The Test: Do You Fear God?

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” – Genesis 22:9-14, English Standard Version

God always tests His chosen person to prove him/her worthy of the destiny He has for them. Abraham – the man who God chose to bring about His blessing to a sick, dying, and fallen world in Genesis 12:1-3 – had to be proven worthy of such a global responsibility. So God tested him. God told Abraham to go and sacrifice his miraculously-born heir-apparent on Mount Moriah, some three days walk in the hills of Jerusalem from Beersheba. Abraham is ready to gut his son as a sacrifice to God when the angel of the Lord stops him. God had seen that Abraham not only had faith in Him but also feared Him when Abraham obeyed to the point of nearly killing his son.

Abraham feared God so much that he was ready to kill the only earthly thing that made his existence worthwhile –  the son through whom God’s promises would come to pass (Gen 12:1-3; 15:5-6), the heir of all his wealth (Gen 15:1-4), the one whose birth had stabilized his troubled marriage to a then barren Sarah (Gen 16:1-2), and the reason he had changed his name from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many nations”) (Gen 17:5). He had died to his ambitions and aspirations deeming God more fearsome that the non-achievement of his destiny. However, when he did “kill” his son, God not only proved Abraham worthy of the destiny He had promised him but, I think, Abraham had a greater appreciation and affection for his son as he had received him back from the dead. Moreover, in obeying God, Abraham opened the door to God’s provision. For it was here that God revealed Himself to Abraham literally as “the God who sees” the need and provides for it (Gen 22:14), a reminder that God will always provide miraculously for those that obey him fully.

May obeying God be more important to you than your perceived “failure” or what others may think about your commitment to God! May you obey Him even when it seems “unjust” to you! May you sacrifice that thing that is keeping you from walking in greater fellowship with Him! May you see the resurrection of God’s destiny and vision today! May God provide for you miraculously as you sacrificially obey Him!