When Obedience Hurts

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac […] He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.“ Hebrews 11:17-19

Obedience doesn’t always come easily—especially when it clashes with personal comfort, past experiences, or expectations. This isn’t necessarily a failure of faith but a step in the journey of growth and healing. When God confronts our inner tensions, He reveals that the true battle isn’t against His will but within ourselves: our emotions, memories, and unhealed wounds.

Take Abraham. When God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, it wasn’t merely a test of obedience. It was a divine confrontation with Abraham’s deepest hopes and fears. Obedience, in that moment, meant surrendering what he held most dear—trusting not just in the promise, but in the character and faithfulness of the Promiser.

After Abraham raised the knife, God intervened and said, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”

In essence, God was saying: “Now I see that you revere Me above your most precious gift—the son you waited for. You trust not just My words, but My heart.’”

God still calls us to the altar—not always to sacrifice something tangible, but to lay down our deepest attachments, our comfort, and the things we cling to in fear. Like Abraham, we face moments where obedience feels like death—to our desires, our dreams, or even our understanding.

Yet these moments are not meant to crush us. They are meant to refine us. They expose the core of our faith: Do we trust God only when His will aligns with ours? Or can we, like Abraham, cling to the goodness of the Promiser—even when the path is shrouded in pain and uncertainty?

Ask yourself today:

• What is God asking me to surrender?
• Is my obedience rooted in trust or in fear?
• Do I trust God not just with the promise, but with the process?

Let this be our prayer:
“Lord, help me obey when I don’t understand, to trust when it hurts, and to believe in your heart when mine wavers. Give me the grace to release what I hold dear, knowing you are able to restore what seems lost—and that nothing surrendered in faith is ever wasted. Amen.”

Kay Alli