18常常在我们对主有了上好的享受以后,祂不要求我们为祂作什么,却吩咐我们将祂所赐给我们的献回给祂。……我们总是盼望在与主有了一段美好的时光以后,祂会吩咐我们为祂作什么。我们从来没有想到,祂会要求我们将祂所赐给我们的还给祂。当亚伯拉罕享受与神亲密的交通时,神没有嘱咐他要为祂作工。他从神领受了最高的要求,就是将神所赐给他的还给神。从起初,神就没有接受亚伯拉罕所有的。……如今,在以利以谢、罗得和以实玛利都被弃绝以后,亚伯拉罕得着了以撒,就是神所应许的后裔,他安心了。凡与以撒有关的都是出于神,且凭着神。……但忽然神进来,似乎说,“我绝不弃绝以撒,他是出于我且从我生的。但是亚伯拉罕,你现在必须把他还给我。”
18Often after we have had the best enjoyment of the Lord, He will not ask us to do something for Him; rather, He will tell us to offer back to Him what He has given us…We always expect that after having a good time with the Lord, He will command us to do something for Him. We never imagine that He may ask us to give back to Him that which He has given us. As Abraham was enjoying intimate fellowship with God, he was not commanded to work for Him. He received the highest demand from God— to give back to God what God had given him. From the very beginning, God never accepted anything that Abraham had…Now, after Eliezer, Lot, and Ishmael had all been rejected, Abraham had acquired Isaac, the seed promised by God, and was at peace. Everything concerning Isaac was of God and by God…But suddenly, God came in and seemed to say, “I would never refuse Isaac. He was born of and from Me. But, Abraham, now you must give him back to Me.”