Have you ever held back from God because you were afraid of what he would ask of you? I certainly have. I was once convinced a surrendered life would be a boring life – wow, was I wrong! I once believed releasing the desire for my own way would be the end of my desires – again, I was really wrong. It was the beginning of something so much more.
What will you do when God calls on you? Will you hide? Will you play little? Will you dismiss yourself? Will you withhold? Or will you believe in the goo...
Have you ever held back from God because you were afraid of what he would ask of you? I certainly have. I was once convinced a surrendered life would be a boring life – wow, was I wrong! I once believed releasing the desire for my own way would be the end of my desires – again, I was really wrong. It was the beginning of something so much more.
What will you do when God calls on you? Will you hide? Will you play little? Will you dismiss yourself? Will you withhold? Or will you believe in the goodness of God enough to say, “Here I am.”
I believe that’s exactly what is happening today. God is calling on you. He’s calling on you to trust him. He’s calling on you to take the next step. He’s calling on you to go for him. He’s calling on you to change something, surrender something, do something different this year. Will you answer his call and say, “Here I am.”
What would happen if you did? You would get to see and experience the things only God can do. Will it be scary? Maybe. Will you feel inadequate? Probably. Will it be worth it? Absolutely!
In our study of the book of Genesis, we’re reading about the life of Abraham. Remember, he and his wife Sarah had waited their whole lives for a promised baby. Finally, at the age 90, Sarah miraculously becomes pregnant, and Abraham becomes a father to Issac at 99 years old. Abraham had believed God’s promise, and now he was walking in the fulfillment of that promise with his long awaited son.
And then we come to a chapter titled “Abraham’s Faith Tested”. Whew, have you ever been in one of those chapters of your life? This is where the hard stuff happens. This is where things don’t make sense. And this is where you get to see that through it all, God is forever faithful with his providence and power.
Genesis 22 begins with, “Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. ‘Abraham’ God called. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Here I am.'”
With over 100 years of life experience, Abraham knows he can trust God. He knows whatever God calls him to, God is going to provide for him to get through. He knows the promises God has spoken over him are undeniable and irrefutable. He lives in the reality that God does impossible things.
I wonder if maybe we have forgotten that. Have you forgotten the impossible things God has done for you before? Have you skimmed over the promises your Creator has for you? Can you look back and see that God has always been with you and always made a way? The more you know that, the more you can trust him here. And when you fully trust God, you can reply to his every call with, “Here I am.”
What God speaks to Abraham next was unthinkable. Verse 2, “Take your son, your only son – yes, Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Wait God – WHAT?!!!!!!! This is the son I’ve waited my whole life for, the one every promise hinges on, and now you’re asking me to sacrifice him? To give him up? That doesn’t make sense.
Have you ever tried to make sense of the supernatural? Have you ever tried to plan for the impossible? Have you ever tried to calculate the miraculous? Here’s what we do – we flip out, we freak out, and we stress out. When we can’t see it, control it, or fix it, we struggle with it. But God is NOT STRUGGLING.
Please hear this loud and clear. Whatever you are struggling with, God is not. Does he care? More than you can imagine! But is he struggling? Not in the slightest. He already has a plan and he perfectly holds the power to fulfill his plan.
Whatever you’re struggling with right now, I have a simple and powerful prayer of faith for you today. Right now, think about this area of struggle in your life. That person, that relationship, that uncertainty, that hardship, that hurt – and now repeat this prayer: “God, I know you’re not struggling. Thank you for having a plan through this.”
So what does Abraham do when asked to give up his son? Well, we don’t see him flipping out, freaking out, or stressing out. We see him responding in obedience. How? Because he knows by experience that God can be trusted.
Here’s what happens next. Verses 3-8:
“The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ‘Stay here with the donkey,’ Abraham told the servants. ‘The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.’
So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, ‘Father?’
‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied.
‘We have the fire and the wood,’ the boy said, ‘but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?’
Verse 8 – ‘God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son.’ Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.”
Remember – what is the title of this chapter? Abraham’s Faith Tested.
Abraham isn’t freaking out. He’s not flipping out. He’s not stressed out. He is 100% confident in God’s ability to perfectly fulfill his plan. And here’s the key – When you know God’s promises, you can trust his plan.
Abraham knows God’s promises over his son and every future generation that will come from his son. And because he knows God’s promise, he can trust God’s plan. With absolute confidence, he says to his servants – You guys stay here, my son and I are going up there to worship, then WE will come right back. Abraham didn’t know how, but he knew because of God’s promise, he and his son were coming back down off that mountain together.
An offering at that time required a sacrificed life and young Isaac is carrying the wood for the fire on his shoulders and says, “Father, where’s the sheep for the burnt offering?” Abraham’s reply – “God will provide!”
That is our answer. It’s my answer for the tests I’m facing and it’s your answer for the tests you’re facing. GOD WILL PROVIDE.
I don’t know how and I don’t know when – but somehow God is going to provide exactly what is needed in every situation and we’re going to come back down from this mountain. It’s going to take a miracle, but I’m guided by a miracle worker. It’s quite impossible, but my God is the god of impossible.
Abraham didn’t know how he was going to sacrifice his son and still walk back down off that mountain with him, but he knew God was going to do something! He didn’t know how his sacrifice would align with the fulfillment of God’s promises over him and his countless descendants through this son, but he trusted him. God, here I am. I’m trusting you. I’m walking up this mountain. I’m taking the wood. I’ll build the fire. I know you will provide. And I know we’ll walk back down off this mountain having experienced your divine and miraculous provision.
I wonder if sometimes we get so caught up in the ‘how’ and ‘when’ that we fail the test. We don’t see God’s miraculous provisions because we aren’t willing to cut the wood. We aren’t willing to climb the hard mountain, so we never know what God really had for us up there. We won’t build the fire, so we never see the miraculous.
Abraham cut the wood. He climbed the mountain. He built the fire. And let me tell you what happened – At the perfect moment, an angel of the Lord calls to Abraham again. Once again, Abraham replies, “Here I am!” Verse 13, “Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yaheweh-Yireh (which means ‘the Lord will provide’).
Abraham hadn’t always been obedient. Remember, he had created messes in his fear. He had failed to believe God, followed his own plan and learned some hard lessons. But now, he’s learned through experience that God’s way is truly best and can be fully trusted. Even when it’s hard. Even when it doesn’t make sense. The Lord will provide.
We’re each on that same journey. The journey of learning to go all-in with God. The journey of learning to fully trust him. The journey of surrender. The journey of obedience. And God is so patient with us on this journey. He gives us chance after chance to get it right. He gives us so many opportunities to fail, then walk in his grace. And with each step, we’re learning to trust him. We’re learning to confidently answer his call, “Here I am!”
What will God do here? I don’t know – but I know he will do something. How will he provide in this? I don’t know – but I know he will never fail.
Maybe this hardship, this struggle, this problem you’re facing is ultimately an invitation to see God’s miraculous provision in a way that will forever change you.
We live in a reality that God does impossible things – be here for it!
Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com
