OUR DAILY BREAD                        Thurs., January 5, 1995
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READ:  Genesis 15:4-6; 22:1-19

           PROMISES AND COMMANDS

   "Take now your son...and offer him
       there as a burnt offering."

            - Genesis 22:2

Author and pastor Steve Lawson says he often hears
a disturbing statement from people involved in a
lifestyle that directly contradicts a command in
Scripture.  In order to justify their actions, they
say, "Hey!  God wants me to be happy, and this will
make me happy."  Apparently these people want to
believe God's promises to bless them, but they
ignore His commands to be holy.

Consider Abraham's response to a difficult situation.
He had been promised that he would father a nation of
innumerable people.  What joy this must have held out
for him!  Then God commanded that Abraham sacrifice
his only son.  In the patriarch's mind, the command
was in obvious conflict with the promise (Gen. 15:5;
22:2).

How could God's promise be fulfilled if Abraham
obeyed the command?  If he would have reacted like the
people Steve Lawson was talking about, he would have
told God to forget it.  Yet he didn't.  He obeyed God's
commands.  His duty is to keep his promises.  In God's
way of doing things, those two things never conflict.

    -- J. David Branon

 Obeying God at first seems hard
      Until we come to see
 That all He asks is for our good
   And makes life full and free.

   -- Dennis J. De Haan

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           THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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      The way of obedience is the
           way of blessing.

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THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Genesis 12-15

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1995, used by permission of
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file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db950105.txt

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