If God asks…

As Lent approaches, I am thinking about what, if anything, I will give up, As a Protestant, how and if I observe Lent is a personal decision; it’s between God and me. The Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to fast, and God instructed the Israelites to give up yeast before Passover. What, if anything, is God asking me to give up?

Years ago, I was in a Bible study and confessed that I was sometimes afraid of what the Lord might ask me to do. “What,” I pondered, “if He asked me to kill my child?”

Immediately, a friend chimed in, “He would never ask you to do that!” A pastor’s wife, she was voicing the theology most of us carry of a loving God who brings life, not takes it.

The problem is that God did ask someone to kill their child.

God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” Genesis 22:2-3

And Abraham obeyed this command, following it to the point of tying Issac down and taking the knife in his hand.

Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you. Genesis 22:16-17

We take comfort in God stopping Abraham from completing the act, bur Abraham did not know that He would. That, my friend, is radical faith.

Has God ever asked you to offer to Him something you hold dear? A relationship? A hobby or habit? Your reputation? Your profession? Your wealth?

I still hesitate in asking God’s advice because I am not sure I am ready to follow it. Mentally, this makes no sense. God is Creator, and all knowing, and the source of all truth and wisdom; why would I hesitate to follow Him? I regularly ask Him to do what I want Him to do (healing, peace, reconciliation, change). Why do I fear what He may ask me to do? Is this not the double-mindedness that James warns us of in his letter (James 1:6-8)?

What if God asks me to give up something I hold dear?

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Mark 110:21-22

It’s hard to give things up. Part of cleaning out my garage has been getting rid of stuff. A lot if it is not stuff I hold dear, but stuff Nick held onto. Even after three and a half years, I find it challenging and emotionally charged to rid my garage of his stuff.

My daughter reminds me that when we are asked to give up some of our treasure, it may not be about us at all. Perhaps God knows that someone else needs it more than we do.

In a study years ago, the teacher asked, “What are you holding onto so tightly that it hurts when God rips it from your hand?” Because God does not want us to value anything more than we value our relationship with Him. Not our reputation, not our family, not our money, not even our theology or our plans, and certainly not our stuff.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

So, I hesitate to ask for God’s advice. Am I ready to follow it? His advice is not one of many various options from which I can pick and choose what I want. His advice, His word, is life.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. Matthew 7:24

What is God asking you to give up? Ask, but be prepared to follow.

Betsy