Head Into the Wind

Introduction

There are times we read the Scriptures and there is a lightbulb or a-ha moment that occurs. It generally means we have seen something in a new light, understood it, agreed with it, and are anxious to apply it. Those are wonderful moments that can be life changing.

But there are other times we read the Scriptures and we have more of an oh-no moment. It is almost the same as an a-ha moment: we see something in a new light, understand it, and can see how we should apply it. The difference being we don’t necessarily agree with it and are not anxious to apply it.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have all had both of these moments.

What do you do when you have an oh-no moment and you are given an instruction that you don’t like and maybe don’t agree with?

Transition

The good news is that you are not the first person to ever have this problem. No less a person than Abraham faced the same situation.

Illumination

What Is Hope?

A favorable confident expectation

All three parts of that simple definition are important:

favorable

confident

expectation

What Was Abraham’s Hope?

Though in his life, he had more than one hope, as we do and will, there was one that stood above the rest.

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In order to become a great nation, Abraham needed one thing he did not have: children (at least one)

Decades passed between the time of the promise but nothing seemed to happen. Abraham tried to take matters into his own hand, and that didn’t go so well. And then....

Genesis 18:10 NKJV

10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)

It seemed like Abraham and Sarah were now too old, but God promised it was still going to happen.

Genesis 21:1–3 NKJV

1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.

Abraham’s favorable confident expectation had been realized and hope had a name: Isaac

That should be the end of the story, but it’s not.

Abraham’s Hope Challenged

Genesis 22:1–2 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now 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.”

What would you do?

This was the son of promise

This was not something God requires (normally)

There are a lot of reasons not to do this

What did Abraham do?

Genesis 22:3 NKJV

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

He didn’t just go, he got up early and fully committed to going. If you don’t know the rest of the story, you should read it. Even if you do know the rest of the story, you should read it.

He headed into the wind

Conclusion

There is a principle in anchoring that says you should head into the wind when setting your anchor. The wind is going to push against you, but if you head into it, that wind will help secure your anchor, helping you stay where you need to stay, enabling you to go where you need to go.

Those “oh-no” moments are the wind we need to head into to ensure our anchor, the hope of our very beings, is set well and set where we need it to be. It t may not be the obvious response and will not be the easy response, but it is the right response.