‘By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”’
Hebrews 11: 17-18
Growing up, this story always rubbed me the wrong way. I never understood how someone who says “Thou shalt not murder” would tell someone to murder their own son. That was my nine year old mindset; however, I was looking at it all wrong. It didn't hit me until my freshmen year of college. I had so many dreams in life — just like most freshmen in college do. Some dreams were pure flesh and some dreams were from God. I wanted a degree that would lead me to making tons of money. I wanted to marry someone in ministry. And I wanted to build a family up. I was holding on so tight to a career path that brings the money that I ignored God when He asked me about my motives. Then one day during my quiet time with Jesus, I heard this whisper:
“Do you love Me more than your dream? Do you love Me more than the gifts I have given you?”
It caught me so off guard. God gave me the dreams and gifts, so shouldn’t I love them? He made me intelligent. I was using it to get a degree. He gave me the desire for a family, and I was going down the path to make money to provide for them. Shouldn’t He be proud? It was only then that it hit me. It wasn’t about murder. It was about seeing if Abraham held tight to God more than he held tight to the promise. We can take things that God has given us and turn them into idols by obsessing over them more than we love and care for God. That’s the tricky part. Most of our idols are perfectly good things. That thing I was holding on to so tightly wasn’t anything bad or evil or wrong. It was something good that had become too important to me. Pause to consider this sentence:
An idol is anything good that becomes too important to you.
Think about it.
What is your Isaac.
Maybe it’s your career. Maybe it’s your family. Maybe it’s your athletic or musical skills.
How tight are you holding on to it?
Are you willing to lay it before God and say “Do what you will, God. This is Yours, not mine.”
What are we holding so tight to that we aren’t even leaving room for God to hold. We can't hold so tight that God has no room.
God is a loving Father. Trust that He knows best for his child.
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