DON’T CLUTCH

Power doesn’t do any good until it is released. That’s true of mechanical power or electrical power and especially true of the power of God.

To release is to let go—but letting go is hard to do.

For instance, who can easily let go of their life? Yet in Luke 2:24 Jesus said, “For whosoever will save (hold onto, clutch) his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose (let go of) his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”

I kind of believe Jesus was remembering Abraham and Isaac as He said that. What a moment it must have been when God asked Abraham to sacrifice—to let go of—his son’s life! And it was so much more than that. It meant letting go of his future generations that God had promised would be born through Isaac.

Most scholars believe, also, that Isaac was old enough to understand full well what was happening. He had to be a willing participant in that ultimate act of obedience and letting go.

Yes, that had to be an awesome time of decision. But there was a moment coming that would live forever in their hearts and even now brings faith to our hearts.

Think of it. Abraham keeps looking for the way out that he is sure God will provide—but nothing happens until he takes up the knife and begins to plunge it into Isaac’s heart.

And that’s when it happened.

The instant he and Isaac had truly and actively let go of Isaac’s life, God stopped the knife and revealed the substitute sacrifice.

When they let go it released God’s power to give them back the very thing they had let go of—but in a new way.

Neither of their lives would ever be the same again. They had experienced the awesome power of God together.

The lives of the promised generations that Abraham thought he was sacrificing have each been touched by this great lesson.

When you think about it, Isaac’s life never was theirs to begin with. Did they really think they could have held on to it if God had wanted to take it?

It will never be true that by human grasping and clutching we can hold onto or make more secure what God has placed in our hands.

What a lesson!

But there’s more. Let’s illustrate it this way. Hold out your hand, palm up. Now close your fingers and clench your fist.

Can you see now that you can hold more in an open palm than you can in a clenched fist? So much fuller our lives are when we let go and open up our hands.

This note was found in the papers of a missionary martyr: “He is no fool who lets go of what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Like the song says, “Let go and let God have His wonderful way.”

Don’t clutch!