WITHHOLDING NOTHING

September 26, 2024

He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12)

The great measure of our spiritual life is how far we are willing to trust God.

• If we don’t believe in God’s character, we will never trust Him with anything.
• If we are tentative or somewhat unsure of His character and goodness, we may trust Him in some areas, but there is a limit. If that is so, then there is a limit to how greatly God can use us.
• But if we are fully convinced of God’s goodness, integrity and faithfulness, we will be willing to withhold nothing from Him in faith. These are the men and women who are most greatly used by God.

This was Abraham’s experience. Abraham’s faith was not built overnight. After a long life of walking with God, He came to the ultimate test. God asked him, now over 100 years old, to take the son he’d waited for all his life and sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah (the same mountain, by the way, where God’s son would later be crucified).

Without hesitation now, Abraham loaded the supplies, took his son, and headed up the mountain. On the mountain, he built an altar, bound his son, laid him there, and lifted the knife to sacrifice the single most precious thing in all the world to him.

But the Lord never intended this to be the end result. Abraham’s (and Isaac’s) faith was the end result of this exercise—to show them both that God can always be trusted.

What are the limits of my faith? Where will I stop when God instructs me to take a hard step? To give something sacrificial? To go somewhere unexpected? To do something that seems uncomfortable? To witness boldly? To pray without ceasing? To admit my sin and clear my conscience humbly? To get up early and stay up late for His sake? To even suffer so that His life and sufficiency in me can be more brilliantly displayed for all the world to see?

Where will I believe and then no more? Or am I willing to withhold nothing from my faithful God?

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