i am back to reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer…

without fail, chapter 2 on the topic of “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing” kicks me in the tail. the majority of the chapter is about God’s testing of Abraham to see if he would kill his son and in doing so, choosing God over his love of his son. God obviously stops him right before he does so.

Genesis 22:12, 15-18
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” … The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

to deny ourselves is to give up our greatest loves and possessions so that God can dwell within us free of competition… leaving us with the blessedness of possessing nothing.

excerpt from Chapter 2:

“The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham’s life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.”

wow…

what does God need to cruelly remove from your life to be effective in making Him first? just something for you to feast on today.