~ A Ram in the Thicket ~

[Lani]

Read: Genesis 22:1-14

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.


The Lord says, "I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise." Isaiah 43:20-21 (NRSV)



For the past year or more, economic conditions worldwide have been difficult. Most of us have family, friends, and co-workers who have suffered pay cuts or event he loss of jobs, and perhaps we are living under the threat of further layoffs ourselves. It seems that nobody is exempt fro this crisis. Some of us get up every day questioning, "Is this they day?" We rehearse reasons why our job is more important than our fellow workers' when in fact we know that each of our jobs is vital and each of us is equally important.

As I have become more and more dispirited, I remember the biblical account of Abraham preparing to take his son Isaac up on the mountain and sacrifice him. As a result of Abraham's trust and commitment, God provided a way out for him by sending a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac.

Companies and organizations are doing all they can to survive. I firmly believe that no matter how difficult life seems, even in the throes of such a bad economy, we can trust God. We can stay committed to doing that, knowing that we are important to God and believe that God will provide "a ram in the thicket" for us.



Prayer:Faithful God, no matter how difficult the circumstances may get, help us to focus on who we are and to whom we belong, trusting that you alone will supply all we need, Amen.

Prayer Focus of Day: Those who have lost jobs.

Thought for the Day: God, not a job or our bank account, is the source of our security.

Story shared by: S. Brown (TN)
Source: Upper Room Daily Devotional 6/24/11