Verse
of the day: Genesis 22:2 Then He
said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall
tell you.”
The
ultimate test of our faith…what would we give to prove that we trust the Lord
with all our heart? What has the Lord already asked us for that we are holding
back? So many born again believers say that they love God and trust Him; yet,
when it comes to giving God what He asks for, we make excuses. Following Jesus
will always cost us something, whether it is our time, talents, or resources.
We may have to give up a way of living or something we hold dear to us, our
car, our house, or some other material things, in order to follow Him and serve
Him in a way we did not anticipate in our walk with Him. Are we willing to give
that which is most precious to us in order to give our lives to Him? That my
friends, is the ultimate test of our faith. Abraham and Sarah had been
supernaturally blessed when God gave them their son Isaac. Now, God is asking Abraham
to offer up his only son. Sound familiar? When we read this account, we do not
often think about what they must have gone through emotionally to think that
God would want them to offer up there only Son. For what, to prove that they
trusted God? Had they not already demonstrated their faith to Him? Brothers and
sisters, God is continually testing our faith. Not to find out where we are at;
He already knows. He tests our faith to show us where we stand, and show us
what is in our hearts when it comes to completely trusting and depending on
Him. Abraham, regardless of what he may have been feeling, did not hesitate to
give the one thing that would have been most precious to Him. Think about this…he
agonized over having to send Ishmael away. How much more would he now agonize
over sacrificing his only son? How often has God asked us for less than this,
and we have responded by making excuses? Something as simple as giving of our
time or talents to teach a Sunday School class, or maybe go to Bible college,
or go out onto the mission field? Maybe something as simple as giving of our
time to minister to someone who has a need? Giving of our tithes and offerings
to the local church? You name it. We are told in Proverbs 3:9-10, that if we
honor God with our wealth, and from our first fruits, He will provide for us
all that we need. This is not to say that we should give to receive, but God is
debtor to no one, and we will never out-give Him. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 tells us
that if we give sparingly, we will receive sparingly, and if we give
generously, we will receive generously. It further states that we must
determine in our hearts what we will give, then give it cheerfully because God
loves a cheerful giver. Why? Because when we give cheerfully it is an
indication of our faith in trusting God with what we have. Why do we hold back
that which belongs to God in the first place? God asked Abraham to give his only
son to prove his faith. Once Abraham took the steps to do that, God provided
him with a substitutional sacrifice (v. 13), and Abraham received the great
blessing of getting to know God on a more intimate level. It is one thing to
say that God is Provider because we read it somewhere, or someone told us; it
is another to give Him all we have and personally experience His provision. We
so often rob ourselves of the blessing of seeing God at work in our lives,
providing for us, because we hold back so much from Him. We allow the crooked
people who claim to be Christians determine whether or not we will give. We use
this preacher or that preacher, this church or that church, as an excuse to
hold back what we really did not want to give in the first place. When we give
to the church or to someone else, whether or time, talents, money, or any other
resource, we are giving it to God. If the receiver misuses it, then he/she will
be accountable to God. What will we be willing to give in order to prove our
faith, and show that we will follow the Lord, regardless of what He asks of us?
In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus told interacted with a few people who said they would
follow Him wherever He went, but when He called them to follow, they gave Him
excuses. “Lord, let me go first bury my father.” In other words, Lord I would
follow you, but my family… Another responded, “Lord, let me go say goodbye to
those in my household.” In Luke 14:25:33, Jesus told the multitude that if they
were not willing to love Him more than wife, child, father, mother, or
siblings, they could not follow Him. If they were not willing to take up their
cross daily, they could not follow Him. So I ask of us today, what are we
holding back from God that He desires us to give back to Him so that we can
prove our faith, and prove that we will follow Him regardless of what we need
to sacrifice in order to be used by Him, for His glory?
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