Our Daily Bread: Picking Up the Pieces After Job LossPrøve

EIGHT COWS ON THE ALTAR: Pastor Ed Dobson was speaking to a congregation on "putting all on the altar" in total surrender to Christ. After the service, an old German farmer came forward. He told Dobson that he had eight cows that were dying, which would mean great financial loss, and he had been struggling with accepting this as God's will. Then he said, "Because of your message, I have found peace. Tonight I put them all on the altar."

Christ's lordship touches every area, every relationship, every concern of our lives. If we are willing to submit to Him, any loss in life can be seen as an opportunity of giving back to God what is rightfully His and trusting Him to provide what is needed.

When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, He seemed to be undermining His own purposes. Isaac was the son of promise through whom God would bless the world. Yet Abraham's faith had grown strong over the years, and baffled though he must have been, he said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb" (GENESIS 22:8).

The issue is the same for us. Can we entrust everything to God: possessions, job, health, family? If we commit ourselves to Him each day and thank Him for every blessing, our confidence in Him will survive any test. -Dennis De Haan

Submission to God means taking our hands off what belongs to Him.