God-Fearing and Withholding

God tested Abraham by directing him to offer his only and beloved son Isaac as a burnt offering, and Abraham obeyed God without question.  Three days later after the altar had been fashioned, the wood placed in order, Isaac willingly bound and laid thereon, Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son.  The Angel of the LORD cried out from heaven and said in Genesis 22:12:  "And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."  I was quite struck by what God said and how He said it.

God did not say in so many words, "Now I now you fear God since you offered your only son to Me."  One reason why this is significant is because it is common for people to point to the things they do to justify themselves as righteous or being "God-fearing."  They go to church, read the Bible, give generously to people in need.  They could be like King Saul who masked his disobedience and greed by sparing the best of the flocks and herds of the Amalekites to offer a sacrifice to the LORD when in God's estimation to obey is better than sacrifice.  A Pharisee in a parable Jesus told illustrates the one well who looks to their deeds as worthy of favour in God's eyes (and thus despise others who do not measure up to their standard) in Luke 18:9-12:  "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰ "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'"  This man justified himself by what he did, and did not consider what he withheld from God.

A passage that speaks powerfully on the danger of withholding from God under the guise of giving all is seen in Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira.  They sold a possession, schemed to kept back part of the proceeds for themselves and gave with the clear claim they gave all.  In lying to the Holy Spirit they lied to God by withholding part of the proceeds, and Ananias and Sapphira within hours died one after the other.  It is likely many would have touted their righteous deeds and pious generosity when it masked greed, covetousness and deceit God knew about.  In connecting this passage with Genesis 22, our decision not to withhold from God what is most precious is a better indicator if we are walking in the fear of the LORD than all we give Him.  Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira lay the larger portion at the disciples' feet, but their choosing to withhold from God exposed a lack of the fear of God by their deceit.  The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus sad because he was unwilling to obey Jesus and give all.  His choice to keep his goods was not an indictment against having possessions but of the heart that withholds obedience from Christ.

As we are to honour God with our lives and possessions, we ought to honour Him with our words.  After God spoke to young Samuel about what He was going to do, the high priest Eli pressed him with an oath to tell him all God said.  1 Samuel 3:17-19 reads, "And he said, "What is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you." ¹⁸ Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him." ¹⁹ So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground."  Because God was going to bring judgment upon Eli and his house, it would have been tempting to withhold from saying all.  But Samuel told him everything and hid nothing.  Notice what followed:  Samuel grew in maturity, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

Isn't this what we desire as followers of Jesus, to grow in spiritual maturity, to experience the LORD's presence and for our words to count?  If we are held back in our walk with our Saviour, the lack of our fear of God can have something to do with it.  Rather than justifying ourselves for all we have given, a better indicator of our hearts is to consider if we have chosen to withhold anything from God.