Certainty in Uncertainty

 

 

 

Get thee out of thy country

And from thy kindred

And from thy father’s house

To a land I will show thee.

 

To leave all he knows

For that he does not know

Causes the kind of uncertainty

That will no doubt show.

 

God’s first demand

To the patriarch Abraham

Was to leave family, father’s house

And his native land.

 

But God is in command

And therein is certainty

Even to a destination unknown

Full of uncertainty.

 

To leave his province

Was Abram’s first test,

Leaving the known for the unknown

Must have been stress.

 

 

But the certainty he had

Was that God had spoken

And what He had promised him

Was better than a token.

 

Better than the present

Or even the past

For while these were certain,

They could not last.

 

So, leaving he did,

Following God’s command

And by faith he journeyed

To the promised land.

 

You can read Abram’s call

In Genesis the 12^th chapter

Followed by the sacrifice of Isaac

Ten chapters after.

 

The first test was hard

But the second was tougher,

Why not the son of the bond woman

That he had hired?

 

No mistaking the son,

Therein was the certainty

But the challenge, I dear say,

Was that of uncertainty.

 

Genesis 22:2

 

Take now thy son,

Thine only son Isaac,

Whom thou lovest,

And get thee into the land of Moriah;

And offer him there for a burnt offering

 Upon one of the mountains

Which I will tell thee of.

 

First to a land unknown

Then to a mountain range,

To sacrifice his only son, he loved,

Seemed very strange.

 

 

But Abraham was certain

That God had spoken

And to perform this strange request

He obediently hastened.

 

Take now thy son,

Why, that could be Ishmael,

But God requires the very best;

The rest we could sell.

 

Thine only son-

“But God, I have two sons.”

Yes, but only one by the name Isaac;

From this he could not run.

 

Thine only son Isaac,

Whom thou lovest,

That God only takes the very best

Was Abraham’s sternest test.

 

Genesis 22 and verse 2

Speaks to a conversation,

How Abraham wanted to opt out

But such was not an option.

 

 

In the book of James, we read,

God temps no man

But in the book of beginnings

God did tempt Abraham.

 

The uncertainty is

When we don’t understand,

But the certainty that is reassuring

Is that God holds our hand.

 

Stewart Russell © October 22, 2024

 

Father of the Faithful

Father Abraham

Called to leave his kin,

To journey to a land

God would show to him.

He marched right on in faith

 With God as his Guide,

His confidence also boosted

With Sarah by his side.

Diverting once to follow

The counsel from his wife,

Up came a predicament,

His two sons meant strife.

Ishmael was forced to go

 So reluctantly he went,

Isaac was the promise;

The seed that God had sent.

One day out of heaven

The sternest of tests came,

“Abraham, take Isaac

And offer him in My Name.”

Abraham heard and knew

It was God that spoke,

Without doubt he knew

 That this test was not a joke.

Early from home he set out

And headed for the place,

Determined to be obedient

But trusting God for grace.

Intent on following through

On God's precise command,

Raised the knife to strike

As the angel stopped his hand.

Abraham had passed the test

 And God gave him the nod,

“Now I know,” the angel said,

 “The fear you have for God.”

From this we can preview

The Lamb that was to come,

The Lamb slain before the world,

God’s own begotten Son.

Abraham was truly pleased

That God had spared Isaac,

There in a nearby thicket

A lamb was securely trapped.

Provided by God the Father

And placed in open view,

A shadow of the Lamb to come

Provided for me and you.

Jacob followed Isaac,

And Joseph his favourite son

Was the scourge of his siblings

The object of their fun.

He was sold into Egypt,

Rose to second in command

Then fed his entire family

When a famine struck the land.

God was always with him

And granted him His favour,

So to his entire family

He became a type of Saviour.

He repaid their evil dealings

With kindness and with love,

At last they came to realize

His help was from above.

But Joseph died in Egypt

And there in his coffin lay,

Requesting that he be moved

On the appointed day.

He told them of God’s visit

And of a coming change,

They’d leave the land of Egypt

Just as God arranged.

Joseph’s bones would not be left

 In Egypt on that day,

When God delivers them

And sets them on their way.

So down in the land of Egypt

Joseph would remain
Until the land of Canaan

Was theirs to make their claim.

Stewart Russell © November 2017

Extracted from:

The Bible in Poetry

Stewart Russell © 2013

Father of The Faithful

Father Abraham

Called to leave his kin

To journey to a land

God would show to him.

He marched right on in faith

 With God as his Guide,

His confidence also boosted

With Sarah by his side.

Diverting once to follow

The counsel from his wife,

Up came a predicament,

His two sons meant strife.

Ishmael was forced to go

 So reluctantly he went,

Isaac was the promise;

The seed that God had sent.

One day out of heaven

The sternest of tests came,

“Abraham, take Isaac

And offer him in My Name.”

Abraham heard and knew

It was God that spoke,

Without doubt he knew

 That this test was not a joke.

Early from home he set out

And headed for the place,

Determined to be obedient

But trusting God for grace.

Intent on following through

On God's precise command,

Raised the knife to strike

As the angel stopped his hand.

Abraham had passed the test

 And God gave him the nod,

“Now I know,” the angel said,

 “The fear you have for God.”

From this we can preview

The Lamb that was to come,

The Lamb slain before the world,

God’s own begotten Son.

Abraham was truly pleased

That God had spared Isaac,

There in a nearby thicket

A lamb was securely trapped.

Provided by God the Father

And placed in open view,

A shadow of the Lamb to come

Provided for me and you.

Jacob followed Isaac,

And Joseph his favourite son

Was the scourge of his siblings,

The object of their fun.

He was sold into Egypt,

Rose to second in command

Then fed his entire family

When a famine struck the land.

God was always with him

And granted him His favour,

So to all his family

He became a type of Saviour.

He repaid their evil dealings

With kindness and with love,

At last they came to realize

His help was from above.

But Joseph died in Egypt

And there in his coffin lay,

Requesting that he be moved

On the appointed day.

He told them of God’s visit

And of a coming change,

They’d leave the land of Egypt

Just as God arranged.

Joseph’s bones would not be left

 In Egypt on that day,

When God delivers them

And sets them on their way.

So down in the land of Egypt

Joseph would remain
Until the land of Canaan

Was theirs to make their claim.

Stewart Russell © November 2017

Extracted from:

The Bible in Poetry

Stewart Russell © 2013