THE ULTIMATE TEST
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Opening Prayer
Thank you for giving me access to the Bible, Father, when so many in the world are kept from it. Help me to take every opportunity to learn from it and live by it.
Read GENESIS 22
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Genesis
Genesis 22
1 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, 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.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled 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.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milcah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.”
23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.
Reflect
‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).Perhaps Abraham thought that he had misunderstood God. Surely he couldn’t be asking him to sacrifice his long-promised son! If so, why? What about God’s covenant promise (Genesis 17:4)? Yet Abraham was obedient to God’s command (v. 3). What a test! What faith!
Abraham’s journey to Mount Moriah (thought to be outside what is now Jerusalem) showed unrelenting trust in God and his provision. Notice he told his servants, ‘We will come back to you’ (v. 5). It seems he believed that God could restore Isaac to life (Hebrews 11:19). His answer to Isaac confirmed that he had placed his only son in God’s hands (v. 8). How ready are we to let go of something we love, for God’s sake? Do we really trust Jehovah Jireh, which means ‘the Lord will provide’? Remember, God provided a sacrifice twice (v. 13; John 1:29)!
This well-known story serves as an incredibly powerful visual aid to what God himself did. He gave up his only, much-loved Son as a sacrifice for our sake. Forevermore, we benefit from the provision made at great cost by a loving Father—for us! Do we respond to what God asks of us in faith and obedience, as Abraham did?
Apply
Is there somewhere God is calling you to greater faith in his ability to provide, to rescue, to help?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for what you have done for me through your Son, for all that it cost you. Please continue to strengthen my trust in you.
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