Trust

Abraham might have been walking slowly but his mind was racing as they climbed to the summit.  He had strife in his home and now his promised son was to be taken from him.  Sometimes ancient deities demanded the offering of a child and that day had come.  “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.”  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1-2)   The promised and precious was about to be taken away with no warning and no word from God about how it was going to end.  Sometimes God wants for us some things that we don’t want for ourselves.   We imagine in life that we will ask things from God; not that God may ask something of us.  Abram received his son back again but others didn’t.

Tests of faith are costly to us, usually because we lose something from our life.  Maybe a loved one or a cherished child that turned away from God.  Perhaps mobility was lost as the use of some part of our body permanently disappears.  Did we lose a partner through divorce or was it a simple request to remove a headache that went “unanswered.”

Of course, Jesus said to pray and we need to ask but if God answered every prayer as we wished, would we be as god and would He would end up the genie in the bottle.  We almost want to be God or at least we want God to do our will. Greater difficulty can come when we think we know His will and He doesn’t seem to act!   St. John the divine coined a term called the “dark night of the soul.”  which as Pentecostals we prefer not to deal with.  We are more comfortable with the bright day of victory yet if we walk longer than a few years with God, we will find the sun does set.   These dark nites could be called the test of love and in the darkness, we learn to live with mystery.  Our self-revealing God is still unfathomable in many ways. Our redeemed spirit and renewed mind can know Him a little but will never know all that He knows is important for us. We know that He is faithful, that He cannot be unjust and we know He is pleased by faith.  Hebrews eleven tells us that it is not receiving the answers to faith that pleases God but keeping the faith through the test. Being people that still love God when there is no answer from God.

Friend, trust Him when you can’t track him. Reward and complete understanding are reserved in heaven for you. You are pleasing to Him. If something is necessary for your destiny God will intervene.  Abram walked down the mountain with his son and with a greater love for God. God will again speak to you in your darkness to reveal His greatness and to keep your promise alive.