Steadfast, Immovable, Abounding

It had been three long days. Three days of waiting, three days of questioning, three days of wondering how long God would wait to reveal His plan. On the third day, Christ arose in victory, bringing with Him the promise of the resurrection. But there’s another “third day” we often forget about. Three days after being commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, the covenant child, the one through whom God had promised to make him a great nation, Abraham looked up to see the place where Isaac must be sacrificed. On our third day, God’s beloved Son was restored to life. But on Abraham’s third day came the moment he would be required to give up his beloved son.

If you separate yourself from our beliefs and the Biblical knowledge many of us have grown up with, the notion of a God who would command His follower to kill his own child – the child directly promised by God – may sound a bit…well, barbaric. Why would God require such a thing? Yes, God knew all the time He wasn’t going to make Abraham go through with it, but doesn’t that make it almost sound like a cruel trick?

If we don’t keep our feet grounded in the truth, we may start to think God is enjoying a “gotcha” moment while He keeps us intentionally in the dark about His plans. But the difference comes when you realize that God was not asking Abraham to stop caring about Isaac or to give him up. No, this was much bigger than Isaac, or Abraham for that matter. God’s command was a reminder of His own role as the Giver and Abraham’s role as the steward. David writes in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and all those who dwell in it.” We Christians talk a lot about “putting our ______ in God’s hands”. Maybe it’s time we admit the whole universe has been in His hands the entire time.

God taught me a lot recently about what it means to steward our blessings rather than possess them. There is an incredible peace that comes from accepting the proper role that God designed for each of us. Again, it doesn’t mean you are less grateful for what God has given you. In fact, in some strange and unexplainable paradox, you end up infinitely more grateful for each gift from God yet infinitely more aware that you’d be okay if you lost that gift tomorrow. I love what Hosea 6:6 says: “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” It’s not the actual sacrifice that God wants. What He desires is the willing acknowledgement of His all-encompassing Lordship.

What gets me the most about Abraham and Isaac’s story is that God gives back what was freely offered. It’s as if He’s saying, “I know you would have lost him for Me. But you don’t have to—just continue to steward well.” God supplied another sacrifice, creating a beautiful yet heavy picture of the day when the Son would not be spared.

We serve a God who is wise enough to know when we will grow more from learning how to keep the gift than from learning how to give it up. I’m sure Abraham looked at his son a little differently after that day (and vice-versa…it was probably a long, quiet, walk back down the mountain). When we come to the brink of giving up something we treasure, we always return from the cliff with a new perspective. Do not doubt it, when God asks you to sacrifice, He always gives you a beautified version of the gift or perhaps something even better.

After Abraham sacrifices the provided ram, the angel of the Lord speaks to him again, saying, “‘By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” God’s promise was a confirmation and extension of the original covenant with Abraham—in God’s grace, the blessing was multiplied because of Abraham’s obedience.

The apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:8, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” We are given time for the purpose of using each hour to give God glory. We are given churches to disciple and strengthen one another. We are given talents to point towards heaven like living steeples. We are given families to build a gospel legacy. We are given jobs to benefit the wellbeing of others and showcase God’s intelligence design. We are given positions of leadership to influence people towards righteousness. And we are given struggles to lead us to the Rock that is higher—because don’t forget, we steward the hard as well as the easy.

The Lord can care for all things so much better than us—why would we not trust Him with all things? Come to Him openly; come to Him expectantly; come to Him with open heart and open hands.

“He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Popularly attributed to Jim Elliot