Lesson: What's Your Isaac?

What’s really important to you? Would you be willing to give that thing up completely if God asked you to? To give it up totally, so that you could never get it back again?

Many times, God asks us to do this. There are things in our lives that we simply must let go in order to fully obey God. Many are sins, of course, but oftentimes God requires us to let go of things that aren’t necessarily bad simply because He wants a sacrifice from us. Something doesn’t have to be a sin in order for God to tell us to let it go.

Let’s look at Abraham and Isaac. Isaac was the son that God had promised Abraham years before. He was a miracle child, because at his time of birth, Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. Isaac was Abraham’s pride and joy, the apple of his eye. Abraham loved Isaac more than anything in the world, because he was a special gift from God.

And God knew that Abraham loved Isaac that much; so much that the Bible says God tested Abraham. God put Abraham’s love of Isaac against Abraham’s love of God. He did so by telling Abraham to get rid of his son by way of sacrificing him to the Lord. Would God expect such a thing from someone? Was God advocating the murder of children? By no means! God was simply seeing if Abraham would obey the hardest task of all – giving up the son he so dearly loved.

And according to the Biblical record, he passed with flying colors. Abraham took Isaac to the mountain that God showed him and bound him up. He placed him on the altar and right as he was about to cut his son’s throat, the Lord stopped him, because Abraham had proved he would do anything for God. Anything.

In the bushes nearby, God placed a ram, which served as the substitute for Isaac.

What we can learn from this is that God demands a lot from us. And when He tells us to do something, we shouldn’t dilly-dally, but get right to it. Did Abraham ask questions? No. He simply obeyed. Did he look for a way out? Did he look for a substitute before it arrived? No. He simply obeyed. And he was blessed.

So, how do we apply this to our lives? In verse 16, God promised Abraham that He would bless him because he didn’t withhold his only son. That promise stands today. While none of us may become the father of nations, such as Abraham, God’s blessings still flow from His throne room.

So what’s your Isaac? Are you willing to sacrifice it, knowing that God may or may not provide a substitute? Are you willing to see the sacrifice to the end if that’s what God wants? Are you really giving your all—all that you are and all that you have—to God?