God promised Abraham a son, and a multitude of peoples that would come from that son. Then, He tests Abraham and asks him to sacrifice his only son. As he is about to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord intervenes and says, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Gen 22:12
Abraham had two things. He had FAITH, and he had FEAR.
Abraham had faith that despite the circumstances, God was faithful to fulfill His promises. Even if he was about to kill seemingly the only way God could fulfill His promises, Abraham believed God could make a way. Faith is, in fact, not seeing but believing. Sometimes we lose faith when circumstances or what He’s telling us to do seems to contradict what He’s promised us. Sometimes it’s when we have a certain way already figured out of how He can accomplish His plan and it’s not going according to that plan. Even the way God brought about Isaac seemed impossible at Abraham’s age. I think God likes to show off at times- He is a God of the impossible!
Abraham had a fear of the Lord. This word fear means more of a reverence for, respect, submission. Abraham put God above all– above his hope for a son, a nation, all that God had promised. He was willing to give it all up in submission to the Father. Sometimes, God tests us to see if we’re willing to give things up, or if we’re holding so tightly to those things we put them above God- the very One who gave it to us! Sometimes, we take what God’s given us, and we run with it. We make it ours, and leave Him behind. We forget it’s His heart, and that He knows best as how to go about accomplishing things. He wants it to be an US thing, not a MY thing. When we make it about ourselves, we lose God in the midst of it and fail at the thing we were trying so desperately to hold onto.
Around two years ago, God gave me the vision that’s happening in Guatemala. I went home to support raise. After a year of being home, I was told by someone in the office that I was no longer able to go. I left that conversation feeling defeated. That I must’ve made mistakes that prevented me from going. Not knowing what else to do, I just… lived. God brought me to the place of not despairing because I wasn’t able to go, but to a place of faith and being content with wherever I was at, knowing it was with Him. Three months later, I called up my boss to see how things were going. He had no idea someone had told me not to go, and got me back on track. Within the month, I was arriving in Guatemala along side the rest of the team.
There is a time for holding on, and a time for letting go. Actually, these go hand in hand. At times, God has us recall the promises He’s made to us when things get hard and we start to lose faith. The thing He wants us to hold onto, and to set above everything, is HIM, being willing to let go of all else out of a fear of the Lord.
