A TEST FROM GOD

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son."(Genesis 22:10)

I was reading through Genesis 22 but for some reasons when I got to verse 10, I had to take a pause. I couldn't bring myself to read further. 

I simply didn't understand what verse 10 was saying. No matter how hard I tried, the story still wasn't clear. 

Yes, it wasn't my first time reading it but for the first time, I was seeing verse 10 in a different light. 

Someone was going to kill his son. 

Scratch that, he was going to kill his ONLY son. Plus, he had waited for many years before having this son we speak of. 

And now, this same man was about putting a knife to his only son's neck. It didn't make sense!

What was going on in his mind? 

Why would he do that? Because God said so? 

Yes, God said so but couldn't he have pleaded with God or something? I mean he didn't even argue or try to talk it out with God. It didn't make sense. 

It was the same Abraham that negotiated with God when He wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. 

He kept bargaining,.. "Lord, what if we find fifty... What if we find forty-five... What if we find Forty..." 

He negotiated on and on like that till God told him if he could find ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, he wouldn't destroy it. 

Now, when it came to a matter that had to do with his son, he didn't bargain. He just obliged. 

Couldn't he plead with God too? I mean, we are talking about his only son here not some slave. 

Then I got an answer. All my questions had just one answer and that we see in the first verse of the same chapter. 

"And it came to pass after these things, that God did TEMPT Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am." (Gen 22:1) 

NIV puts it this way, 

"Some time later God TESTED Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

It was a test from God. We don't bargain with God when He's testing us, we are to oblige. 

That's the answer! 

That's why it didn't make sense, that's why it seemed foolish to human reasoning. 

A test from God does not necessarily have to make sense. 

Abraham could bargain or negotiate with God when it had to do with Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. 

But when it came to killing his own son, he couldn't do the same because that was a test for him. 

Do we see the difference? 

Slaying his son was a test but destroying Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't a test! 

So, God didn't need his opinion when he wanted to test him. What God required of him was just to do what he was told. 

I guess this should explain why our "God Why?", "God when?" questions have always been left unanswered. 

A test shouldn't be welcomed with question rather, it should be welcomed by complying to all that God has said. 

This isn't to say that God is a tyrant or that He will force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. No! 

God respects man's freewill. If you don't want to do it, He won't force you. He didn't force Abraham did he? 

He simply gave the instruction to him and it was left to Abraham to oblige or do otherwise. 

I'm not saying it's easy to be put to test but if a gold isn't put through fire, its beauty won't be seen. 

The goal is that as we heed to his instruction, we begin to look like Him. 

Abraham wasn't called the father of faith for nothing. He was called the father of faith because He obeyed God even when his son's life was on the line.

It doesn't come cheaply, does it? God is willing to work on us but the question is; can we submit like Abraham did? 

Let's think about it. 

You're a believer daily 

God has blessed you.