Even If: When God Says NoParaugs

Day 5: Can I Have That?

Sometimes God says no by taking things away.

We can become reliant on some things too much, and God only wants us to be reliant on Him. Or we can value some things too much, and God only wants us to value Him the most. He is our Source. Everything else He blesses us with is just a resource that He uses.

When we grow out of balance with the things God has blessed us with, those things can become what God removes so that we might learn to lean on Him.

Abraham was on the verge of losing what He valued most, and it was God who asked of it from him. Abraham always wanted a son, and in his and his wife’s old age, God blessed them with one, Isaac. God told Abraham He was going to give him many descendants through Isaac. So it made little sense when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him.

I’m sure this was a difficult and confusing thing for Abraham to accept. Nevertheless, he obeyed God. In Hebrews, the Bible explains that Abraham figured that if Isaac died God could bring him back to life again. This is so powerful because although Abraham didn’t fully understand, he did know that God was his Source. He wasn’t looking to Isaac to fix his problem nor was he looking to himself. He knew that God could fix it and that He would fix it in some way to keep His promise.

Of course, in the end, God did not require Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and intervened before he was harmed. God also kept His promise and greatly increased Abraham’s descendants through Isaac.

What is our dependence on? Do we put it in people, jobs, or things? If so we need to pray on changing that. Our dependence should be solely on the Solid Rock that is our God.