Walk Away

One of my many favorite stories of the Old Testament is found in Genesis 22. 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 (v. 2). This was the son of PROMISE..the son given to Abraham and Sarah in old (really old) age...the son that was to be the birth of a nation...that son that Abraham loved.

So Abraham gathers up his son Isaac, takes him up the mountain, proceeds to prepare the offering, answers poor Issac's questions about the missing animal, then raises his knife to slaughter his own beloved son.

Many of us, when considering this story, find it impossible to comprehend. In applying it to situations other than parenthood, it is still a difficult task to surrender something that God has graciously given us. We often tend to think that it is ours to hold, when the reality is that without God's provision, it would not be ours to begin with.

Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me (v. 12).

The first commandment given to us, and reiterated in the NT, is to love God above all else...other people and other things. Sometimes even the things that God has given us to serve Him can become idols.

I say all this as I share some news. I love worship; anyone who knows me even a little knows this much. The most difficult part of leaving Florida was leaving the worship team. I still knew the promise, but at that particular moment in time, I had to sacrifice it because God asked...to go to a place with no promise, no opportunity, no worship team.

Yesterday I took a position as a worship leader for a church replant.

If I had not painfully sacrificed that thing that I loved that brought me so much joy, I would not have received this amazing blessing. Always remember that the test of release is not about God ruining our dreams, or changing His mind, or breaking His promise. Sometimes the promise becomes so fixed in our minds that it overshadows the one thing meant to receive glory....God.

He loves to make much of Himself, so if He's asking you to walk away from a dream He gave you...ask yourself if maybe the dream has become more important that God himself. We are always nothing without being fully surrendered to Him. Far and above promises and dreams, He longs to be the only person that we truly cannot live without.