Trust Leads to Obedience (Week 3)

My 19-year-old son didn’t have the heart to come to me with the news. It was my husband who shared with me his disconcerting decision.
 
My son would be moving out our house, and into a less-than-ideal living situation. I thought I had taught him all the right things, but this new development made me feel like I had failed as a parent. He knew his decision was immoral, but he was choosing to do it anyway.
 
We couldn’t stop him from going because he was an adult. Instead, we had to make the hardest decision we had ever made. We told him if he went through with his plans that we could no longer support him. We told him we would always love him and he was always welcome to come back home— but he would be on his own financially.

​After agonizing over the situation, I realized that I had to give my son up. I had to completely put him in God’s hands, and trust Him to work this out.
 
In Genesis 22, Abraham was called to make an even bigger sacrifice of his son Isaac. God told Abraham to take Isaac to the region of Moriah to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. Even still, Abraham got up the next morning and took off with Isaac and two of his servants.
 
When they had enough wood, he told his servants to stay behind and he and Isaac continued on.  I can only imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind. 
 
Are you sure God?
We waited so many years for him.
You gave me this promised son.
Now I have to give him back again?
 
Yet Abraham tied Isaac to the altar, in obedience. How must he have felt, staring into his child’s face? Just when he raised the knife,  an angel of the Lord stopped him. God provided an alternative sacrifice— a ram in the thicket. 
 
The sacrifice of my son wasn’t nearly as big as the step of obedience God called Abraham to take, but it was still a sacrifice I didn’t want to have to make. Are there times God is asking you to trust Him with a decision with your son or daughter? Are there things you would rather hold onto or try and control? 
 
I received a phone call from my son on Mother’s Day, ten months after he left. He told me he was coming back home. It was the greatest gift I could have received. God had given me my son back just like he did for Abraham. 
 
Like Abraham, God calls us to trust Him with our children. And just like He provided a way out for Abraham, He will provide grace and mercy in your time of need. It may not look like a wayward child returning home, and it likely won’t be in your way or your timing, but we can rest in this unfailing truth: our God is good and trustworthy.
 
We can walk in obedience knowing our lives and children are in His strong and capable hands.

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About the Author

Angi Morrison is a wife, mom, Gigi (grandmother), and retired teacher. She lives with her husband in North Georgia and enjoys spending time outside reading, playing tennis, and walking.

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