Right Here Now

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."
(Genesis 22:1 – ESV)

The text says that God was testing Abraham “after these things”. What things? The background to this is helpful in our understanding of this scenario as it goes forward. Specifically he had just sent Ishmael from the camp (Genesis 21:14). Abraham had done it his way, and now, having lost Ishmael, he would have to seemingly let go of Isaac also! Was Abraham supposed to just let go of God’s promise? Why would God now tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?

Imagine how difficult this whole event must have been. We only see the resolve to do what was commanded, and this is to drive the point home, no other words are given so as not to dilute the potency of the pressure which must have been palpable. Looking at the text and comparing it to events in our lives, we can all feel it. It was tangible; Abraham could taste the torment of those moments, as he drove Ishmael out of the camp, as God told him he would have to sacrifice Isaac, as he took the long journey up the mountain, all the while knowing what was about to happen. Abraham had to be fully committed right then in the now, or he would fail in the near future. In a sense, it isn’t hard to see our own lives within this story.

We often have to go through a long haul and often against heavy odds, and have to suffer many stresses and struggles, loss and anguish, to follow after God when it seems He is actually coming against us. This passage teaches us that we must still have faith; we must still trust God even when our eyes see things that tell us not to. We must truly surrender our hearts to God. We must let go of our own way, of trying to help God out, not wanting to wait, not wanting to have to go through any pain, not wanting to sacrifice something we worked so hard and so long for, not wanting to throw it all away, not wanting to admit it was all wrong. We must stop trying to justify ourselves or our actions, stop trying to add our works to His words, and stop trying to hide behind some pretense to good motives. It is time for full commitment, right here now.

After these things, this is when the test comes. After having done it our way, now we try and do it God’s way, and it seems to be getting worse. The life we dreamed about and we think God has promised us is being torn apart by God Himself! This text should help us to stop guessing about why some things just don’t seem to go the way we think they are supposed to. We abort our assignments because we think God is going to abort our dreams. However, if Abraham, who is our father in the faith (cf. Romans 4:1) had to learn to fully commit then so do we. Abraham kept on believing God, and that is why he could keep on going forward in faith.

We are often asked, “Why does it always seem like everything goes wrong, even when I try and follow God?” Sometimes it is because we just try God on a trial basis. We will follow until it doesn’t go our way, but that is the problem, we still want to go our way. We want God to make the path nice and easy and then we will follow; we will only repent and obey to the extent that it satisfies our own desires. Instead God must be what we learn to desire, what we learn to place our value in, and then as we treasure Him above all else we will pass the tests, we will learn God, love God, and live God, and not worry so much about our own agenda. Then when it rains we won’t complain, when we lose things we gain God, and we will press on in faith.

It is time to stop pretending and time to be repenting. Just because they are spelled with most of the same letters doesn’t mean you can get the order wrong. It is time to stop trying to get God on our agenda, and time to start getting on God’s agenda, no matter what we might have to do. We have to give up our right to govern ourselves according to our tired old selfish nature. Partial commitment will lead to part time Christianity, with the eventual downgrade, back into the old way you never really left from. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26). We need to commit, or else we will quit. It is time to let our Lord be our Lord, for real. Things may seem cloudy in the short term, but we need to have a long term vision about what God is doing in us and where He wants to take us, and learn to value it, even when we are made to change course, or we won’t act right. Here. Now.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©