your experiences, and what people say must happen. Abraham didn’t care any longer what people would say. He’d heard from Jehovah and so he was made righteous.

I’ve been trying to better define righteousness, as it’s a word used throughout the Word of God. People have taught it as being only in the New Covenant or only attainable through Jesus’ death and Resurrection, but Romans plainly tells us Abraham was made righteous before the Old Covenant was ever put in place. It says the same thing in Paul’s letters about Noah. He preached righteousness (Romans 4:10;2 Peter 2:5).

God is holy. This is essential knowledge to our understanding of righteousness. He is the perfection of justice. That is one meaning. But He is perfection in all other areas of thought and behavior. He is the STANDARD, we should say. For there to be righteousness, there must be perfection to achieve it. For there to be justice, there must be a holy standard of thought and behavior. Jesus exemplifies it. When He died, He fulfilled the principles of the Law, but the Law, Romans says, could not make us righteous (Romans 3:20). Abraham became righteous when he trusted God despite what science said, though that was not understood in his day, and in spite of what people said. It didn’t matter how stupid they thought it was (and this is not meant as criticism of anyone nor to justify wrong behavior, that Is not where I’m going with this), but whatever people thought of him, “That bizarre old man,” he believed God would do everything He had promised. And Isaac was born as a result.

“This unwavering trust in God, in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary, was recognized as righteousness because this trust replaced distrust and opened Abraham’s mind to receive the endowment of a new heart, right motives, and Christlike principles established by God’s re-creative power.” (Romans 4:22, Remedy)

And Isaac did not die on the altar atop what is the holy mount at Jerusalem. See this picture, the ram caught in the thicket, unable to escape, exemplifies who Jesus would be. Hebrews 11:19 says Abraham believed that even if he had to actually slay his son, God would raise him back to life because Jehovah had said Isaac was the ancestor of nations of people. How much trust in God do we lack in comparison? Abraham was physically past any ability to create a child. Sarah was far beyond menopause. They believed God anyway. We, in the church, to apply this to a modern age, would criticize and gossip about them. We must see our behavior in the light of past events and stop shielding us from it because: we are saved, we are in the New Covenant, there are medical procedures nowadays. The advancement in medicine is a great thing, but it has had its detriments as well. We must WALK IN THE SPIRIT, which means HEARING HIM SPEAK TO YOU in order to know for sure what medical healing will work for us.

The Holy Spirit will tell us God’s perfect will, and God’s perfect will is based on us – who we are and how we live and our individual physical bodies and the way we think. God knows us intimately down to our cells and what we’re about to say. He knows our motives and intents. We live like He doesn’t. I have found such great relief and trust in Him, knowing He does. I never have to worry about what I’m thinking, nor do I need to explain myself and hope He understands. He always does.

My trust in Him is fixed and unshifting. Though I can’t see HOW it will happen, neither could Noah. He built a boat in the desert, having never known rain. Though I can’t see WHERE my footsteps will reach God’s promise, Abraham went to the Promised Land not knowing where he headed (Hebrews 11:7-8). God fulfills His promises in ways that can’t be explained any other way than that He did it, and where this may upset some, it brings me comfort and confidence because I KNOW HIM. It is when we know Him that we cross that line of impossible thinking, and nothing said elsewhere can change our vision. And waiting becomes worship.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things NOT SEEN AS YET, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, NOT KNOWING WHITHER HE WENT.” (Hebrews 11:7-8)

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com