Friday, May 8, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Genesis 22-24
Key Verse
Genesis 24:12 — “And he said O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.”
Devotional Thought
What does it look like to trust God when He asks for the thing you love most? That question hangs over Genesis 22 like the knife in Abraham’s hand. God tells Abraham to take Isaac—his only son, the child of promise, the one through whom every promise was supposed to flow—and offer him on Mount Moriah. Abraham rises early, saddles his donkey, splits the wood, and walks three days with the boy beside him. When Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham answers with the words that echo down through every hard providence: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb.” And He did—a ram caught in a thicket, and centuries later, the Lamb Himself on a hill called Calvary.
Then the narrative turns tender and ordinary. Sarah dies at a hundred and twenty-seven, and Abraham weeps for her. He buys the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels of silver—his first foothold in the land of promise, and it is a grave. He buries the wife of his youth and keeps walking. In chapter 24, old and “well stricken in age,” he sends his servant back to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac. The servant prays by a well at evening, and before he finishes speaking, Rebekah appears, offers water, and waters ten thirsty camels. The Lord had gone before him.
This is the shape of a faithful life, and it is May—the season of planting and waiting, of green things growing toward a harvest we cannot yet see. Most of us are not on Moriah. We are in the middle of a long obedience: a hard decision, a grief we carry quietly, a prayer for someone we love. Abraham’s story says that God is not absent from the ordinary days between the altar and the well. The same God who provided the ram also provided the wife, the field, the grave, and the promise.
Notice how often Abraham and his servant simply keep moving: rising early, going yonder to worship, bowing low, speaking plainly, refusing to eat until the errand is told. Faith is rarely dramatic. It is mostly walking in the direction God has already pointed, trusting that He who began the journey will finish it. The Lord who said “In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen” is still being seen—in provision, in guidance, in mercy and truth that never leave us destitute.
Reflection
- What “Isaac” has God asked you to place in His hands—and what would it look like to rise early and obey rather than argue?
- Where in your life do you need to pray like Abraham’s servant, asking God to go before you and show kindness, rather than arranging everything yourself?
Prayer
Lord God of heaven and earth, You are Jehovahjireh, the God who provides. We confess that we cling to the things we love most, afraid that surrender means loss. Teach us the faith of Abraham, who rose early and went to the mountain trusting You to provide the lamb. When the way is dark and the altar is before us, give us hearts that say, “Here I am.” Go before us in the ordinary decisions of this season, as You went before Abraham’s servant to the well. Lead us in mercy and truth, and let us not be destitute of Your kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name all nations are blessed. Amen.