Deuteronomy 28:1-2"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and
overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God."
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It is hard to comprehend how our God works. There are certain things that make sense and others that do not. Sowing and reaping makes sense. That's how nature works. But the whole "Let go of things and seek Him and His kingdom first, and things will seek after you..." really does go against our human nature. Being control-freaks we tend to see what we can do with our hands and our decisions, and try to manipulate the outcome of our efforts. We try methods to get promotions, obtain better results, achieve sale targets and influence others to favour us in decision making.
But God works differently from the way the world works, those that love and know Him would know by now. He promised that we will not be shortchanged when we go hard for Him. I personally do not know what the outcome of things would be for my life but I am constantly (every single minute!) learning and reminding myself that my confidence lies in the assurance of success in God. I need to be captured in my heart and my thoughts about how much He is looking out for me; I need to know that I have no doubts whatsoever that throwing my heart across the line for Him is a deliberate step of obedience. I thought it'd be easy but it's not. Obeying God is never easy. It's cutting loose so many things that I hold on to to provide comfort and assurance. To feel safe.
I never understood why there are so many things that I have to lose in my journey with God and to be honest I don't think I will ever understand. What I have to do is just follow the way of my Master - by doing things out of obedience when I don't have it in me to trust, to have faith, to believe in promises, to hope. It's time for me to just close my eyes and just keep walking. If I open my eyes I will be distracted and will choose the easy way. If I open my eyes I will be swallowed by fear and hopelessness. The servant does not question the Master even though he has 1001 ???s on his mind. The clay does not tell the potter what to do or question what the potter is trying to do. A knight receive orders from the King and he carries it out according to the allegiance he has pledged. He knows he has no choice because there's no way he can turn his back on his Lord.
Abraham is an amazing man of faith. Anyone who thinks it is easy to leave their home country and go out to wherever God leads should try it one day. Any person that thinks it is easy for a 100 year old man to have a child with a 90 year old woman shouldn't have skipped the bio lessons in high school. If anyone thinks it is easy to take his/her son for a walk with the intention of sacrificing him, I doubt he/she loves his/her son. Yes, many argue that Abraham knew Isaac was not going to die on the altar that day. They say Abraham's words - "we will come back to you" and "God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering" - is evidence that Abraham knew God would spare his child. But few realise that in Abraham's heart, Isaac to him was as good as dead. He was totally prepared to go all the way and would have if God didn't intervene. Few pause to think of what Isaac meant to Abraham, and few ponder upon what it meant to give Isaac away.
Isaac was a miracle. Abraham and Sarah were past the age of childbearing. It was God who spoke and said, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?". Abraham heard God's promise to make him a great nation. Isaac was a gift. A gift that God gave and there was nothing wrong in Abraham keeping Isaac. God knew what Isaac meant to Abraham - "Take your son, your only son, Isaac,
whom you love, and sacrifice him." It made no sense, Abraham had every right to question God and argue with Him saying, "Didn't you give Isaac to me? He was a miracle! How can Your promises come true if You specifically gave Isaac to fulfill that promise and he dies? Do You know what You're doing? Hellooo?" - but he didn't. In fact Abraham got up early the next morning to do exactly what God wanted him to do. Did he do it so willingly because he knew it was a test? Did he think he will eventually be able to keep Isaac alive, and that this whole episode is just for show? I think Abraham knew it was for real. And God knew Abraham took it for real.
God tested Abaraham not to watch him fall, but to deepen his capacity to obey God and to develop his character. He can choose to complain or he can allow God to stretch him. Abraham went thru the greatest act of obedience in history that day. He learned the importance of obeying God through the many tough lessons prior to this. Obeying God is often a struggle because it often means giving up something we truly want or love. It hurts, it hurts deeply to give up something we want or love. We should not expect our obedience to God to be easy or to come naturally. Would it be easier if we understood that God did not want Isaac to die? Well, God wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in his heart so it would be clear that Abraham loved God more than he loved his promised and long-awaited son. His testing strengthened his character and deepened his commitment to obey God and His perfect timing. Through this difficult experience Abraham learned about God's ability to provide.
Honestly, I want to learn from Abraham but it is so hard. He did exactly what God wanted early the next morning! No questions asked. No arguing. I remember what my friend shared with me years ago when she was struggling with God. She said, "There's no point in me telling Him what I want, 'cause at the end He does what He wants in my life anyway, I have no say." I can emphatise with her. But whether she struggled or not, she allowed Him to be sovereign. I am pretty sure Abraham struggled even as he obeyed. Jesus struggled the night He prayed, asking His Father to take away the cup of suffering - yet if it is the Father's will, He will go through it.
It makes no sense, I struggle with sacrificing my Isaac - every second, every moment, every blinking of the eye. Many testify of it being pure joy, you know, the whole suffering for Christ to the point of total obedience thingy. But given how human I am, I can confidently say I can't testify to that at the moment. Every inch of my human self wants to give up on obeying, yet the fear of the Lord drives me to obey. The fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord. I really hope to one day hear the voice of God calling out to me from heaven, "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
God started the test on Abraham acknowledging Isaac was precious to him, and ended the test addressing it the same way : God's tender heart agreed with Abraham's, that it was "your son. your only son." God understood. God gave Isaac to Abraham. God allowed Abraham to love Isaac. God knows exactly what the desires of our hearts are. God tested Abraham not because He wanted to know if Abraham feared and obeyed God. God already knew. God tested Abraham to affirm him that
he feared and obeyed God.
I do not know what/who your Isaac is. I do not understand why you have to suffer the pain of losing Isaac. I have no clear answer for your confusion in the midst of doing something that doesn't make sense. What I have mentioned so far is the journey of what Abraham had to go through. It is a journey I am going through. It is a journey you might be going through. As I mentioned earlier, Abraham purposed in his heart that he will tie Isaac up, lay him on the altar, take out the knife and stab his son, his only son. He knew God honors obedience, blesses those who fear Him and it is impossible to please God without faith.
But he also knew and reasoned that God is a God that can raise the dead. That is the hope that Abraham had, and that is the hope that we need to have. Whatever God demands of us to sacrifice (the things that are pure, blameless and is from Him) out of obedience will go through the process of death. We mustn't hold back, we need to follow it through...
all the way. But we got to believe that when something dies when we lay it on the altar - He has the power to bring death to life. He does it to enable us to embrace with confidence the promise that He has given to us. A confidence that comes from knowing we fear and love Him more than we love His gift, that we might enjoy His gift knowing our hearts are right before Him - 100% guilt free. A confidence in knowing He owns all, has all, and everything is of His doing and not ours. Knowing whatever He has freely given to us is for us to keep.
I believe Abraham had no doubt from then on that Isaac was God's promise. He had no doubt from then on that he'd have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. He had no doubt from then on that God called him out of his home by no accident, and he still lived by faith when he died.
Our time will come.
But for now I will struggle. Sometimes God calms the storm; and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms the child; other times He simply lets the storm rage and watches from distance as His child walks through the raging sea in obedience - when it makes no sense.
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WillZ
