Host: Good morning. This is The Pursuit of God Daily for Thursday, October twenty-second. We continue in chapter two of The Pursuit of God, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing, with part four of seven. Today Abraham climbs Mount Moriah, and God speaks from heaven.

Reader: John, chapter twelve, verses twenty-four and twenty-five. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Reader: From A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter two, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing. How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”? This was Abraham’s trial by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead.

Reader: This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found sometime in the dark night, and he rose “early in the morning” to carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to God’s method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, “Whosoever will lose for my sake shall find.”

Reader: God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, “It’s all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to your tent.

Reader: Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.”

Reader: Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, “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.”

Host: Notice where Tozer finds Abraham's answer. Not in a way around the command, but in the character of God. Tozer is saying that in the dark of that night, Abraham settled two things at once: he would obey, and he would trust God to keep His promise even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead. The book of Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse nineteen, says Abraham was accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. Abraham did not know how God would do it. Tozer admits he was wrong about the method. But he was right about the heart of God.

That is what faith looks like. Paul says of Abraham in Romans, chapter four, verses twenty and twenty-one: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Faith is not having the plan figured out. It is being fully persuaded about the One who made the promise.

And look at what God gave back. Not only the boy, but an oath: in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Paul tells us in Galatians, chapter three, verse sixteen, who that Seed is: And to thy seed, which is Christ. On Moriah a ram was offered in Isaac's place. Centuries later, the Father did not withhold His own Son. The corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, and it has borne much fruit, reaching even to us.

So Abraham's surrender was not loss. What he laid on the altar, God returned, and with it a blessing for the whole world. Whatever we release into His hands is safer there than in ours.

Here is something to carry into today. Think of the one thing you are most afraid of losing. Before noon, name it before the Lord in plain words, and tell Him you trust His heart with it, even where you cannot see His method.

Host: Father, You did not withhold Your own Son from us. Teach us to trust Your heart as Abraham did. Where we cannot see Your way, make us fully persuaded that what You have promised, You are able to perform. Take the first place in our hearts, and keep what we place in Your hands. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Host: He that loveth his life shall lose it; he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. John twelve, verse twenty-five. Go with God.