(Part 1 of 7)
⚓ Floatie: The Question Before the Silence
Genesis 22:1–2 (1)After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (2)He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”(ESV)
There are moments in the Christian walk when God asks a question that does not feel like a question at all. It feels like a preparation. It feels like a warning wrapped in gentleness. It feels like God pointing to the next chapter long before the page turns.
Before my identity shattered, God asked me only one thing: “Do you trust Me?”
I answered yes without hesitation. It felt like the right answer. It was the only answer I knew to give. What I didn’t understand is that God was not asking about my willingness to obey. He was asking about my willingness to survive what obedience would require.
Abraham was told to walk toward a loss he could not comprehend. I was too.
There are moments where trust is not about the future. It is about the unmaking God knows is coming.
✒️ Forge: When God Asks for Trust Before the Breaking
Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.(ESV)
Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.(ESV)
Identity feels stable right up until the moment it isn’t. We take for granted that we know who we are because we have always been the person we wake up as. We assume our memories tell the truth. We assume our roles define us. We assume our patterns are permanent.
None of that is real.
Identity is not the sum of memory, personality, history, or function. Identity is the thread God holds when the fabric tears apart. The world can tear. Trauma can tear. Memory can tear. Even the mind can tear. God’s hand does not.
When He asked me if I trusted Him, He was not preparing me to obey a command. He was preparing me to endure a fracture.
God sometimes asks for trust not because He intends to lead us somewhere, but because He intends to hold us together when everything else falls apart.
He asks for trust because He sees the break before we feel the crack.
⚒️ Anvil: The Precursor to Identity Death
Psalm 139:1–3 (1)O Lord, you have searched me and known me! (2)You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. (3)You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.(ESV)
Before the wreck, my life looked whole from the outside.
I had:
- a job I loved,
- a marriage being restored,
- children thriving,
- stability returning after a long season of struggle,
- prayer that flowed like conversation,
- and clarity in my walk with God I had never known before.
This is important: Identity collapse rarely happens in chaos.
It often happens right after a season of blessing. Why?
Because broken identity cannot be rebuilt until false identity has been revealed. And false identity hides best during seasons of success.
God was not dismantling my life. He was dismantling the parts of me that could not survive the calling ahead.
The question was His scalpel. The silence was His theater. The unmaking was His operation. This is the truth no one teaches in church: Sometimes God allows the soul to break so that He can rebuild the parts we thought were permanent.
🔥 Ember: The Trust That Carries You Into Darkness
Psalm 56:3–4 (3)When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (4)In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?(ESV)
The ember moment of this message is simple and terrifying: God asked me for trust right before He went silent.
He did not say why. He did not warn me. He did not hint that my entire identity was about to vanish. He let me walk into the dark with nothing but the memory of His voice.
What I didn’t understand then is what I know now: Trust is the bridge between who you were and who God intends to remake you into.
You cannot cross the valley of identity death with doctrine alone. You cross it with trust. And the trust is not blind. It is anchored in a God who sees the full architecture of the soul, even when we stand in the ruins.
🌿 Covenant Triumph: The God Who Prepares Before He Unmakes
Isaiah 42:16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.(ESV)
Here is the triumph of this first message: God does not unmake to destroy. He unmakes to rebuild.
The question He asked was not a test of worthiness. It was a covenant reminder: “You will not face this alone. Even when you think you are alone.”
Before identity breaks, God prepares the spirit. Before silence comes, God gives a word. Before the valley darkens, God sets a light inside the believer that the darkness cannot extinguish.
I answered the question before I understood the cost. But God asked the question because He understood the value.
The Practice of Obedience: Trust Before Understanding
Obedience must be embodied. It cannot remain internal.
This week’s threefold discipline:
1. Physical Act: Kneel Somewhere Unexpected
Choose a place where you normally stand strong — your office, your living room, your garage. Kneel there. Say aloud: “Lord, I trust You before I understand You.”
2. Relational Act: Tell Someone One Fear You Haven’t Admitted
Trust requires vulnerability. Tell one trusted person: “I don’t understand what God is doing here, but I choose to trust Him.”
3. Spiritual Act: Surrender a Question to God
Write down a question you’ve been silently demanding an answer for. Instead of asking again, lay it before God and pray: “I will trust You in the silence.”
Trust is not agreement. Trust is allegiance.
[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.
Walking With Christ 
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