Abraham had been called by God to a new land… “Go from your country and your kin to a land I will show you, and I will make you a great nation…” (Genesis 12:1, 2). But when he got there, “a severe famine was in the land” (vs 10). The question arises, “Why did God lead him and his family there only to have such hardship greet them? Was it not really the will of God? Or was it for a purpose?” We soon see that these “tests” were to reveal his weakness that needed to be addressed if he was to be used of God in a mighty way.
To escape the famine in Canaan they travelled to Egypt, and here we see the first test given to Abraham. Abraham tells Sarah to say she’s his sister, as her beauty would make them want to kill Abraham and take her for themselves (vs 13). She agreed to his scheme. Pharaoh took her as his wife only to have plagues instantly afflict him and his family. He knew it had to do with Sarah and inquired, only to find out she was Abraham’s wife. “What is this you have done to me?! Why did you lie to me? Now take your wife and go!” (vs 17-20) Abraham had trusted himself over God.
About 20 years later, this same test was presented once again. Perhaps he would have learned from his first failure, but he didn’t (Genesis 20:1-18); they had travelled this time to Gerar, a city in Philistine territory. Abraham feared they would kill him and take his beautiful wife, so he once again schemed that she should say she is his sister. King Abimelech took Sarah into his palace, but God warned him in a dream that if he touched her, He would kill him and his whole family. Abimelech was horrified and asked Abraham, “What have you done to us?!” The retest was a failure…
Abraham still hadn’t learned to trust God implicitly. God had promised them a son in their old age, but this time Sarah initiated the scheme and suggested he take Hagar to be the surrogate mother of their son. Abraham agreed (Genesis 16:2). We know how the story ends, Ishmael was born, and God stayed true to His promise and gave Sarah and Abraham, Isaac, in their old age.
The lessons here are plentiful! God will give us the same test over and over until we learn what we need to learn. Abraham grieved his sin before God and learned to depend on the Almighty One with his most precious possession - his son. He demonstrates his profound obedience when he offers his son Isaac on the altar. Notice the complete absence of conniving and scheming to provide a substitute. He had finally passed the test, and God provided a ram.
Friends, we’re no different. God is presenting before us tests, all the time, to see if we will trust Him wholly. If we fail, He’ll bring another one, until we learn that our best plans are failures compared to His Divine plans. May we trust Him with all our hearts, souls and minds. Thankfully, He’s a patient Teacher.
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