I’m reading through the Bible this year during my time alone with God.  I have a new One Year Bible where I read a little of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day.

Over these first 9 days of the new year much of my reading in the OT has been about Abraham.  As I was thinking about what I’ve read over the past few days I thought about all the things he did that don’t make a lot of sense to me.  In my mind, he did some things that were questionable – or at least seemed to be pretty big mistakes.  But then I read Genesis 22 this morning where God tested his faith and asked him to give up the one thing that was most precious to him – his son Isaac.  And Abraham had such great faith in God and God’s promise to him that he was willing to give up Isaac.  That’s a pretty amazing test of anyone’s faith, and Abraham passed with flying colors.

As I journaled a quick note about my reading this morning I wrote that in spite of his mistakes and some of the things that seem weird to me that he did – Abraham’s faith was incredible.  And for His reasons, God looked past (or forgave) the mistakes because He ultimately knew of Abraham’s heart of faith/obedience.

I’m thankful that God hasn’t given up on me in spite of the many mistakes I’ve made and the sins I’ve committed.  I’m thankful that He continues to develop and test my faith.  I hope that He sees in my imperfect heart a desire for total faith/obedience.   And when the chips are down – I pray that I might pass the tests that come my way with flying colors.