“Lay your Isaac down.”

After a few days of only very muddled thoughts, this distinctly clear phrase was highly welcome when it flashed into my mind.

I’ve spent the last week contemplating the meaning of surrender. Although life has taught me that surrrender is the only process which leads to true peace, it still doesn’t come easily.

What if I could live with the reckless abandon of a child throwing a little pink elephant way up into the air? Laughing in delight with no fear or concern for the elephants’ well being.

No hesitation. Letting go completely. Trusting Someone bigger to catch it.

Amid these swirling thoughts, the story of Abraham and Isaac has been impressed upon my heart with new meaning. What was God actually asking Abraham to do? Sacrifice Isaac – the child whom Abraham had longed for so many years. In this son all of his dreams were coming true… through this son God was to fulfill His promise to Abraham. And he was to be sacrificed?

Yet Abraham did exactly what God asked him to do. He began climbing that mountain to the place where he built an altar – and prepared to sacrifice his Isaac. He didn’t know the end of the story, as we do now, about how God would provide.

Abraham acted in what we as observers could label a “reckless abandon.” Or, true faith and unwavering trust in an unchanging God.

Sometimes life feels like we’ve been climbing up a mountain for a long time. We just want to experience the joy at the summit. But to reach the summit, we need to build that altar. Whatever your Isaac is that you’re holding on to: dreams for the future, pain from the past, desires or doubts… lay it down.

Because when your hands open up to let go, you are in a position to recieve what God is waiting to place into them.

Throw everything away with reckless abandon, trust God to take care of it, and prepare to live life with a mountaintop, victorious kind of joy.

“Trust Me. Lay your Isaac down.”