Two Weeks

They say that it takes about two weeks to form a new habit (don’t they?) and so here we are at the two week marker, and I’m as motivated as ever. So far, I have found that each day’s readings just light up my brain and my soul, and I yearn to read more of God’s word. Every day it feels like I stumble across another passage that illuminates or prefigures the coming of Christ and His eventual death and Resurrection.

Take Abraham, for example, commanded by God to take his “only-begotten son Isaac, whom you love” (Gen. 22:2) and offer him as a burnt sacrifice on Mount Moriah, in the same place that the Lord God would eventually give His own “only-begotten son” as the sacrificial lamb for all of humanity. Or take Jacob, conversing with the shepherds of Haran and hearing them explain: “‘We cannot [water the sheep] until all the flocks are gathered together , and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.'” (Gen 29:8) Are we not the sheep that God gathers together in his pasture, neglecting not even the one? And when the stone was rolled away from the tomb, did we not drink of the water of eternal life? It’s these moments that take my breath away, as I realize God’s work and His astonishing plan, which was there from the very beginning.

I used to walk around blind and disheartened, feeling like God was just sitting around up there, kind of bored, watching us ants go about our daily lives. Maybe we’d do the right thing, maybe we wouldn’t. Who cared anyway? But now I see the vision. Nothing the Lord does, or has ever done, is by accident. The variable is us, humanity. Our brokenness, our self-centeredness, our frequent inability to see God when it’s dark. If anything, these first couple of weeks have really helped to illuminate God’s perfection, and to increase my faith in His plan. It’s like, who am I to question God’s plan when He never even once asked me to offer David or Miguel as a burnt sacrifice? If Abraham could trust the Lord even after that command, then I better be able to do the same when I can’t understand His plans for me and my life.

I continue to stick to the daily reading schedule, and have started to lean more towards keeping that up. It’s a nice manageable dose of the Word each day, and it gives me something to really look forward to.

Until next time,

Sam