City Life Starter

I. The Word : Hebrews 11:17

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son.
 

Reflection Questions:

1. What thing has God promised you only to have him ask for it back?

2. What lessons did you learn about yourself and about him in that process?

3. Where should our faith and hope ultimately be in life?

 
 

One of the most puzzling things to me is why God asks back what he provides. When I look through scripture I see countless stories of people trusting God for a specific thing and then sometimes as quickly as God provides it He then very surprisingly asks for it back.

 

The story of Abraham and Isaac is one of the most fascinating stories in all of scripture. God promises Abraham a son and then waits…He waits until until Sarah, Abrahams wife, is well beyond child bearing age and then reminds him of the promise again. At this point God’s promise is comical to them and when He reminds them of His promise on this particular occasion Sarah just laughs. I can relate because the thought that would run through my mind is “what’s the point…I’m already past the point of usefulness so what’s the point”.  

 

Eventually God provides the long awaited promise and the couple is relieved that their heir wouldn’t be a faithful foreigner, Eleazar, who’s not even of their own family. That to me would be a beautiful ending of a story of patience and hanging on to God’s promises in the midst of extenuating circumstances…but as we all know the story doesn’t stop there.  

 

Years later God would ask Abraham to do the unimaginable…He would ask him to kill his only son as a sacrificial offering. As I try to put myself in Abrahams place the first thing that comes to mind is I would quickly dismiss the notion because it doesn’t make sense. I would think “why would God promise me a son for so long and see the joy he’s brought to our lives and what a blessing he is only to ask for it back”. I honestly believe I would have failed this test.  

 

Thankfully we have people in scripture that are examples of what our responses should be, yes I understand imperfectly but they’re examples nonetheless as the book of Hebrews describes them as well. Hebrews 11:19 says that Abraham reasoned that after he killing his son that God was able to raise him from the dead. That’s why Abraham was so ready to do it because he concluded that God would somehow raise Isaac back. What this reasoning also reveals is that Abraham believed in the promise giver more than the promise itself.  

 

What if God were to tell you to leave that very job He supernaturally gave you in order to go into full time ministry? What if God were to tell you to leave the supernatural ministry in order to take on a very “natural” vocation? Both of these things have happened to me and the valuable lesson that I’ve learned is that God will allow us to be tested in order to reveal whether we’re clinging on to the things or promises He provides or whether we’re clinging on to Him. An easy litmus test is if you find yourself saying things like “God would NEVER ask me to do that because He did this in the first place” or “God would Never call me to do that because He called me to do this”.  

 

My hope and prayer for you is that you will cling hold to God and let go of anything you have including the very promises He gave you. The promises mean nothing without the promise giver.