The godly art of letting go

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.” Heb 11:17 NKJV

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham to leave his country, his family, and his security. When he said yes to God, he traveled an unfamiliar path to an unknown destiny based on the strength of a promise. Without hesitating, the seventy-five-year-old patriarch “went, as the Lord had told him” (Ge 12:4 NIV). Now fast-forward twenty-five years and Isaac is born; the miracle son who would fulfill God’s promise that through Abraham’s descendants “all the nations of…earth [will] be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice” (Ge 26:4-5). Then God makes a heart-wrenching demand: “Take your son…whom you love—Isaac—and go to…Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering” (Ge 22:2 NIV). And in obedience to God’s Word, “the next morning Abraham got up and…took with him…his son Isaac” (v. 3 NIV). God’s promised blessing was contingent upon Abraham’s willingness to let go of what he loved most. Holding on to Isaac would have been natural and understandable, but it would have short-circuited the promised blessing. So, what are you clinging to that’s blocking God’s blessing in your life? Is it your children, friendships, reputation, power, possessions, comfort, habits? Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac was the supreme act of faith. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.” How could he do it? “Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life” (Heb 11:19 NLT). Abraham believed that, with God, letting go never means losing but getting back something better. And you will too!

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