Total Surrender to God

Genesis 22: 1-2, 9

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied.
Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Commentary:

One of the greatest struggles for the addict trying to recover is having the courage and faith in God to make the necessary sacrifices to get well. Often, we do a half surrender to God because of our unwillingness to scrutinize all of our actions, and give up all the things that lead to feeding the addiction. For some that might mean giving up dating, kissing your girlfriend, or sex if you are married. For others that may mean leaving your job, school, or friends. Consider the actions of Abraham, when he had an affair with Haagar conceiving a child out of wedlock because he didn’t trust God that he would make good on his promise for a son. However, when put to the test by God, Abraham was willing to sacrifice the very son that meant everything to him because God asked him to love him more. Abraham shows the addict the true practice of surrender by his willingness to give up everything to God as a holocaust. May we learn to be like Abraham and learn to trust that God will provide us what we need if we are willing to give up everything we want so God can give us what we truly need. God knows us better than we know ourselves.