Isaiah 12

"And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me." I have been going through a hard valley in the past several months, and my faith has been tested sorely. I have wondered why when one is trying to live their life for the Lord, the sins of others can completely undermine their walk so that they nearly despair of all joy. I have had to lay someone very precious at the feet of Jesus not knowing if they will ever return to me.

I believe that occassionally the Lord will ask a sacrifice from us. Oh, not a sacrifice for sin. That has already been done in Jesus on the cross. This is a sacrifice of our heart and our love laid down in willingness because we want the Lord "more than these." When he takes us through the valley of sacrifice, he knows there will be tears, and anger, and sadness, but he also knows that at the end of the valley, if we continue to walk, there is hope in joining him "in that day." He sees something in us unlike His holy being and it must go. Then he meets us on the road of our life where he holds out his hand into which he wants us to place that which is so precious to us. We shout "No, this is mine, you cannot have this!" And he just calmly, patiently waits while we cry and despair and thrash. And finally in a heap at his feet we give it up. And when we finally do, their is comfort far greater than the thing we cherished could ever give to us. That comfort is union with Jesus.

Look into his eyes and ask him what he wants in sacrifice. You will know.