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Last time, I asked… What is faith if it is not tested? And when it is tested, and we are found to be obedient, isn’t God always there, ready to rescue us and provide an answer?

One of the greatest faith tests and rescues in the Bible occurred in the life of Abraham. In his hour of intense testing, the Lord appeared and provided an answer.

Years after the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son, Abraham experienced a test that squeezed his faith to the max in the most frightening of all ways. God told Abraham to take his long-awaited, beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and to offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which God would tell him.

Gulp! Did Abraham run in the other direction or pretend he didn’t hear God? No! He listened to God’s instructions and obeyed. When Abraham, Isaac, and the servants reached the mount of God’s choosing, Abraham spoke out of the abundance of a faithful heart, for he told his servants at the bottom of the hill, (one of my favorite faith-filled verses), “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” (Gen 22:5 NLT)

Up the hill of sacrifice they went to worship! Abraham’s faith started at the bottom of the hill while the rescue plan was yet to be unfurled. Once they reached the top, Abraham laid all on the altar, all that was valuable and precious to him, his only son, trusting that God would raise him up again.

In answer to Isaac’s question of the whereabouts of a lamb, Abraham said to Isaac, “God will see the lamb for Himself,” (Gen. 22:8 Mas) or “God will provide for Himself a lamb.” (Gen. 22:8 NKJV)

The Hebrew word for ‘provide’ means to see, appear, to present oneself, perceiving or ascertaining something apart from seeing it with one’s eyes, and so on. The English definition comes from the Latin ‘providere,’ which means before seeing, to take measures with due foresight, to get ready beforehand, and so on.

Abraham held his dagger high in the air, his hand quivering as the dagger glistened in the sun. Sweat poured down his forehead. He held his breath and heard, “Abraham! Abraham!” The Angel of the Lord commanded him to stay his hand of destruction.

Then, God said, “For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen. 22:12 NKJV)

Abraham raised his tear-filled eyes, turned and saw the sacrifice provided. God presented a ram of sacrificial replacement, a male sheep with its horns entangled in the bushes, as the foreshadowing of a crown of thorns upon the head of the Lamb of replacement.

Abraham then called that place “The-Lord-Will-Provide.” (Gen. 22:14 NKJV)

On our refrigerator is a marker board, an advertisement from some company. Some time ago, as financial woes hounded us, I wrote this on it:

Faith is not moved by what it sees. “There is a sound of abundance…” (1 Kings 18:41 NKJV) $…Elijah spoke it…prayed it…believed it…and after the drought, the rains came!!! Then, up in one corner, I wrote this: There’s a ram in the thicket!

When I wrote that, I made up a simple, little chorus to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands.” It goes like this:

There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket that’ll be just the ticket,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me!

And there has been!

Abraham passed the faith test. His hill of sacrifice became his pinnacle of obedience and his summit of provision. All Abraham did, the Bible says, he did by faith, and the promises of God were thereby fulfilled.

* Has God asked you to sacrifice some “Isaac” in your life? Have you obeyed or held it tight?
* Do you have some hill of circumstance before you? Do you mount it with praise and worship?
* Do you have the same unfaltering, Abrahamic obedience and belief that God will work out your faith tests, even when you see no way of escape?

God provided the lamb of rescue for Abraham. And He will do it for you.

“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” (James 1:3-4 NLT)

What is faith if it is not tested? But do we look at trials as building our spiritual muscles?

Peter said, “Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested so that it may endure.” (1 Peter 1:6-7a GNB)

Three of the things God chose to conceal deep within the bowels of the earth…

* gold,
* coal,
* and diamonds.

In order for these to be useful…

* gold must be purified through a fiery furnace to remove all impurities, drawing off the dross, that its worth be revealed...

* coal must be crushed and burned to release its power and energy…

* diamonds must suffer the cleaving of the jeweler’s sharp chisel and the friction of the polishing wheel to release their greatest beauty.

The crucible of fiery trials tests our faith, bringing to the surface and discarding the dross of sin. The crushing of circumstances presses upon us to express the remains of self and achieve God’s purpose, infusing us with His power and energy. The cleaving blows of afflictions chisel away at the crusty layers of our hearts’ hardness, while the friction of irritations sands down the rough edges.

“Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine” and to leave behind the pure essence of spiritual maturity.

An old Chinese proverb says, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within our hearts and only that which is contrary to our comfort releases the precious qualities within us.

Peter exhorts us, “Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.” (1 Peter 1:12 Amp)

After everything had been ripped from Job’s heart and his hands, in reply to his wife’s “advice” to curse God and die, he said, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10b NKJV)

How will we know the strength and extent of our faith if it is not tested? Untried faith is worthless. Is God’s power revealed in our good health or when we have money in the bank? Trials forge our witness, declaring what God has done in our circumstances. If we have no trials, how can we tell others what God is capable of doing?

All trials have a purpose; it is up to us to find out what it is and to grow because of them.

God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within your heart and only what is contrary to your comfort will sometimes release those precious, spiritual qualities within you.

May the Lord bless you with tested faith!