Your Family as a Gift, Not a Possession

Verse for the week: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127.1

Prayer for the week:  Blessed Lord, you speak to us through the Holy Scriptures. Keep your promise and pour out your Holy Spirit that as we hear, read, respect, learn and suffer your Word, His enduring benefits of faith and comfort may grasp and hold us in true life now and in eternity with you; through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Genesis 22.1-14  (Abraham and Sarah’s life under God’s sovereign call (Gen 12.1-3) is a mixture of faith and sin. They trust the Lord, yet also repeatedly try to justify themselves and seek their own will. In God’s time, God keeps his promise and they conceive and bear a son, Isaac. In this episode, the tests Abraham and provides for him.)

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² 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 shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² 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.” ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ 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.”

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, even the precious gift of our families you intend to preserve as gift and will not allow us to make them into a god. Thank you for rescuing me and your whole church from this and all sin by your own Son, the Lamb “caught” on the cross. When I fear, love and trust you above all else, then my family and I are free to be built into the household of your making, not our own. Thank you; in Jesus’ name, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved, classic hymn that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MimsQtU-ccQ&ab_channel=AndrewRemillard

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*This is now our congregation’s 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.