Passing the Test

Genesis 22:1-2

Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Good morning Zebras,

I continue to process what God taught me at retreat and I am beginning to think the retreat was more for me than for those who attended.

Getting ready for retreat was a difficult task. I will spare you all the details but I felt God was asking me to do something that made no logical sense. I kept taking it to God, but He kept confirming I had heard Him correctly.

In hindsight, it is easy to see it was a test.

At Meribah, God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come forth, but Moses in his anger and frustration struck the rock instead. Because of that Moses was denied access into the Promised Land.

People often think this is a very harsh punishment for a very small indiscretion. I mean Moses had put up with those whiny Israelites for forty years. Anyone else would have snapped long before he did.

But that isn’t the point, the point is God TOLD Moses to do it a certain way and he didn’t do it. He did it his way, and God wasn’t pleased. God’s work must be done God’s way.

When God asked Abraham to give him Isaac, the son he loved, He knew Abraham would do it. He knew Abraham loved Him more than he loved his own son, but until Abraham raised the knife to slay Isaac I bet Abraham had his doubts.

He probably knew he was supposed to love God more than anything else, but did he? Had he gotten so fond of Isaac that he had let him take God’s place?

That moment on the mountain God put all of Abraham’s doubts to rest.

When God puts you to the test it is so you can see “what you are made of” and when He asks you to give up something, it doesn’t mean He is actually going to take it away. It just means you need to be willing to let it go.

Love,
Jill