Life is full of decisions.  We make several decisions every day.  Some decisions are minor, not affecting our lives very much at all.  Other decisions are life-changing.  This has always been the case.  In the Bible, we read of decisions made by well-known individuals, some of which we should emulate, others we should avoid.  This week let us consider some of the decisions made by individuals in the Bible.

Abraham had many important decisions to make during the course of his life, but three major ones come to mind immediately.  The first came at the time when God gave him a threefold promise.

In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, give him the land of Canaan, and that in his seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed.  This last part was a messianic prophecy, promising that the Messiah, who would save the world from sin, would come through his lineage.  Before these promises could even begin to come to fruition, Abraham had to decide to obey God.

Genesis 12:1 (ESV)
¹  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

Have you ever had to make a decision about moving?  Moving is almost always hard.  It often involves leaving a situation with which you are comfortable, or at least familiar, and going into an unknown situation.  Will things work in your new job?  Will you like the neighborhood, or, for that matter, the new city where you are moving?  When you move, there are usually more unknown factors than there are known.  That makes it hard.

Abraham must have had these kinds of thoughts.  He did not even know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8).  But, due to his great faith in God, he decided to obey.  As is often the case, this decision to obey God changed the course of his life.

Another time that Abraham had to make a decision came when he was ninety-nine years old. God renewed His promise to him by making a covenant that involved the sign of circumcision.  Abraham was to have all the males of his house circumcised (at the age of eight days old), throughout his generations (Genesis 17:12).  Abraham once again made the decision to obey God, not only doing exactly what God told him to do, but doing so without hesitation.  The Bible says, “That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised” (Genesis 17:26).  From the example of Abraham, we learn that when one decides to obey God, he will do so promptly and completely.

The third example of Abraham’s decision to obey God is probably the one thought of first.  After waiting twenty-five years for God to fulfill his promise concerning the son through whom his offspring would be named, God tested him by commanding him to offer that son up as a sacrifice.  That son was specified to be Isaac (Genesis 21:12).  When given this command, Abraham again did not hesitate, but rather, got up early in the morning to do what God had commanded (Genesis 22:1-3).

I cannot imagine a more difficult command than to offer up one’s own child as a sacrifice, can you?  Yet, the only thing that stopped Abraham from complying was the angel of the Lord calling out to him saying, “Do not lay a hand on the boy” (Genesis 22:12).  Abraham had already drawn out his knife and was ready to plunge it into his son when he was stopped from doing so by God.  Now, that is obedient faith.

Why did Abraham almost always make the right decision when it came to God?  It was because he decided early on to obey Him.   If we are to be like Abraham, making the right decisions when it comes to the will of our Father, we must decide in our minds to obey, not just at the moment, but always, no matter what we are commanded to do.   What will you decide?

As you wind down for the night, think about these things