Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him.
You all know the story of when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
Abraham took Isaac and some wood and went and made an altar. He even tied up Isaac and set him on it. Abraham had his hand raised, knife in it, ready to bring it down and kill his son.
He was doing it because God told him to.
Can you imagine that kind of faith? That blind obedience? That assurance that if God actually allowed him to kill his son, God would raise him up again?
I like to think that I would do whatever God tells me to do, but I just can’t imagine tying my child up, putting them on an altar and raising a knife to kill them.
It’s no wonder Abraham was the father of many nations. (It’s interesting to me that he would follow God so blindly with that excruciatingly difficult command, but he really messed up when Sarah had no faith about having a child and urged him to “take” Hagar. Ladies, I can’t let that go without urging you to remember how much influence you have over that man of yours. He’s strong and stubborn and exasperating at times, but remember you can build him, or you can wreck him – Proverbs says a wise woman “buildeth” her house. Also, remember that a house isn’t built in a day – it’s your minute by minute decisions that ultimately determine what kind of “house” – man – you have. We roll our eyes and blame the men, but we have far more influence than we realize. We just use it selfishly. Be a wise woman.)
Back to Abraham.
Is there something in your life that you know God wants you to do and you’re dragging your feet about it?
Or, maybe you’re doing it but get tempted by a carrot that Satan dangles in front of you. And you justify that by saying you’re kind of “helping” God along by adding to it, or by hedging your bets in another way as well. You know. Just in case.
Or maybe you’re not doing what God wants just because you’re concerned about what other people will think. It will “sound” better if you do what God wants AND add this little bit more to it. The rest of the world will respect you more if you look a little more like what they expect and a little less like what you know God really wants.
Remember Achan? When the Isrealites fought the battle of Jericho, EVERYTHING was to be destroyed. Everything. (Other than Rahab and her family.) Achan got distracted by some shiny goodies and surreptitiously took some for himself. He didn’t trust God’s plan – he thought he knew better. That he could add just a little to it.
Funny how the devil is always there trying to distract us from what God wants us to do. If he can’t tempt us away completely, he’ll tempt us with something little. Those little things often have big consequences. And, as with Achan – whose entire family perished with him – often when we give in to Satan’s temptations, we’re not the only ones hurt. Sometimes, often, it hurts the people around us even more than it hurts us.
Or, maybe you’re like me, where you know God has given you something to do, but you’ve had some hard things come into your life. You’re tired and discouraged and hurting and you’ve lost your fire and you’re questioning how you’re going to get everything done and the thing that God has given you just looks too hard alongside everything else and you’re thinking about quitting. Well, you don’t want to say the “q” word, so you give quitting a different name.
You forget that little verse in I Thessalonians: Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Eleven words, yet that’s all we need to know, right? If God has called you to do something. You don’t need to add to it. You don’t need to apologize to the world for looking weird. You don’t need to wonder where the time or the energy is going to come from. You don’t need to think about the pain or the price or Satan’s fool’s gold.
If God has given you something to do, say no to the things that are just distracting you, and say yes to what you know the Lord wants. Even if it’s something crazy.
Remember Abraham.
And, just to be clear, I don’t think God is going to ask any of us to sacrifice our children. But He might, actually, probably, will ask us to do things that seem impossible. Things that the world will call crazy. Things that no one else will ever believe or think we can do.
Maybe God just wants you to do something little. Like be nice to your husband even though he doesn’t deserve it. Or forgive your family member for that unspeakable thing they did. Or close your mouth and just love your adult children. Close the smut book you’re reading, turn off the Hollywood trash and open your Bible. Give up your “me” time to do something for someone else. You know what it is that God wants you to do.
Just as I know what God wants from me. Everything. He wants to know I’m willing to give him everything I have, everything I am, everything I’d hoped to be. To the point of death. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
How far do we trust God? How much are we willing to give? Why do we selfishly hold on to what we can’t keep rather than working for what we can never lose?
I know. That’s a hard message and maybe some of us aren’t ready (or willing) to hear it. But it’s what I needed to hear. Up until the moment God takes me, I have to keep working for Him, trusting in His calling and in His faithfulness.