The story of Abraham and Sarah came up in my weekly Bible study and I read it at home.
Gen 22:
1 Now it came about after these things, that
God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take now your son,
your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “
God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Now, while I was reflecting on how God tests us to see where our heart is, I flipped to
Psalm 11:
1 In the Lord I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain;
2 For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
4 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
5
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain snares;fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;the upright will behold His face.
This goes right along with what He showed me over the summer in
Psalm 50:
5 Gather my saints together unto me, Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
God brought this same Psalm to my attention about a month earlier because I journaled about it and here He was showing it to me again. God does not forget and yes, He sometimes tests us to see where our hearts are. Will we stick to our end of the covenant? Will we still love Him if He delays in giving us the deepest desire of our heart? Do we want marriage more than God? Or will we curse Him and say He doesn't have our best interest at heart? Will we trust Him or run ahead and try to do it ourselves? I have to surrender this area to Him just about everyday and trust that He knows exactly what He's doing even though He hasn't bothered to give me a clue
But I am willing to lay it all down on the altar, just like Abraham did. I even told God that if He was calling me to a life of singleness, I accept it because I KNOW that if that is truly God's will for my life, then it's really the best for me. I know He would never lead me astray.