Surrendering Plan A--September 13, 2021

Surrendering Plan A--September 13, 2021

"By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, 'It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you'." [Hebrews 11:17-18]

If your religion is just a means toward getting something on your wish-list, you might as well be honest that your real god is your wish-list.  But if your faith would allow you to give up the very things you thought you wanted most for the sake of the God you trust knows what you actually need, well then we've got something more than self-worship.

Maybe before we delve into what this looks like between us and God, let's just consider the difference on a human-to-human level.  From time to time, we all run across people who seem more interested in creating their idea of a "perfect" life rather than actually loving the real people they have around them.  You know, it's the couple where one (or both) just seem to need to be in a relationship with someone, so they latch onto another person even though the other might not be a really good fit, because they have some cookie-cutter picture of being able to go places with a plus-one.  Or sometimes people end up marrying someone who they see as a ticket to a comfortable lifestyle rather than someone they would be willing to give up their comfort for, and that's a red flag.  Sometimes you get the impression people have kids like they are a status symbol, but aren't willing to make the time to actually be around their kids.  (When I hear dads talking about having to "babysit" because their wives are out of town for a day or a weekend, for example, I get this vibe, as though the fathers just assume they don't have a responsibility to be there for the actual raising of their children.)  In any of those scenarios, something just gives the impression that other people are a means to an end: the picture-perfect life, the full social calendar, the feeling of being needed, or the status of being successful.

On the other hand, you probably know people who clearly act with love for the people in their lives even when it comes at great personal cost.  It's the person who is willing to set aside their dream job to move across the country for their spouse to do what their heart is set on, or to be closer to aging parents who need special care.  It's the parents who have their plan of life dramatically changed by a child with special needs, and they adapt or change their career trajectory to be there for their kid without giving into bitterness about it.  It's the parent who rearranges their weekly work schedule to be able to be home when the kids are home, even if it means other work gets done at odd hours early in the morning or late at night. It's the person who chooses intentional empty spaces in their life and calendar so they can be available easily when a friend needs a ride to the airport or a grown-child needs help babysitting their little one in a pinch. In each of those situations, and plenty of others like them, you get the sense that love leads people to let go of whatever Plan A might have been, not because it was wicked or immoral or bad, but because they love the other person more than they love Plan A.  When we trust God more than we want our wish-lists completed, even it means letting go of what we have at the moment, we have arrived in the country of living faith.

I want to suggest that this is the kind of thing the writer of Hebrews has in mind when it comes to Abraham's faith in God.  Even though Abraham had wanted children, and had come to believe that Isaac would be the one through whom many descendants would come, and even though it meant surrendering the very one he deemed most precious, the writer of Hebrews describes Abraham as willing to let go of control of his son Isaac when God called him to.  We'll see as the train of thought continues that Abraham isn't just casually willing to kill his son, but that Abraham dares to trust that God can even raise the dead.  But rather than clutching onto to control to preserve Abraham's wish-list (of children, a heritage, and the prestige of having many descendants), Abraham is willing to trust God even when it means letting go of this one whom he loved dearly, Isaac.

And in a way, that's the question put to us as well: not whether we'll hold a dagger to our children's chests like Abraham, but whether we'll dare to trust God more than we want control over keeping the things we have on our wish-lists.  When we see God as just a means toward getting things we want, we reveal we want those things, circumstances, or perks more than we want God.  When we see our faith in terms of, "I pray in order to get things," or "I go to church and share ostensibly religious memes on social media so that God will be good to us," we reveal that we really want a genie, not a relationship of trust with One who loves us.  That's what Abraham's daring faith pushes us to see--would I rather have my picture-perfect imagined picture of life and use God to get that put into place, or will I dare to trust God even if means letting go of some, or all, of my Plan A designs and plans?

I'm afraid too much of popular religion is drive-thru Christianity--that God is there to give me things as I dictate and doesn't get to redirect my desires, and that our relationships with God are basically transactional.  Abraham's story calls for something more daring that is willing to surrender control of our lives and wants in order to let God direct us.  That is surely scary to stare down, but it is also the best possible place to be, too, because God's hands are more sure than our own grip on our lives.

What might each of us be asked to surrender control over, or what kind of consumeristic wants might be we called to let go of, in order to live by trust in the God who loves us?

Lord God, enable us to surrender as you call us to, and enable us to trust that you know what you are doing as we let go.