Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
(Psalm 66:8-10 NIV)
Relax and rest, be confident and serene,
for the Lord rewards fully those who simply trust in him.
(Psalm 116:& TPT)
Have you ever read a story in the Bible and it really irritated you? As a kid, I heard the story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22) a number of times. Of course, since I knew the end of the story – that Isaac was not killed – as a child I never really thought through the great implications of that story. As an adult, though, it bothers me.
Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”
Hold on right there. “God TESTED” Abraham?!?! Like he let the enemy test Job? Like was tested Jesus in the wilderness for forty days? Why would God desire to test the faith and commitment of Abraham?
God said, “Take now your son, your only son [of promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Really, God?!? Take the son of the promise, the one you said would help Abraham become a father of many nations, a people too numerous to count, the one for whose birth Abraham waited twenty-five years, and now you want him to kill Isaac?!?
So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him.
Abraham doesn’t seem to delay. Early the next morning they were leaving to go where God said to go. Did Abraham tell Sarah about God’s call to sacrifice Isaac, the child of her old age? Did Sarah have a chance to say goodbye to Isaac?
On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham said to his servants, “Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.”
Abraham and his son leave the two servants who traveled with them, telling them they will go apart to worship. “And we will come back to you.” (v.5) Did Abraham really believe they would both be back or was he just humoring the servants?
They walk a distance and Isaac asks an obvious question: “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (v.7)
Abraham answers: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (v.8)
Again, is Abraham humoring Isaac in order to not worry him, or does he truly believe that God will provide?
Just for now, try to forget the end of the story.
Pause in this awful moment.
What would you be thinking or feeling? If God told you to sacrifice your only son – the one you waited for twenty-five years, the one who is the fulfillment of God’s promises to you – could you do it? Would you believe that God would either rescue Isaac or provide another son? Would you be able to pass this test? I’m not sure I would. I realize that Abraham walked more closely with the Lord than I probably do, so maybe if my faith was stronger, if my trust was deeper, if my obedience was more…. Maybe?? Perhaps you have wondered the same about yourself. Would we be able to trust God to this depth?
Thankfully, most of us will never be asked to do such a huge thing.
Yet, we are asked on a daily basis to trust God in the little things. Trust God for your prayers for a lost loved one to be heard – and answered. Trust God for the resources to pay that bill. Trust God for the wisdom needed to make the minor and more important decisions of life. Trust God for the strength and endurance to walk through this day of grief or parenting or upheaval or overwhelm. Trust God that his Word and Spirit are enough. Truly and fully enough.
Perhaps Psalm 116:1-6 could have been written by Abraham after the Lord provided an alternative to sacrificing Isaac:
I am passionately in love with God because he listens to me. He hears my prayers and answers them. As long as I live I’ll keep praying to him, for he stoops down to listen to my heart’s cry. Death once stared me in the face, and I was close to slipping into its dark shadows. I was terrified and overcome with sorrow. I cried out to the Lord, “God, come and save me!” He was so kind, so gracious to me. Because of his passion toward me, he made everything right and he restored me. So I’ve learned from my experience that God protects the vulnerable. For I was broken and brought low, but he answered me and came to my rescue! (TPT)
Indeed, the Psalmist closes this passage with, “Now I can say to myself and to all, ‘relax and rest, be confident and serene, for the Lord rewards fully those who simply trust in him.'” (Psalm 116:7 TPT)
May we, too, have full and complete, serene and relaxed, trust in our God.
God,
Thank you, God, for the Bible stories that help us better know you. We are grateful even for the ones that feel harsh to us, trusting that you don’t waste anything and that you teach us through all of them. Thank you for the unwavering confidence Abraham had in your promises and provision. Help us to trust you in every situation, both big and small. Remind us that you hear our prayers and the cries of our hearts and that you answer them. In times when we feel overwhelmed by death, darkness, vulnerability, brokenness, or sorrow, help us to trust you. God, save us in those moments and show us your kindness and grace. Help us remember that we can rest peacefully in your loving arms, confident and serene, knowing that you will reward those who simply trust in you. We ask all of this in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22 NIV)