“Give me Isaac.” God might as well have said, “Give me all your hopes and dreams. Give me everything that is near and dear to you.” What kind of God would make such a test? What kind of God do we have?

Maybe that’s not an academic question for you today. Maybe you’re grieving someone who was very special to you. Maybe you’ve lost a job, and with it your sense of self-worth. Maybe the one whom you love just doesn’t love you anymore, and doesn’t have space for you in his or her life. And maybe you don’t understand why God would put you through that kind of suffering.

Well, why would God ask Abraham to grieve over his son on a three day journey? Well, the first reason tells us a lot about Abraham. Notice that when God made this heart-breaking request, Abraham did not hesitate. Verse 3 tells us that he rose early in the morning and set out. He took with him everything that was necessary to do God’s will. And verse 10 shows us that he was prepared to go through with the sacrifice, regardless of his grief and pain.

In short, in this passage, we see the greatest example of Abraham’s faith in God. He knew God had allowed Sarah to give birth to Isaac in a miraculous way, just as God had said He would. And so, if God could bring life from two people who were as good as dead, Abraham was confident that God could bring Isaac back to life even if he was offered up as a sacrifice (Hebrews 11:12, 19). Abraham thus sets us an example of how we should trust God, no matter the suffering and grief that come our way.

But even more importantly, this passage tells us why we should have such faith, because it tells us a lot about God. For Abraham did not have to kill Isaac, as God had asked him to. Instead, God provided for himself a sacrifice (vv. 8, 13). And when worse came to worst, when the sin of all humanity required it, God went through with the sacrifice He did not eventually ask Abraham to make. God did not withhold His hand, but struck down His Son, His only Son Whom He loved. And, just as Abraham did, God grieved His Son for three days before restoring Him to life.

So, why did God allow Abraham to suffer in this way? In a sense, God was bringing His friend close to Him and saying, “Come share my pain with me. Let me show you what I’m going to go through for you. Let me give you a glimpse of what I’m going to give up for you. Let me show you just how deeply, just how unconditionally, just how self-sacrifically I love you.”

That’s the kind of God we have – a broken-hearted God Who loves even sinners like Abraham, even sinners like us. Surely, a God like this is One Who deserves all our love and all our trust.

Genesis 22:1-14 (ESV)

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take 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.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”