The Child of Promise: Part Three Out of the Ashes

Over the past few weeks I have faced many challenges in my life.  I have been put in a position of having to trust God despite of how the circumstances appear to be.  A repeated theme has been brought in my devotions over this last couple of weeks.  What started as a reflection on the promises that God has given me in my life has now turned into a running series on the theme of God's promises.

Scripture:

            “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’  Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”

—Hebrews 11:17-19

Observation:

            God had miraculously given Abraham Isaac, his child of promise.  Now after giving Abraham this child of promise, God seemingly wants to take back the gift.  Abraham a man of faith willing obliges God.  Many things must have been running through Abraham’s head as he walked Isaac up to the place where he was to sacrifice Isaac his son.  But two questions probably would of perplexed him greatly.  First, that if God really wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, what made God any different from the other gods who demanded child sacrifice as appeasement?  Second, If God really wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, how would God make good on his promise?  This passage tells us that Abraham believed that God could and probably would resurrect Isaac from the dead.  But what about the first question, why would a seemingly good God want a child sacrifice like the other gods, especially Isaac the promised child?  This idea of sacrifice would have been quite perplexing.  But when looking at this scenario in light of the future sacrifice of God’s son on the cross, we see a foreshadowing of the cost of God’s promise.  Maybe God was trying to show Abraham that although Isaac was promised God’s promises carry a huge cost, but that cost is not to be paid by Abraham or Isaac?  Maybe God was teaching Abraham that it is in our willingness to let go and give over to God that our true capacity to love is found?  Maybe anything less then complete abandonment of self-desire to God is narcissism at its root and thus must be cut down and replanted in God?  Maybe God was ultimately showing that he was the complete opposite of those other gods who demanded child sacrifice, so opposite in fact that the only child God demanded sacrificed was his own?  And maybe until Abraham let go of all self-desire he would never comprehend God’s desire?

Application:

            If you have ever driven by a forest or by farmland that had recently been burned the look is utterly devastating.  The destruction is evident.  But if you were to drive by a year later there would be all kinds of new life teeming from the ground.  If you were to drive by a few years later you would no longer be able to see the utter destruction, there might be clues of what had happened previously but the land would be alive and well.  The effect of the fire is that in destroying everything, it destroys that which had begun to choke the land of its ability to support life and thus the fire releases the land’s potential for new life.  New life grows rapidly in the ashes of the former.  The ashes of the former now serve as fertilizer for the new life.

            Sometimes in order for God’s promises to be fulfilled in our lives the former must be cleared out because our ability to support those promises has been choked out by weeds and other things that would suck the soil of its nutrients.  Jesus talked about people being choked out in his parable of the sower.  Our letting go and giving to God allows for that which would see the promises' potential remain unreleased to be burned and destroyed.  Creating clear and fertile ground for the promise to be realized.  Out of the ashes comes life.  Out of chaos comes order.  Out of abandonment comes embracement.  Out of sacrifice comes the promise realized.

Prayer:

            Lord, give me the strength to let go and give everything to you.  Lord, allow me to see your purposes in the burnt out hallows of my life.  Lord, create in me a heart that is ready to teem forth with life.  In Jesus name I pray Amen…