Day 5

warning: long entry.

Nov 5: Gen 21-23
Chapter 22 is fascinating if you really read into it. This chapter is when God tests Abraham and instructs him to sacrifice Isaac; "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him..." That's some heavy stuff...Two things jump out to me right away. God knows Abraham loves Isaac and even says so, yet he still asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Nothing is off limit to what God can order us to do. His will conquers ours. Everyone knows in the end that God was just testing Abraham, but I still feel that he wants us to know that we should follow him regardless of what we want. This has to be one of the hardest things for us to do. The other thing I realized is that Abraham must really fear God, and in turn has incredible faith and will listen to whatever God directs of him. Just like the story of Noah and the ark, there's no dialogue between God and Abraham after God tells him to sacrifice his son. If there was, I think God would want us to see that too, but there's nothing. No questioning, no begging to reconsider, no hesitation. No matter what other flaws you have, it is so apparent that God loves using and working in people with God-fearing faith.

Not so random sidenote of the day:
This week, I've been contemplating and praying about a 1 week missions trip to Costa Rica with GCC in January. Shin, Dave and I heard about it this Sunday and really wanted to consider going, regardless of how short notice it was for us (we needed to decide by this Friday). Ever since hearing about missions trips to Mexico at Princeton Alliance, I've been wanting to go as well but this felt off to me at first and felt so rushed that I wasn't sure if God really wanted me to go just yet. Dlaevee told me to stop being so practical which helped me come around a little, because God can ask us to do things when they might not seem so practical or logical which is usually how I roll.
For the past several months at work, I've been listening to whatever station on Pandora that strikes my mood. Some people have been abusing internet privileges though (porn/gambling even...) so they started to monitor a lot closer how much people were using the internet even investing in additional programs to do so. Pandora is pretty harmless to say the least but I decided to stay off everything for awhile until things cooled down. I started to listen to my old school ipod mini that Carol bought me in college that was neglected in my drawer at work. I put it on shuffle and one of the first few songs that came up which I haven't heard in ages was Rose Colored Stain Glassed Windows by Jars of Clay. God slapped me in the face with this and I knew I was going to go to Costa Rica. Call it what you want, coincidence or whatever, but I know this is God speaking to me. Here are the lyrics...

Another sleepy Sunday, safe within the walls.
Outside a dying world in desparation calls.
But no one hears the cries, or knows what they're about.
The doors are locked within, or is it from without

Chorus:
Looking through rose colored stain glassed windows
Never allowing the world to come in
Seeing no evil and feeling no pain
And making the light as it comes from within, so dim.

Out on your doorstep lay the masses in decay.
Ignore them long enough, maybe they'll go away.
When you have so much you think, you have so much to lose.
You think you have no lack when you're really destitute.


The imagery in both verses which are only 4 lines, is so powerful to me. We live so comfortably and are blessed so much by God and we take it for granted. This world we live in isn't everything, we become so numb to the outside world. I was speaking to James Kim about this last night; we need to have hearts of agony just like God does to move ourselves to actually do things for the kingdom. The last line in the chorus hits me the hardest. The God given light in our lives, the light we should have from being saved, is dying and becoming dim b/c we don't spread it. Lord, help me to shine the light you have given me, whether it's to my friends, family, coworkers or even people in Costa Rica...