Now I know that you fear God …
Summary: How does God know whether we fear him or not? In Genesis, we find an example of God testing Abraham to see how serious his faith is.
There are many things about the workings of heaven that we cannot know here on earth. Why does God do certain things and not others? How does he communicate with us? Why does he communicate in different ways? How can we be sure we are talking with God?
The story of Abraham and Isaac is full of such questions. After obeying God and taking out his knife to slay his son, Isaac, Abraham is stopped short by the voice of an angel. The angel calls out from heaven and Abraham hears his name being called.
I love his response!
“Here I am”
It is as if someone were calling out from a distant place, like a person standing on one edge of a canyon yelling across to a person standing on the other side, “Hey, Abraham. Are you there?” And then Abraham yells back, “Yes, here I am.”
Even his answer speaks of faith. He responds to the voice from heaven.
Now if my dad had caught me with my little brother tied up on a pile of rocks that would have been bad enough. If there had been firewood laid out under the rocks and matches ready to light the wood that would have been worse. But if I had been standing there with my little brother tied up and obviously ready to light a fire AND I had a knife in my raised hand ready to end his life, my life wouldn’t have been worth ten cents. Yet God finds Abraham ready to kill his only son and he is impressed. Not only is he impressed, but he also commends Abraham.
“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’” (Genesis 22:12)
Abraham had been tested. We rightly say that Abraham was “tempted” because he would have been “tempted” not to do what God was asking. So why did God put Abraham through all of this?
If we are to take God’s Word at face value, God needed to know if Abraham truly feared him or if he just sorta feared him. To truly fear God is to obey the first Greatest Commandment; Love God above all else (Matthew 22:37). How does God know unless he asks the question?
Application: It is good to follow God’s example. Instead of guessing what a person will do, ask them to do it and see what happens.
Food for Thought: This passage touches on a lot of contemporary theological theories. Many are in conflict with each other. What do you think about the Bible’s claim that God needed to test (tempt) Abraham in order to see if he truly feared God?
Big question 😊.
One possibility is that God already knew what Abraham’s response would be (we are taught in Scripture that God knows all) and that Abraham needed to know what his own response would be. It was an opportunity for Abraham to show his faith. It was also an opportunity for Abraham to show his faith to the world as a testimony to who God is. After all, we still talk about the story today.
In HS we dissected a frog. Since frogs have been dissected before, we knew what were going to find. Yet, we still dissected the poor frog (it was traumatic for me because I love frogs – and not just to eat frog legs). Why dissect the frog if we knew full well what we would find? Well, in school it was to learn more about how to dissect and seeing for ourselves what we had been told. There is nothing like learning from personal experience.
By testing Abraham’s faith, Abraham knew what was there. So did Isaac. So did the servants. So do we. I am not sure the testing was as much for God as it was everyone else. But Abraham’s faith certainly pleased God – and that also has its own value.
Brother Rich,
You are right, it is a BIG question! Thank you for your thoughtful answer.
I remember the frogs in high school! I, too, was conflicted by that experience. On the one hand, yuck! On the other, it was fascinating.
One thing I take from this question and your answer is that God’s perspective on all this is much larger than my own. God sees time differently (Psalm 90:4) and, of course, knows all there is to know about the history of the world and all the people who are alive now as well as all the people who have ever lived.
I can’t compete with that!
Yet I do believe we are more than machines. I believe each of us has a choice; we have free will. I think it is a gift from God and God honors that gift by respecting our choices. That is why some of us will be with him in heaven and some will not.
If we have a choice, then it makes sense that God would bring us to a point of decision at the appropriate time. Today’s story is about Abraham’s point of decision.
Rich is spot on!
01-14-2023, What do you think about the Bible’s claim that God needed to test (tempt) Abraham in order to see if he truly feared God?
God is “All Knowing “ and before creation, knew the identity of every single person that would come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ, as well as how strong our faith would be. I also believe He will “test” our faith for our benefit, so we can grow closer to God as we more fully comprehend the degree, or depth of our faith through experience.
“Behold, God is exalted by His power; Who teaches like Him? Who has assigned Him His way, Or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?
Job 36:22,23
All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. his counsellor.
Luke 10:22
I understand some KJV translators have approved the Hebrew word nissah, “tempt,” in different ways.
When we read that God tempted Abraham, that He tempted the children of Israel. This means that He permitted circumstances to occur to test their faith, and lead them to look to Him for help.
James makes clear that the sufferings, trials, and problems that every Christian faces should never be understood as permitted by God for the purpose of enticing men to sin. God will permit men to face trials, but never with the intent that any man should fail.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
James 1:13.
The following are randomly selected versions of the Bible, ( From Bible Gateway, and how they have translated. Hebrews 11:17
ASV, By faith Abraham, being tried
AMP, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
CSB, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
CEB, By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested
DLNT, By faith Abraham has offered Isaac while being tested
ESV, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
HCSB, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
ISV, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
KJV, By faith Abraham, when he was tried
MEV, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
NIV, By faith Abraham, when God tested him
NKJV, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
NRSVA, By faith Abraham, when put to the test
RGT, By faith, Abraham – when he was tried
RSV, By faith Abraham, when he was tested
Mark 1:13, Luke 4:1-13, God allowed Jesus to be tempted by Satan so we could learn, our faith in the power of His word as our weapon for defeating Satan’s attempts to tempt us.
Thank you, Ron!
I especially appreciate your point that God allows us to be tested for our benefit. My grandson is studying gymnastics and had a tournament today. My wife and I watched as he went through his routines. They were all judged and scored, giving them a picture of where their skills are at. How he responds to being judged will determine how he does in the future.
I find it interesting how Abraham was alone on the mountain with his son and the world knows about it,.. I also find it interesting that Abraham sure didn’t have a problem breaking a commandment to fear God, thou shalt not commit murder, I think Abraham was testing himself, “If this is God I am hearing then I will follow through and find out if this voice in my head is telling me to slay my son is right or wrong,.. I am soon to find out”,..
Of course back then the Bible was first being written for us to examine under a microscope today. Some have no fear of God and are profiting off of the blood that has been spilt along the way,.. I find that interesting too,.. just my take on this one,..
John,
Nice “take” on today’s meditation. You bring an interesting and important perspective to our discussion: God’s perspective. All of these events and this history is tied together for our benefit.
All great comments and they covered everything nicely. But side question……. important side question. Which brother are you talking about? Was it Tony? Not Tony. It can’t be Tony his name starts with a T.
Tim,
It was a hypothetical story to technically I was referring to a hypothetical brother. 🙂