The Lord is the best teacher; with Him we learn a little and then get the opportunity to live the truth we just learned.
In Genesis 22, we have recorded the seventh visit the Lord makes to Abraham. The stage is set with these words: “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” James makes it clear that God never tempts people to do evil (Jas 1:13). However, He can, and does, give His people tests to challenge them in their relationship with Him, or to show them things that are keeping them from the full life God has for us all. Job in the Old Testament and Peter in the New both compared these trials to the way the fire works to remove dross from our lives so we may be purified like gold. In the hymn “How Firm a Foundation,” the poet writes: “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.” Well, in this lesson, the heat for Abraham was certainly going to be turned to high! Here’s what God asked him to do: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (v 2). What? Offer up his son, Isaac? Immediately two big questions spring to our minds. First, does God want human sacrifices? The gods of the Canaanites did, but the God of the Bible? Certainly not! Then why this exception? The answer to that is earth-shaking, but it will have to wait for another lesson. The second question is just as important. If Isaac was going to die, what would happen to the Lord’s promise to Abraham? Wasn’t it based on Isaac? Good questions, but if we’re patient, God will provide amazing answers.