Sacrificing Your ‘Only Hope’…
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from
heaven a second time and said,
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars
in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take
possession of cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations
on earth will be blessed,
because you have obeyed me”.
(Genesis 22: 16-18)
There are so many things in our lives that are
very important for us. They play the major role in our lives. It can be our education, career, wealth, family, our interests, a future life partner, an
income-generating hobby, our little house and whatever things that keep us determined towards the goal and keep us going. These things are indeed a blessing in our lives. And
all of them are the great blessings God has given us.
For some of us, these become the only hope at
one moment in our life. For a farmer who has lost all his land and has one
small piece left behind for him, that little piece of land is his only hope. For
a person who has just started with his career, his first salary is his only hope in
terms of meeting his first essential needs. For a mother who has lost all her
children in a disaster but one, that child becomes her only hope. For an entrepreneur
who has had loss in all his investments but one, the remaining one is his only
hope to move further. And isn’t it surprising that God sometimes asks for that ‘one
and only’ from you? You may come to realize that God is asking you to give this
only hope you have in your life and you may just get yourself lost in the
thoughts of “what will I do without this”.
Where is your faith? Where is the faith you had
in the Lord who makes all impossibilities, as possibilities.
When we read Genesis 22, we find the incident where God is asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him. Now,
this little Isaac was the only hope Abraham had towards the promise God gave
him that, He will make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky and as the sand on the seashore. And here Abraham has the shock of his
life; God asking for the son who was given to Abraham so that the
promise of God would be fulfilled. Abraham would have had all the ways to find the best excuses to keep away his son from this; because
this little Isaac was the symbol of the promise God himself gave to Abraham;
The link to the great promise.
But what did Abraham do? Didn’t he put all his
faith even in that old age, even though bearing another son would have been an
impossibility through his human wisdom, and knowing the fact that he had waited for so long for this son? And can we see what was the result of Abraham just stepping to
do what God asked him to with the wonderful faith he had on God? The result is
Genesis 22: 16-18 which I’ve shared above. A point for us to realize.
Today if God is asking you to give him the only
hope you have in your life, are you ready to trust in Him and give what he asks for, so that you acknowledge Him as a God of all possibilities. God has showed us His
own example by giving us His only son Jesus Christ.
Today, if God asks you the only hope you have
in your life, are you ready to trust in Him and give it to Him? Decide..
May God bless you.
