Holy Land Picture of the Day

Gideon's Spring Today's picture is the traditional site of Gideon's Spring, located near the original site of Kibbutz Ein Herod in the Jezreel Valley. It's mentioned in Judges 7: 5-8; "So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. The LORD said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home."  “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was  offering up his only begotten son.” (Heb. 11:17) Hey Gang:  Have you ever asked God why it is that some folks have such a profound faith that they can move mountains and so many, like myself, tend to struggle when confronted with the clinkers we must face?  In my morning time with the Lord I was researching the Abrahamic Covenant and how it applies to our day and age.  I think I could spend the next week to ten days on the wonders of God’s Covenant with Abraham, but the story of God’s calling to sacrifice his only son seemed to be in bold print. The first thing that struck my dome of intellect was “He was in tune with the voice of God”  He had heard it and heeded its advice many times before.  Let’s face it, to receive marching orders to leave the home of your youth and set out to a distant place and you had no idea where you were going would take a heap of faith. As I read this account of Abraham’s faith, I thought of a neat little ditty that has been tucked away in the recesses of my dome of intellect:  It seems a rock climber was doing his thing when the carabineer holding his safety rope snapped, leaving him hanging on the side of the mountain. After trying every tactic he knew to do he came to the conclusion without help he was in deep trouble.  So he cried out, “Lord help me, is anybody up there?”  A voice came back and said, “Let go and trust me!”  He thought about that for a moment and then shouted, “Is anybody else up there?” Do you think when God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son and offer him as a sacrifice” Abraham might have thought “Is anyone else up there?”  Yes, Abraham was a man of tremendous faith but he was a man with feelings and emotions.  As I thought of this story, I believe the message to us is, ‘he was obedient, and, if we are to realize God’s blessings, we must first be obedient to His word.’ Soooo, lads and lassies, as you traverse this day you, too, will be giving marching orders.  What you do with them will determine if God will trust you with even greater marching orders tomorrow. Blessings, Gramps