Walking on thin ice!

I can now check “walking across a frozen lake” off my bucket list (ice bucket list?🥶). 

Cowans Gap is beautiful in the summer but downright special in the winter! We had a good, short time there Saturday morning, saw some guys ice fishing, and were totally safe on 9 inches of ice! 

One of the surest ways to get ourselves on thin ice in everyday-life is to make decisions that seem to fit our circumstances but don’t fit God’s best. 

Genesis‬ ‭25‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭says, “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.”

Obviously God had big plans for Isaac and Isaac’s descendants. They’d become the Jewish nation, God’s chosen people, and the Messiah Himself would come from that family line. 

Maybe Abraham had no choice but to send the other children away because of decisions they made. 

Maybe Abraham chose to send them away instead of inviting them to follow God too. 

Either way, these sons of Abraham rejected God almost completely. 

Whatever else was going on, each of them had an opportunity to turn toward God. And as far as we know, they did not. In fact, one son and his descendants became an all-too-familiar problem for Israel. 

1 Chronicles 1:32 says, “Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.”

You might recognize the name Midian. The  Midianites went on to cause some trouble for Israel. 

We can’t make anyone in our lives follow God, but we can live a life that shows them it’s the best option. 

And we can make decisions every day based on what God says is right and true. 

We really are on thin ice if we make decisions based on anything less than God’s truth.  

Today’s Bible reading is Genesis 25.