Abraham in the Crucible

Read Genesis 22. Out of nowhere and without explanation, God sud-

denly calls Abraham to offer his own child as a burnt offering. Can you

imagine how Abraham must have felt? It was a totally revolting idea

that a holy God should request that he sacrifice his own son. Even if

Abraham thought that this was acceptable, what about God’s promises

of an inheritance? Without his son, the promise would be gone.

Why did God ask Abraham to offer this sacrifice? If God knows every-

thing, what was the point?

God’s request and its timing were not random. Indeed, it was calcu-

lated to exact the deepest possible anguish, for “God had reserved His

last, most trying test for Abraham until the burden of years was heavy

upon him, and he longed for rest.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and

Prophets, p. 147. Was this the test of a mad God? Not at all, for “the

agony which he endured during the dark days of that fearful trial was

permitted that he might understand from his own experience something

of the greatness of the sacrifice made by the infinite God for man’s

redemption.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 154.

This was just a test—God never intended for Abraham to kill his son.

This highlights something very important about the way God some-

times works. God may ask us to do something that He never intends

for us to complete. He may ask us to go somewhere He never intends

for us to arrive at. What is important to God is not necessarily the end,

but what we learn as we are reshaped by the process.

Jesus may have been thinking about Abraham’s experience when

He said to the Jews, “ ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of

seeing my day; he saw it and was glad’ ” (John 8:56, NIV). Abraham

could have missed out on this insight, dismissing the instructions as

from Satan. The key to Abraham’s surviving and learning through the

whole process was knowing God’s voice.

How do you know the voice of God? How do you know when God

is talking to you? What are the ways He communicates His will

to you?