Putting our Isaac on the Alter — by thursa
Last night, my Streams In the Desert devotional gave the Holy Spirit a wonderful opportunity to show me something about God’s glory, which I had not thought of before, so I want to share it.
The devotional referenced Genesis 22:16-18, which was God’s declaration to Abraham that because of his obedience to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son, God would bless him more than he could ever imagine! The devotional said, “Abraham gave up his one and only son at the Lord’s command and in doing so, all his desires and dreams for Isaac’s life, as well as his own hope for a notable heritage, disappeared. Yet God restored Isaac to his father, and Abraham’s family became ‘as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore’ (v.17).” Those sentences spoke very loudly to me about our marriage restorations. How many of us, when first faced with this opportunity, were totally devastated, because thoughts of a separation or divorce ruined our hopes and plans for our future? I was totally devastated!!! In Abraham’s case, his son Isaac was truly a promised gift from God; one that he was given after a long wait and one he was so joyous over finally receiving; his long awaited promised blessing. And then God asked him to sacrifice Isaac? Yes He did! Just as with our marriages, which are also blessings from God. God himself made a tri-fold bond with us when He witnessed our marriage vows, so we joyously received our wedding blessing and began planning and living out our futures. Then it was gone? No, it’s not at all gone! God is simply asking us to do just as Abraham did and lay our most precious and blessed gift of marriage on the alter. And He wants us to do that with complete faith that His purpose and plan is greater than anything we ever even dreamed of! Just as the devotional says, “we surrender all our cherished hopes and die to self — then He sends overflowing joy and His ‘life…that [we] might have it more abundantly’ (John 10:10 KJV).” If we lay our marriages on the alter; giving it ALL to God, just as with Abraham, He PROMISES we will have life more abundant!
Right after those first couple of sentences, the devotional then said, “and through his descendants, ‘when the time had fully come, God sent his Son’ (Gal. 4:4).” At first, I overlooked this part of the devotion and even overlooked it in prior studies! It speaks about Jesus and how that through all of the descendants Abraham was blessed with beyond his imagination, Jesus was brought to US! That says to me that had Abraham NOT placed Isaac on the alter, our entire past, present and future may well have been different! So Abraham had a major role in the greatest love story ever told through Jesus’ life. Jesus’ life is also a story that shows the full extent of God’s glory! If we are to do just as Abraham did, and lay our marriages on the alter, we too will play a major role in the future of many generations!!! If we don’t do it, our future descendants may never experience the greatest love story ever told or see the full extent of God’s glory! WOW! God has trusted us with such an awesome God glorifying role!!! NO pressure here, though! It is not like we have to do just as Abraham did and lay out our marriage sacrifice, without knowing what is going to happen! God has given us His word, which is His promise to us! If we will just take that step in faith and lay our marriages on the alter, giving them over to God, He promises that He WILL give them back to us more abundantly; so much more abundantly that we can’t even imagine it!!! Just as with Abraham’s sacrifice, our sacrifice will also show the extent of God’s glory!!!
The devotional wonderfully concluded with everything I was so blessed to realize through Abraham and Isaac’s story:
“The moment of your greatest sacrifice will also be the precise moment of your greatest and most miraculous blessing. God’s river, which never runs dry, will overflow its banks, bringing you a flood of wealth and grace. Indeed, there is nothing God will not do for those who will dare to step out in faith onto what appears to be only a mist. As they take their first step, they will find a rock beneath their feet. F.B. Meyer.”
So as Dan wrote in yesterday’s SOF post, “How many times must God show us His awesome power before we believe?” He’s said it; He’s shown it; and He’s done it!!!! Are we ready to receive the overflowing abundance of God’s blessings and TRUELY place our marriages as a sacrifice on the alter before our Almighty God?
Thursa, as I called to tell you, I was really touched very personally by this Heart To Heart post, because of what the Lord told me soon after I found out my husband was planning to remarry. I was praying with one of the fellowship members, when I heard the Lord say “(Spouse name omitted) is your Isaac on the alter.” and I was so overcome with emotion that I had to end the call! Of course, I knew in general terms what that meant, but it would be quite a few months before the Lord revealed more specifically what it meant, and that was quite a blessing. So I hope all of us will realize that when the Lord asks us to let our spouses depart when they want to leave and says that we’re not under bondage, in such cases, and then tells us to live in peace, He is really just asking us to put our marriages and spouses on the alter! And the point you make is so significant, because if we don’t or won’t do that, we’ll never know the blessings we’ll miss out on. But we can be sure that we’ll never have God’s greatest and most abundant blessings UNTIL we make that requested sacrifice, put our spouses on God’s Holy alter, and let them go; we have to give them up to get them back. And as Amy recently shared, how can God give us the new and improved marriages we want, if we won’t be obedient and trust Him enough to let go of our spouses and our old, dead marriages?
Perhaps we just have a difficult time understanding and admitting that our marriages ARE dead, and we think there’s something to hold onto. But when our spouse leaves us and wants a divorce or pursues a relationship with a NCP, our marriages ARE DEAD! And the sooner we realize that and give them to God; the sooner HE can resurrect them and restore them to something so much better and more glorious than ever before. But, just as with Lazarus and Jesus, death and burial ALWAYS come before resurrection!
Wow, is about all I can say. These posts hit me straight on. I originally gave my marriage to God, and things started to show promise. Then I let it become my one desire again, and I put it ahead of Jesus. As I took my walk tonight, this same message hit me. After all, if we can’t rejoice in the great things God has given us, how can we expect to be happy with our spouse, who is only human and makes mistakes. God doesn’t mess up. He has given us the greatest gift of all, and all we can do is mumble and complain about something else. When we can truly, and I mean truly, love Him, and understand Him, there is nothing more we really need. Our spouses are just perks. We really don’t need them to be happy. When we can be happy with us, Jesus and ourselves, there really is nothing else we need. That doesn’t mean He won’t restore our marriages, because He will, it just means He’ll give us little perks along the way. We will get our hearts desires, but number one should be His love. As the posts in the past say, “it just doesn’t matter.” All that matters is our love for God.
Amen, Thursa.
Romans 4:20-22 (New Living Translation)
Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
Thursa, your post was so encouraging. How awesome to realize that when we put our marriage on the alter Christ is glorified not only presently but in future generations. To think that Christ was from the lineage of Isaac and how important the events were that led to his eventual sacrifice for our sins. Wow, what an awesome responsiblility we have and what an awesome God we have to help us. Praise the Lord!