Walking with Abraham: God’s Test

In so many ways Abraham’s life has always been moving here. It’s been 40+ years since God first appeared to him, making him the promise about a land, a nation, and a blessing. It’s been 15+ years since the promised son Isaac was born, and Abraham and Sarah have certainly been thinking about the future. All of their hopes were bound up in this young man. Or so it seemed.

And now this. God asks the unthinkable. A human sacrifice? Of Isaac, the beloved son?

For thousands of years, people have wrestled with this story, trying to make sense of it. At some point, though, we must simply recognize that God is sovereign and loving and that he has the right to test his people. He already knows how Abraham will respond, of course.

For Abraham who lived out this story and for Israel who later read it, they needed to know that God is always to be trusted. He is God, and his ways are beyond ours.

From our vantage point, we read the story and see hints of something else, something better. We think of another hill, another young man, another sacrifice.

After Isaac’s life had been spared and Abraham saw what God had done, he named this place, “The LORD will provide.”

God provided what Abraham needed most att that moment, and we serve the same God today. He will provide–and has provided–what we so desperately need.