By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing…I will bless you… —Genesis 22:16-17


Abraham, at this point, has reached where he is in touch with the very nature of God. He now understands the reality of God.

My goal is God Himself…
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

“At any cost…by any road” means submitting to God’s way of bringing us to the goal.

There is no possibility of questioning God when He speaks, if He speaks to His own nature in me. Prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says, “Come,” I simply come; when He says, “Let go,” I let go; when He says, “Trust God in this matter,” I trust. This work of obedience is the evidence that the nature of God is in me.

God’s revelation of Himself to me is influenced by my character, not by God’s character.

’Tis because I am ordinary,
Thy ways so often look ordinary to me.

It is through the discipline of obedience that I get to the place where Abraham was and I see who God is. God will never be real to me until I come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ. Then I will know and can boldly proclaim, “In all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee.”

The promises of God are of no value to us until, through obedience, we come to understand the nature of God. We may read some things in the Bible every day for a year and they may mean nothing to us. Then, because we have been obedient to God in some small detail, we suddenly see what God means and His nature is instantly opened up to us. “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen…” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Our “Yes” must be born of obedience; when by obedience we ratify a promise of God by saying, “Amen,” or, “So be it.” That promise becomes ours.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
You are bringing us closer to you, all the time. Getting closer to you is not like what we expected. Mainly it is simpler than expected. So simple that we can’t believe it could be that simple…. Just believe. Believe in your goodness and love. And surrender our preconceptions and demands, and then do our best to hear the “still small voice” and the “nudges” of your Holy Spirit. And then just live naturally out of that. With this approach we can forget about the things that were previously important to us. They could still be good ideas but could also hinder us from staying in step with you. The other part that is counter intuitive is that it has little to do with “understanding” You in an intellectual or academic way. Actually it seems that this type of study (academic etc) may even be detrimental to the central understanding that is essential…. That you are good and you are for us and that we can trust you. Detailed academic understanding can hinder that single understanding…as it did with the Pharisees. So help us get Simple. And at the same time, not disdain higher learning and theology…. But keep it in it’s proper place. And can you share what that is, by the way….

I value academic and theological thought. I like humans to study me and all are called to do so at some level. The only problem is in keeping first things first. As you are learning, Surrender and Curiosity, followed by obedience is the “first thing” and the context in which all other things need to be framed. If you do that first and that is your context… then you can dive as deeply into philosophy and theology as you want without stumbling as the Pharisees did. Only keep those first things first. Live out of that connection and all will be well.

• Previous Entry: Still Human!
• Next Entry: Winning into Freedom