When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Genesis 22:9
Abraham's Sacrifice by Rembrandt
If you are at all like me, and I like to think you are, you can look back over your life and see how God gave you an assignment that necessitated the learning of new skill. As those skills grew, you might have concluded, “Now I know the reason God is doing this in my life.” But as you look back over the years, you see that God had a completely other reason for making you proficient in a certain area.
Scripture records that Abraham built many altars, so he was obviously proficient at gathering stones and arranging wood. So, when God told him to build an altar and sacrifice his only son, Abraham repeated an action he had been practicing for years, only now he did it for a new and challenging reason. Abraham had built altars for years, but the signature purpose of this skill was now beyond his imagination.
Like Abraham, I too have found myself moving from place to place, sacrificing my hopes and dreams that I built around the location or the job I had. I have never lived in only one town, had only one job, or been a member of only one church or denomination.
When I was in Bible College, one of the key phrases that flowed from the mouths of those studying for the ministry was, “I just want to know God’s will for my life.” This is a fair and noble goal, to be sure, an ambition worthy of both princes and paupers alike. But in the twenty something years since my graduation, I’ve come to see that finding God’s will is both simple and profound, and like most things about God, it comes at a price.
Thinking Out Loud 