The Sacrifice: When God Tests What You Treasure

God asked him to lay down the dream he waited years to build.

Before the platform.
Before the audience.
Before the emails and endorsements.

There was only a promise.

Adrian remembered the night God spoke it. Quiet. Certain. Unmistakable.

“I will establish what you build.”

He believed God. He trusted Him through obscurity, through rejection, through years when nothing moved except his faith. He built slowly. Carefully. Prayerfully.

And then, finally, it happened.

The platform took off.

The Dream Fulfilled

Isaac, known to most as Zac, sat across from his father in the office that once felt like a prayer room and now buzzed with momentum.

The numbers were undeniable.
The reach was global.
The influence was real.

Years of obedience had finally produced visible fruit.

“This is it,” Zac said, smiling. “This is what we waited for.”

Adrian smiled back, but something inside him shifted.

That night, long after the building emptied, Adrian stayed behind. He stared at the screens, the analytics, the proof that God had kept His word.

And then the voice came again.

Not loud.
Not dramatic.

Clear.

Lay it down.

The Ask

Adrian’s chest tightened.

Not the platform.
Not now.

This was the promise. The fulfillment. The proof.

But God was not asking for destruction. He was asking for surrender.

The same God who gave Isaac to Abraham was now asking Abraham to place him back on the altar.

Adrian whispered into the silence, “Lord, this is what You gave me.”

And the answer came, steady and unshaken.

“I know. That is why I am asking.”

The Altar

The next morning, Adrian opened his laptop and began drafting the announcement.

His hands shook.

Words blurred through tears.

He typed slowly, each sentence feeling like a step up the mountain.

“This platform is entering a season of pause and surrender. We are choosing obedience over expansion.”

Every line felt costly.

Zac stood in the doorway, reading over his shoulder.

“Dad,” he said quietly, “are we really doing this?”

Adrian did not look away from the screen.

“Yes,” he said. “Because if God gave it, He can ask for it. And if we trust Him, He will provide what we cannot see yet.”

The Ram in the Thicket

Just before Adrian hit publish, an email notification appeared.

Then another.

Then a call.

A door he never knocked on opened itself.

A partnership request that aligned with their original calling, but without the compromises the platform had begun to demand.

Same mission.
Different method.

God was not taking the promise.

He was protecting it.

Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God could even raise Isaac from the dead. Adrian realized the same truth applied now.

When God asks for surrender, He already has provision prepared.

The Lesson

God does not test us to take from us.
He tests us to reveal what owns us.

The hardest sacrifices are not sinful things. They are good things we love deeply.

A business.
A platform.
A reputation.
A dream fulfilled.

The question is never whether God will keep His promise.

The question is whether we trust Him more than the proof of it.

Scripture to Stand On

“Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.”
Genesis 22:2

“By faith Abraham, when tested, offered up Isaac.”
Hebrews 11:17

Reflection

What would it look like to give God what you love most?

Is there something you once prayed for that now feels untouchable?
Have you confused blessing with ownership?

God is not after your loss. He is after your trust.

Closing Thought

True obedience does not flinch when God asks for what matters most.

The altar is not the end.
It is the place where provision appears.

If you want a practical way to retrain your thoughts through praise and Scripture, this is a simple place to begin.

I created a free 7-day devotional ebook called Praise Before Prayer to help you shift from striving to worship and build a lifestyle of surrender. 

➡️ Free 7-Day Praise Challenge: 

📖 Want to grow deeper in prayer and spiritual confidence?
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Redeemed by Grace. Rooted in Faith. Living on Purpose.
Redeemed and Rooted
— S. A. Briddell