God Stops Abraham from Harming Isaac

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Genesis 22:10-12

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12

Abraham obeyed God literally. When he had committed to the sacrifice of his only son, God stopped him before any harm came to Isaac, or Abraham. God stopped Abraham and told him that He now knew that Abraham would not withhold anything from God. God knows the end from the beginning. He already knew what Abraham would do. But all of God’s children – you, Abraham, and every other created being who read about this story, would not know until it was fulfilled. Abraham passed the test. He found out that he would obey God whatever the cost might be. Because he passed the test then there is hope that we to might be able to pass our tests when they come to us in God’s times and in God’s ways.

Prayer for Today: It is difficult for us to imagine that we could pass a test like Abraham and Isaac’s test. Yet we have seen that other people in the Bible made it in their time of difficulty and we have faith that what You did for them You will do for us. Help us to hold on and to trust in Your care. Help us not to fear or to pull back but to press forward and fully trust in You, and in Your knowledge of us.