I Want My Promise Back

“Concerning your wife Sarah, I will wonderfully bless her, and I will certainly give you a son through her.” Gen. 17:16 Abraham and Sarah desired a son for a long time. God told Abraham he would have a son. He and Sarah waited and waited and waited. Twenty five years later, Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Life was good but then God asked for Isaac back. He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham didn’t know why he was being tested. Abraham had to decide between the blessing of what he had grown to love (Isaac) and obeying God in the difficult task of giving him back. Abraham chose obedience. The minute Abraham said yes to God and didn’t question Him, God would provide. He KNEW God would provide. “WE’LL”, not me but both of us, will be back. Gen. 22:5

When Abraham took Isaac towards where he would sacrifice him, he walked till he came to the spot where God told him to stop. Abraham was holding the knife in his hand over Isaac to kill him and an angel said, “Abraham! Abraham! Don’t touch him!” God provided at the last minute – a minute after Abraham might be wondering if it’s over! God provided a sacrifice.

What do you do when God says I want your blessing, my promise, back? What do we do when we are put in that position? Isaac was promised to Abraham and he was blessed by having Isaac but then God asked Abraham to  give him back, to sacrifice him. God didn’t want Isaac to die, but He wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in his heart so it would be clear that Abraham loved God more than he loved his promise of a long-awaited son. When God blesses us, we can easily turn it into an idol. We might come to love and trust the blessing more than the Blesser.

Job was a wealthy man who was blessed. God allowed Satan to take everything from Job that He had blessed him with. The Lord allowed everything to be taken away. Job knew where his provision had come from and he knew that God would continue to be his provision even though he didn’t know why he was being tested. The result was Job said “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” God is good in the giving and in the taking back or taking away because both are for the sake of our joy in Him and trusting in Him.

God challenges us to put things on the altar-especially things we love. At times, God will ask us to let go of or give back things that we love and He has blessed us with. He is testing our hearts. He is testing our obedience. Do we fight Him on it or do we let go?

If we end up hanging on to what He asked us to let go of, we end up circling around it again and again until it becomes our focus. The blessing becomes the center of our lives instead of the blesserand provider. Abraham and Job both showed the kind of trust and obedience we are to have when He asks us to give back something or everything. When the blessing is stripped away, we will recognize God is all we ever really had and ever need. He is our provision. Our desire must be to surrender back to Him when He asks for it back because He is a good, faithful and loving Father who is our Provider.

Two thousand plus years later, we have the benefit of seeing how much God has done and can do when we surrender. Abraham looked back and saw the ram in a place he had already walked by. In 60+ years, I have seen God in places I have already walked by and through. I’ve learned to trust Him and give whatever He asks for back. He’ll provide. I’ve seen His faithfulness!