Thought One

So, for some random reason, yesterday I was thinking about the story of Abraham and Isaac where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. As the story goes, Abraham goes through with God's plan (probably not very happily but completely willingly) but is stopped by an angel at the last moment. God was just testing Abraham's devotion and he passed the test. However, what if God had wanted more?

Now, God is a good and gracious god and He had promised to make the descendants of Abraham like the many stars or grains of sand. More than that, God promised to do all of this through Isaac. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a fifth year senior) to understand that no Isaac means no descendants. However, our God is also one of power.

If Abraham had completed the deed and sacrificed Isaac, that would not make God a liar. Several times in the bible, God raises the dead. Who says He could not have done the same with Isaac? What if, more than testing Abraham's devotion in the moment, God wanted to test Abraham through hard times? Certainly for me (and I'm sure this is true for others) I can do something in the moment because I know it is God's will but afterwards I get confused, angry, and frustrated with Him. What if He wanted to test Abraham for a longer period of time? Certainly explaining to his servants and wife Sarah what had happened would not have been fun. But, in that explanation, people could not question Abraham's obedience, for better or worse.

And what if, after this time of testing, God returned Isaac to his parents (which is certainly within God's power to do)? Not only would God have tested Abraham's devotion before, in, and after a hard time, but He would still be fulfilling His promises. Our God is not a liar.

So how does this apply? Sometimes I think we interpret God's actions as reneging on His promises to us. What we so clearly heard God promise us seems to be taken even as we are about to close our hands around it. Does this mean God is a liar? Of course not. I'm beginning to see it as another way God shows His love to us (tough love, my favorite...). His ways are higher than our ways and all things will happen in His time. What we see as God taking something away may actually be Him asking us to have patience. He wants to make sure we are adequately prepared for His blessings in our lives.

Remember, God wants to give good things to His children. If God makes a promise with you, He will bless you without a doubt, you just need to have patience. Sometimes God says yes right away. Yet sometimes, He asks us to wait.