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by Bible League International,
Narrated by Artificial Intelligence – Andrew,
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Scripture,
“Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me.” – Genesis 22:18 ERV
Devotion,
From a young age, so many of us plan out our lives. We have expectations of where we will go in life: job, house, college…the list goes on. While it is good to have goals, far too often our own plans captivate our lives instead of God’s plan.
The Bible is full of examples where God asked people to give up their dreams and obey Him. One is about Abraham and Isaac and includes our verse for today, Genesis 22. Abraham and Sarah yearned for a child for many years. When Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100, God blessed them with a son, Isaac. Some years later, God spoke to Abraham and told him to physically sacrifice his dream—his only son.
When God asked Abraham, “Which do you love: Me or your dream?” Abraham answered, “You.” And although I’m sure it was extraordinarily difficult Abraham obeyed the Lord. As Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord intervened. Sometimes we must let our dreams go just as Abraham did.
I heard Phil Vischer, creator of the popular Christian programming video series Veggie Tales, speak about a decade ago. And he made a statement about obeying God that still sticks with me.
After seeing the failure of his own dream—the collapse and bankruptcy of Big Idea Productions, Inc.—he knew he had to switch focus on obeying God’s plan. When Vischer hoped to publish some new children’s books, his Christian agent suggested he spend the day with the staff to talk through the plan.
Vischer said, “The first question they asked was, ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ They were asking me for my dream. After a long pause, I gave the only answer I could think of: ‘In the center of God’s will.’ I insisted the guy at the whiteboard write it at the top so that it would frame the rest of our discussion.”
We could make up our own plans, but honestly none of our dreams will ever be as faultless as being in the center of God’s. Today, consider erasing that five-year plan of yours. Then, take a moment to write ‘in the center of God’s will’ at the top of your list. God will take care of the rest.
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