Have you have taken a test that you did not prepare for? Or maybe you went into class to a pop quiz, but you had not done the prepatory homework the night before? Does it place stress in your life? Life is a lot like a pop quiz. God gives you things to prepare you for the next. If you can't get through one stage, then you may find yourself stuck for a long time. There are no notes on how to do the test or if you failed, how to do better. You have to go directly to Him and wait for His guidance. The only way to prepare is to continuously cover all the bases: prayer, meditation, time in the Word, and genuinely seeking God's presence.
God test all His faithful servants. He tested Abraham by telling him to take Isaac to be a burnst offering. Abraham did not hesitate. The nest morning he took Isaac along with two servants and began the three day journey to where God vaguely told him to go. We do not know if Sarah had any knowledge of this. From what we do know about her, probably not. I don't think she would have allowed it. However, maybe she did because after Abraham settled in Beersheba. It doesn't mention Sarah.
We know that Abraham has already sacrificed one son (via banishment). However, Isaac was different. Isaac was his legit heir and beloved son. Abraham knew God's promise. He did not know how it would pass, but Isaac was a miracle. Why could there not be more? Abraham in this moment was living by faith alone. I can only imagine the things that went on in his head in that three days of travel.
When they got to Moriah God directed Abraham to the specific mountain. Abraham had the servants stay with the donkeys while he and Isaac went to worship. He probably did not want any witnesses because God normally looks down upon human sacrifice and they may had tried to stop him.
Isaac knew that they were there to make a sacrifice, but when they got there he finally asked where the lamb was. Abraham responded that God would provide the lamb. He had no idea how prophetic that statement really was. (Hundreds of years later God provided His only son to be that sacrificial lamb.) It was also prophetic that Isaac carried the wood that he was to be sacrificed with on his own back, just like Jesus. We do know know if Isaac became a willing sacrifice or if Abraham knocked him out somehow, but Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar.
Just before Abraham performed the sacrifice an angel appeared. (This family got an unpresidented amount of visits from angels.) The angel stopped Abraham and said look. Just in the distance there was a ram stuck in the thicket. Abraham was probably really upset, so that may be why he had not noticed before. God had given a ram, so that he would not have to sacrifice his only son. God was happy that Abraham passed his test. When God is happy with your obedience, He will bless you.
Genesis 22
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