"And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
Genesis 22:16-18
This is part of the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, and I know that the story can read like God is asking something mean or playing games with Abraham's emotions, but honestly I think this was an essential trial that Abraham had to go through before he could realize the true relationship between himself and God. Since Abraham's story involves almost being sacrificed himself, human sacrifice was one of Abraham's hot buttons, and one reason that Abraham followed the Lord is that the Lord saved him from that, and he knew that there was hope with him for a future and a legacy of family. So, he goes through a lot with God and gets to know him better through his life, and gains the gift a miraculous son, promised to him by God... and then is asked to give up all the things that matter to him... the reasons he started to follow him in the first place.
I think it was God helping Abraham to realize that God was more important than everything else he had wanted. ... And I think that a similar realization comes to all of us at one point or another. Perhaps not in the same dramatic way, but it's something we have to learn in order to put God first in our lives, rather than whatever else we believe comes first instead. Today, let's consider our priorities and try to learn the lesson of what comes first in life before it hits us more dramatically. :) As we do, we will find that the blessings of Abraham are natural products of putting God first in our lives.
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