Abraham was around seventy years old when God promised Him and his wife Sarah a child! Not only was Abraham promised a child, but Sarah was promised that “kings of peoples shall come from her” (Genesis 17:16). Abraham and Sarah both laughed at the thought of having a child in their age, knowing that they were no longer able to have children, but the Lord responded by saying, “is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:14).
In Genesis 22 God asks Abraham to sacrifice the one child, Isaac, that Abraham and Sarah had prayed for for so long and the Lord had blessed them with in their old age. Abraham had waited years to have the son God promised him and then he finally did! But after waiting all these years, God asks Abraham to go kill his only son. The son that God also said nations would be built upon. And Abraham says Yes! I do not know about you, but I probably would not have said yes. He brings his son up to the mountain to show that he is faithful to do what God asks him, even if he didn’t want to. Once Abraham gets to the top of the mountain and is about to sacrifice his son, God intervenes and tells Abraham to stop and gives him a sheep to slaughter instead. For God now knows that Abraham fears God (22:12). All God wanted was for Abraham to be completely surrendered and His heart to have a yes to whatever God wanted Him to do!!
I find God has done this with me a lot the last couple of years. There have been several incidences where I felt God has revealed something to me and given me a yes in my spirit to do something he was calling me to, but once I was completely surrendered and I had my Isaac on that alter, He said “okay, Calli that’s enough, I just wanted to make sure you would.” What I have learned from this is that God often just wants our yes! He might not necessarily want to take us where that yes will lead us, but wants us to be willing to go. Once my Isaac’s are all laid down, I am more abandoned and surrendered to Him. Then He gets more glory and I become more satisfied.
God reminded me of this this past month.
Going into our unsung hero month in Serbia, we did not know what city we were going to be in, where we were going to stay, or what our ministry would look like. At the end of last month, we began praying for our month in Serbia, asking God where he wanted us to go. This month was all about surrender and trusting in the Lord. Trusting that He was going to provide, letting go of our own schedules, making sure we were interruptible, and heading where the spirit wants us to go.
Before we got to Serbia, we found this cute Airbnb house that was within budget. We thought it would be nice if we could have our own house and be secure in knowing that we would have that for the whole month, but with it being unsung hero month, I really felt the Lord did not want us to book a place to stay for the whole month before we even get there. My team prayed a lot about this before the month and decided that we should wait to book it for the whole month and instead should only book it for a few nights and then see where the Lord leads. During this time, I truly believed that if God would get the most Glory by us staying at this house then the Lord WILL provide us that opportunity.
We get to Nis and the house is seriously so cute and perfect for my team. Truly a blessing! After two nights we were advised by locals that this was the best place for us to stay and felt peace about staying there for the rest of the month, the only issue was that since we didn’t book it from the beginning for the whole month now it was not going to be within our budget. We were talking to the landlord about it and He tells us that actually our budget will work, the only issue is that they had already booked it for one of the weeks we were going to be there. The landlord then left and as we begin to discuss how great that is, we can just get something else for that one week, there’s another knock on the door. And it’s the landlord again saying that they moved the other people and we were able to stay there the whole month!! So exciting!!
The secret dreams apartment was such a blessing. It was a space that our team could truly be a community. Where we could live and do life together and invite outsiders into that space. It was a place that we could gather in the morning for prayer and worship. It was a place we could brainstorm ideas for ways we could build relationships and do ministry. It was a place we could cook and eat together around a dinner table. It was a place we could come together at night and laugh and talk about our days. It was a place we could invite others into and let them see a glimpse of Jesus.
Secret Dreams was a little thing, but we were able to use it for the glory of God and give Him praises for allowing us to be there. However, if we had not said yes to God in the beginning and how He wanted us to go into the month, we would not be able to boast in how faithful he is now! But now through the process we had to go through we are able to give God the Glory and see His power, which is what He desires.
We knew God wanted us to wait to book the house for the whole month, but I was scared that if we waited, He would not give it to us. But that’s the thing, He did want us to have it. He is not a mean Father who wants to take good gifts away from us, but He is a kind loving Father, that wants us to have a yes to giving those gifts away if He calls us to.
Like Abraham when God asks Him to sacrifice Isaac, it isn’t that God actually wanted Isaac to be sacrificed, but it was that God wanted Abraham to have a YES. He wanted Abraham to get to that point of saying God I will do whatever you ask of me, whether that’s sacrificing my son, or dying for the sake of the Kingdom, or something as simple as where I am going to sleep for this month.
Abraham offered Isaac on the Altar because He knew that what God had planned was so much better than even the pain of his child dying. He knew that God already promised to make many nations from his offspring. God just wanted Abraham’s Yes. He wanted to know that he feared God and trusted Him. And then the Lord was able to get all the Glory when He told Abraham, “…do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (22:12).
And the more and more we abandon to God, ahhhh how much better it gets!!!
