Lessons From The Life Of Abraham (5 Of 5)

Illus: A psychiatrist visited a California mental institution and asked a man: "How did you get here? What was the nature of your illness?"

The psychiatrist got the following reply.

• "Well, it all started when I got married and everything went down hill from there.

• I married a widow with a grown daughter who then became my stepdaughter.

• My dad came to visit us, fell in love with my lovely stepdaughter and married her. And so my stepdaughter was now my stepmother.

• Soon, my wife had a son who was, of course, my daddy's brother-in-law since he is the half-brother of my stepdaughter, who is now, of course, my daddy's wife.

• So, as I told you, when my stepdaughter married my daddy, she was at once my stepmother! Now, since my new son is brother to my stepmother, he also became my uncle.

• As you know, my wife is my step-grandmother since she is my stepmother's mother.

• Don't forget that my stepmother is my stepdaughter.

• Remember, too, that I am my wife's grandson.

• But hold on just a few minutes more. You see, since I'm married to my step-grandmother, I am not only the wife's grandson and her hubby, but I am also my own grandfather. Now can you understand how I got put in this place?"

The psychiatrist stood there with a blank look on his face and he said to the patient, "Move over!"

Life can certainly become confusing at times and leave us wondering what is really going on, because we do not have the slightest idea what is taking place in our life.

Illus: A representative of the gas company phoned the owner of an expensive new home to make an appointment for the service man to come in and light the pilot lights and adjust the furnace.

• The owner said that was OK, but he wanted to make sure he was there, because if he wasn’t there the service man would never get the furnace going.

• The caller insisted that his people were well trained and would have no trouble.

• "You don’t understand," the owner said, "When your man tries to adjust the furnace he’ll go out of his mind. The thermostat in the entry hall is a dummy. It’s there for my wife to play with. Only I know where the real one is hidden.”

At times, we have all felt like somebody had hidden the thermostat from us. There are times in our life we feel that things should not be going the way they are going! After all:

• We have God on our side

• We have the power of the Holy Spirit on our side

• We have the power of Prayer on our side

• We have the precious Word of God to instruct us

We have all these in our life and still it seems at times this is not enough. It is enough, but there are times it does not seem like it is enough.

God knew there would be times like that in our life, and God put a verse of scripture in the Word of God to help us deal with these times.

Look at Romans 8:28, we read, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Notice that little word “all” in this verse. God is saying that everything that happens in your life and my life is working for our good. Notice, He does not say what is happening is GOOD, but He does say that it will work out for OUR GOOD!

Sometimes life is like going to the dentist. It is for our good. It is not GOOD, but it works out for our GOOD!

• Many times we may not understand what is going on in our life but that is all right because God does.

• We may feel like we are out of control at times, but that is all right because God is very much in control.

This matter of walking by faith is not always easy, but it is essential that we learn to walk by faith.

As we walk by faith, there are times we are going to feel that someone has hidden the thermostat from us and we do not know what is going on in our life.

We are not the only ones who ever felt this way. Even that great man called Abraham, in the Old Testament, had times when he had no idea of what God was trying to do in his life. HE DID NOT HAVE A CLUE AS TO WHAT WAS GOING ON, NOT A CLUE!!!

For example, in Genesis 15 there had been a war.