When God Asks for the Unimaginable
“This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.” Some of you will be old enough to remember the repeating tone that accompanied those words on the radio. It used to play when we weren’t in an emergency in order to prepare us for when we were in an emergency. In Scripture, however, it’s the emergency itself that tests us. First Peter 1:6-7, for example, says emergencies come to test the genuineness of our faith in God.
Abraham, our father in the faith, faced an unimaginable “test” in Genesis 22—to offer his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering to the Lord. And while we will never face that test (given the unique role that Abraham and Isaac play in the unfolding story of redemption), Abraham’s response equips us for when God asks for the unimaginable. In the testing of emergency, God asks us for what at least feels unimaginable—it could be as simple as being asked to return kindness to someone who’s dragging your name through the mud, or to be faithful to a spouse who’s not being faithful to you, or to keep hoping in God when a loved one is rushing headlong into rebellion or has suddenly and tragically died.
The main takeaway from Abraham’s test comes from that climactic moment, as Abraham is raising the knife to slaughter his son. The Lord intervenes, “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” (verse 12). What Abraham models for us is, when God asks for the unimaginable, a fear of God more than a love of anything else. Like Abraham, we can prove we fear God in our test if we don’t do three things.
First, Don’t Wait
“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love … and offer him [on the mountain] as a burnt offering” (verse 2). The very next words are, “So Abraham rose early in the morning.” He didn’t wait.
Abraham didn’t wait for clarification: “Why would you ask me to sacrifice the son we waited so long for?” He didn’t wait for counsel: “Sarah, I’m sure you have thoughts about this unimaginable ask of offering up our son.” Now there definitely are moments when believers need clarification and counsel. But when it comes to the things God asks of us in His Word, we only need clarification and counsel to verify that we’ve heard the ask correctly. Once we have heard God’s ask clearly, we shouldn’t wait.
Second, Don’t Withhold
The very first move after God asks for the unimaginable should be toward obedience. And yet, as we see with Abraham, that first step of obedience has to be followed. The question remained: Would Abraham withhold as he collected the wood, carried the torch, climbed the mountain, tied down his only son, and raised the knife? It was only after Abraham showed that he would not withhold his son that God “knew” (by observing in time) that Abraham feared God more than he loved anything else.
Whenever God asks something of us that feels unimaginably hard, we have an opportunity to discover something spiritually valuable: What is it I’m afraid to lose? That will test whether we will fear God more than we love the thing we’re afraid to lose.
We can be thankful for every good gift God gives us. But we must not love anything else—our children, our marriage, our reputation, our comfort—so much that we would withhold obedience to God in order to protect what we love.
Parents wisely train their children that obedience is, “All the way, right away, and with a happy heart.” Abraham demonstrated His fear of God in that he obeyed right away. He obeyed all the way. But he also obeyed with a heart that was happy with his God, even if his heart was sobered by God’s ask.
Third, Don’t Worry
Maybe the most unimaginable part of Genesis 22 is that Abraham doesn’t seem worried. In verse 5, he leaves his servants at the foot of the mountain with the assurance that he and Isaac would be coming back down the mountain. In verse 8, Abraham assures Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”
I don’t think this means that Abraham was skipping up the mountain. I don’t think he was whistling while he laid his son on the altar. Abraham knew he was being asked for the unimaginable, and yet he wasn’t worried. Hebrews 11:17-19 explains why. Let me summarize how they describe Abraham’s thought process in Genesis 22: “Well, God asked me to offer my son. And God promised that son would give me grandchildren. If God doesn’t provide a substitute, then that must mean that God raises the dead.” Abraham trusted that God had the right to give the command. And Abraham trusted that God would keep His promise. He “considered” how those things could fit together, and he came up with a conclusion that didn’t excuse him from doing the unimaginable thing God asked. If the father of faith teaches us anything about saving faith in God, it’s that there’s never any conflict between God’s commands and God’s promises.
This is absolutely key to passing the test: Abraham didn’t start worrying about the one he loved because Abraham never stopped worshiping the One He trusted. God sees this and names it “fear” (Genesis 22:12), and of course provides a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.
The faithful fear God—that is, we respond to Him with a trembling trust. We tremble because we regard Him as One we would never want to displease. And yet fear is not about terror. Those who fear God know Him to be infinitely praiseworthy. We trust Him.
Conclusion
How much more reason do we have to trust God’s good intentions, even when He asks us for what seems unimaginable? Because Abraham’s test doesn’t just foreshadow tests we face. Abraham’s test is a picture of what God does with His only Son. Only God did not provide a substitute for the Son whom He loved; Jesus came to be our substitute.
Remember this the next time God asks you for the unimaginable. Will you wait, withhold, worry? Or will you fear the One who did not spare His own Son, considering that He never asks more than He’s already given?