Would You Lay it Down?

'Here I am.'

Those three words are words never to be uttered unless you truly mean them! Because once you make yourself available to God, He WILL use you & it's often times in ways out of our comfort zone.

In Genesis 22 1-18, Abraham is asked by Almighty God to do the unthinkable~ sacrifice his own son and incredibly enough . . . Abraham listened.

Genesis 22:2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love-- Isaac--and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

Verse 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Talk about obedient! Abraham not only heard God's voice, he obeyed and as a result he had a dead . . . nope!! Not our God.

The only thing dead that day was a ram & Abraham's doubt/disobedience.

Verse 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."

Awareness, faith, obedience & trust~ Abraham hit a grand slam in the eyes of God on that day.

Are you willing to lay it down?

How many times in our own lives does God ask us to to hand something over to Him? Not literally kill our son, but there are so many times He wants us to just lay it (most of the time something we are worried over) down at Mount Moriah.

Stressed about work~ lay it down!

Stressed about your love life~ lay it down!

Stressed about the future~ lay it down!

Stressed about the dreams you have for your life~ lay it down!

Stressed because you don't feel good enough~ lay it down!

Stressed over your health problems~ lay it down!

To lay it down means to give it God~ to put the situation in His ever capable hands! Just like the old sitcom, 'Father Knows Best,' so does our Heavenly Father.

So why don't we trust more? Why do we desperately cling to our Isaacs?

It's because we want to call the shots, be in the pilot seat & try to dictate the situation, which I find ironic because if we were in control of the situation, why would we be petitioning/asking God for assistance?

Do you have any idea how much that obedience pleased God~ how sweet of an aroma it was to the Creator's nostrils?

There is no greater act we perform on our earthly mission than that of obedience, pleasing our Lord, bringing Him praise not just through our worship, but through our daily actions.

If God would've stopped with the blessing of sparing Abraham's son, giving him an encounter with an angel and telling him it was clear he indeed feared Him, that would've been enough, but not our God!

Look at what He does~ verses 17 & 18.

"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 the cities of their enemies. 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

What an unbelievable blessing!!

Although pleasing our God & Savior should be our primary motivation behind being obedient, it does make me wonder what blessings we miss out on because of our reluctance to simply fully, wholy & completely obey and trust?

I can assure you the missing blessings are awesome ones! Our God doesn't hand out 'lemon' blessings.

You have heard the old adage, 'Do as I say, not as a do.' Well God not only said (asked) Abraham & asks us, but He also DID~ see Isaac isn't the only notable 'only son' of the Bible.

For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

He laid it down!