Giving Up Our "Isaac's"

            I was talking with a friend this week about how life seems to want to wrangle us to the ground, leaving us breathless with frustration and wringing our hands, while trying to figure out what in the world to do!

            One of my favorite movies, “Facing The Giants,” has one scene where the wife is faced with the frustration of being unable to get pregnant.  Her husband asks her if God doesn’t give them children, would she love Him [God] anyway?  She didn’t immediately answer, because the void left her broken.  

           Later after another visit with the doctor that said she was not pregnant, she looked up toward the heavens and said, “I will love you, anyway!  I will love you!”  That scene brings me to tears every time I see it.  She, gave up her “Isaac.”  She gave to God that which she clung to, because of the pain of not having children seemed too great to bear. 

            Another friend recently shared how she had to give up something she loved.  She said it wasn’t something she really wanted to do, but God had his own plans, and her life had turned in such an expected way, the only way to deal, was to give up this particular “love!”  Following much prayer and discussion with her husband, she made the hard choice.  She will tell you in a heartbeat, God blessed her and her husband’s decision.  God opened doors in areas she didn’t even realize needed opening.   

            In my own life, I have been faced with similar situations.  There are changes which rattle my core, and I have prayed for direction.  There was a time this week, when I heard that “voice within me” ask, “If……(this) …..doesn’t take place, will you love ME anyway?” 

            It made me remember the scene in the movie, “Facing the Giants.”  I had to look hard at myself and weigh my choices and recognize who is in control.   I looked to the Lord and said, “Yes, I will love you anyway! I will!”  In the movie, the couple had children, even though the doctor said they wouldn’t.  How will my situation turn out?  I haven’t a clue.  But I have to trust that if God chooses to change MY plans, then HE has something better!

            We’ve become a world where those things we believe we need (and particularly that which we can buy), is a done deal!  With credit easily available, to almost anyone ---  even though there may be a horrific interest fee to pay ---  we can buy those items we feel necessary, even if they aren’t a “necessity” at all.

            For those items we cannot purchase, even with cold hard cash, it’s a little more complicated, but people will still go to great lengths to attain their ideals from their “bucket list” or human desires, even if it costs them dearly, because of bad choices.

Once Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden, we’ve been a people who were promised a life of trial and tribulation.  It’s in this format we are taught to trust in a God who knows all things.  Life’s not easy.  It’s not supposed to be.  Sometimes, when we are faced with not getting what we want, it may not be that God is saying, “No.”  Instead it may be “It’s not the right time,” or “I’ve got something better in mind.” 

Giving up your “Isaac” may be the hardest --- and best --- thing you could ever do.  It may be just what you need to strengthen your faith and build your trust.