It's difficult to study the subject of money without being impressed by the power it represents-the power to bless and the power to curse. Many of the problems we discuss in this issue stem at heart from man's inability to use money and possessions as God intended. 1 Using the story of Abraham and Isaac, A. W. Tozer articulates powerfully man's struggle to reject the craving for things and replace it with the calm of total obedience to God.

Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough to have been his grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms, he was an eager love slave of his son. God went out of his way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years, and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood ...