When Things Don’t Work Out as Planned – EGP Blog post from January 8, 2013

Creating a running commentary for the Bible in a year ended up being more work than I’m able to handle at this time. Even though the reading of it takes only about 15 minutes, re-reading it, summarizing, finding cross-references, New Testament parallels, and imagery ended up taking about 4–6 hours per day (with no day of rest). On top of that, I felt as though I was leaving out lots of good stuff and wasn’t leaving room to post songs and what not. On a hard day, I’d say, “I didn’t even last a week.” But on a better day, I’m reminded of the words I said before it began: “it’s not about volume but about what you get out of it.”

The irony of it all is that all this came about when the daily reading was about God testing Abraham (Genesis 22), telling him to sacrifice his long-promised son as a burnt offering. Abraham was faithful, but God stopped him before it happened, saying “now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (). Now, several hours a day hardly compares to sacrificing your own child, but God often asks things of us and doesn’t have us follow through, simply to test our faith. More than that, sometimes God requires things from us that He then provides through His Son ().

Listen for God’s voice, be faithful in what He asks, and look for what He wanted you to learn in the things that go as planned and the things that don’t.