Genesis 22: 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

This passage speaks of God’s restraint on Abraham when he lifted his knife to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. God tested Abraham to see the extent to which he really believed in him. When you read the full account, you feel the pain with Abraham. Talk about self-denial! You even dare to think why God would ask him to do such a thing. This was the child for whom he had waited his whole life and the one through whom God had said he would fulfill his promise to make him the father of many nations.  Nothing seems to make sense! But God would say to you and me “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)

Every child of God undergoes testing in order that his/her faith can grow. At some point, and repeatedly, you will come up against situations in which God will require you to simply trust him and do what his Spirit tells you to do. You know what challenges you are facing right now and I bet that among them is at least one for which you have no answer. What if you were to hand that one situation over to God and just back away? Exercise your faith this one time. God will make things proceed in an order acceptable to him.

In the case of Abraham we focus on the sacrifice he was about to make. But God was focusing on Abraham’s heart. It was about the thoughts and intents of his heart, whether he believed that God was who he said he was – his shield and exceeding great reward. (Read Genesis 15). Do you believe that God can do all things regardless of what circumstances look like? I promise you, the day you cross this threshold, you will experience joy on a level you had never known before.