By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read Genesis 22:1-19; Genesis 15:4; Isaiah 49:9-10; Hebrews 11:8-19
Continuation…
Every mountain has more than one side. God had sent instruction to the ram, as to when it should begin its three days’ journey and climb a particular mountain by a specific time. In the meantime, Abraham, on the morning of his third day’s journey, was led to leave his two servants at the base of the mountain and to wait there for their return. Taking only his son, whom he also had carry the wood on his back, as they began the climb together, were to go to a specific place where His answer was to meet them.
On that same morning, the ram began making its way up the mountain from the other side. Step by step, mile by mile, every foot, every inch, the ram, Abraham, and Isaac were to climb to meet there on the other side, and isn’t everyone glad?
“When a person doesn’t procrastinate by getting up late, there’s no chance of missing their answer. Here’s what I know,” said Pastor Melton, “God had a plan. It was a plan that would cause the man of God, Abraham, to be delivered and his son would be set free.”
Watch what happened. As Abraham walked up one side, his answer was walking up the other side, so when that answer gets to the place where the altar would be, the answer gets there right on time. Abraham then heard the Angel of the Lord call to him to stop and looking up he saw the ram, whose antlers were caught there in a thicket. God had provided him the sacrifice.
How many understand that His answers will always be found at an altar? Does a person have to be at a church? No, for everyone ought to have someplace for an altar at their home, a place in one’s own home, or a backyard, or even a garage, it really doesn’t matter where, but it should be in a place where one can go to make a sacrifice of those things to the Lord that need to be let go of and may be dropped off there. When one gets there at their own specific place, that’s where their own answers’ going to be.
“I’ve never seen a time in my life when God has let me down,” stated Pastor Melton. “He never has. If a person finds themself at the right place at the right time, they will find their answer right there waiting on them, too.”
“The Lord sent me here to tell people that God has already spoken to them with the answers for themselves. He’s just waiting on each of us to climb the hill to the “altar”. He’s just waiting on that person to put the wood on the right place and get the fire ready to go. God has a plan for one’s life—especially for you. Your answer’s on its way.”
“Pastor, Tim, I’ve been waiting a long time.”
“Well, keep marching. Don’t stop. Don’t back down. Don’t quit now. Now’s the time to put down some double-time steps wherever a person’s got to walk. Go where a person’s got to walk, go where one must go, their Mount Moriah is waiting.”
“We’ve found out that when Abraham got to where the Lord told him to be, when he finally got to that place, there caught in a thicket was the ram!”
“Why didn’t he see it before? He should have seen it right away.”
“It’s always in the Lord’s timing that one’s answer shows up. And, while one waits, they worship. While one waits, they obey.
“Well, I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s the last thing He told you to do? Just keep on doing it until God shows up.”
Is this alright today? When the thicket released the ram and it was placed on the altar, Abraham proclaimed, “The Name of this place will forever be “Jehovah-Jirah”. In other words, Jehovah is “the God Who Provides”.
“He knows where each person is, knows what they are going through, already knows what one needs and even what one has sacrificed, what they have given and what it has cost them. He knows the journey every person has been on. He knows the struggles each person has had. He knows our thoughts. But, if we can get to a place where we can just trust Him, where we can say, ‘whatever it takes.’ Whatever I must do, whatever it looks like, whatever I have to give up, whatever I have to let go. He’s still the God Who Provides, and I’m so thankful.
