Either/Or

Abraham raised his knife and blessed His God.
Fully intending to obey his God and fully believing God would still fulfill His promise.The greatest act of Abraham’s faith was leaving the fulfilling up to God.
-Joanna Weaver

One of my big problems is that I can't do both. From my perspective, I either obey God or I get what I want, but never both. Obviously, everything is not about what I want. But let's be honest, that's the way I view life. So I have two choices. Get what I want, or don't. But this quote made me realize...there is a third choice. The third choice is having enough faith to believe I can have both. Abraham had enough faith and a big enough God that he knew God could do it even if he couldn't understand how. Abraham was willing to put a knife to his son because He knew God could raise him from the dead.

By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. Hebrews 11.17 (MSG)

So now my third choice is to believe both at the same time. Here's how I see it. (Now I will make a list because that makes me feel accomplished.)

1. I obey and I get what I want. Sometimes I want the right things so it's easy to obey and still get what I wanted in the beginning.



2. I obey and God changes what I want. Sometimes my obedience will cause God to change what I want to match what He wants. So then I still get what I want but more importantly, He gets what He wants.



3. I obey and I deal with not getting what I want. Sometimes the answer is just no. Sometimes I want the wrong things. Sometimes God doesn't explain. But in the end, I was obedient. And this opens up an opportunity for me to know God in a way I didn't know before. He is now my comforter, my strength, my support, my guidance, my hiding place, and the healer of my broken heart. So technically I still didn't get what I originally wanted. And not because God is mean. But because God wants the best for me more than to make me happy. And the best thing for me is to know God in a new way and find a new place with Him. And yeah, I want that.