Genesis 22:1 reads, “God tested Abraham.”
The Bible says: “God tested Abraham, and said…’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.’ So Abraham…went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:1-3).
You say, “Why would God test me?” First, to prove Himself faithful to you. Second, to give you an opportunity to prove yourself faithful to Him. Your tests are God’s proving grounds. They’re the way you graduate to the next level in His kingdom. That day Abraham proved there was nothing he loved more than God. And that was the day when God introduced Himself to Abraham as “Jehovah Jireh,” the Lord who provides.
It’s when you exercise your faith that you discover God’s faithfulness. That’s why God will test your faith. The tests get progressively harder as the stakes get higher. And the tests will undoubtedly revolve around what’s most important to you. What do you find your identity in? What do you find your security in? That’s your “Isaac.”
God will test you to make sure your identity and your security are found in Him alone. Indeed, He will go after anything you trust in more than you trust Him until you put it on the altar. Don’t worry; you don’t have to live in fear that God is going to take away what is most important to you. But if the gift ever becomes more important to you than the Giver, then the very thing God gave you to serve His purposes is undermining His plan for your life. And that’s why God will deal with it.
© 2018 CE