Taking a break from 2nd Samuel today. I thought of a passage during prayer meeting today and it was very convicting. Time to blog about everyone's favorite character from Bible children stories: Abraham!

So we've all heard the story about Abraham and his son Isaac. God promised Abraham a son with his wife Sarai and they waited many years. When it seemed likely that God's promise would not be fulfilled due to Sarai's age, she became pregnant with Isaac. After Isaac grew up a bit, God gave Abraham an odd command: sacrifice your son Isaac as a burnt offering. The very next day, Abraham went to do so. Abraham was all set to sacrifice Isaac and God stopped him from doing so. God provided a lamb.

Some people may wonder if this means that God is indecisive. God commands Abraham to kill Isaac and then provides a ram at the last second. I don't see this as God being indecisive but more-so seeing where Abraham's faith was at. God wanted to see how Abraham would respond to his request.

God's command was a loaded one that had many implications. God promised Abraham a son. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. So, if Abraham kills his son, how can he be the father of many nations? Abraham did not worry about such things. He trusted God fully in this situation, shown through his nearly instantaneous obedience to God's command. He knew that God is faithful and holds true to His promises. He knew that Isaac was a gift from God, something that he did not deserve. More than anything, his desire was to obey God and glorify Him.

This is something that I've been struggling with lately, lifting things up to God. There are certain things that I feel like if God were to call me to give up, my heart would hesitate and wrestle with Him. I've been finding that a lot of my prayers are conditional rather than those of genuine surrender to God's will.
"Lord, I lift situation x up to you and acknowledge that you are God and that you are sovereign. Let your will be known and may it be done...BUT I really really really want this to happen."

My prayer is that I can stop saying those conditional prayers, that I can stop thinking that my way is better than God's way and to fully trust and obey His direction in every situation.