Obeying The Voice Of God

Has God ever asked something of you where you struggled with obeying His voice? A man by the name of Abraham experienced this, and what God asked of him simply did not make sense at the time; even though, Abraham obeyed. Abraham’s name was originally Abram till God changed it. Abram married a woman by the name of Sarai who later God renamed Sarah.

Sarai had been trying to conceive but was unable to. God had promised Abram and Sarai in Genesis chapter twelve that He would make of Abram a great nation. In verse four, we are told though that Abram was already seventy-five years old. God commanded Abram to leave his homeland and family, and He would lead him to a place where God wanted him to be. The land of Canaan was God’s destination for Abram; upon arriving, God told Abram to look to the north, the south, the east and the west, all the land that Abram saw, God would give it to him and his seed. God promised Abram that He would make his seed like the "dust of the earth." (Gen. 13:16)

Abram is now ninety-nine years old God is still promising Abram that he would be "a father of many nations." (Gen.17:4) At this time, God gives Abram and Sarai their new names and tells Abraham that He will make him "exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." (Gen.17:6) Later on in this same chapter God promises Abraham that He would bless Sarah and give Abraham a son by her. After this promise the Bible records that Abraham fell on his face rejoicing and in awe asked himself, "Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" (Gen 17:17) God promised again that Sarah would bear a son and that his name was to be Isaac. In Genesis chapter twenty-one Sarah conceived and gave birth to a baby boy, Isaac. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac his son was born.

Isaac is now a child, and God would use him to try Abraham’s faith; Isaac would become Abraham’s ultimate test to prove the depth of love Abraham had for God. How strong was Abraham’s faith in God? Would he obey no matter what God asked of him?

After all the hardships and difficulties Abraham had gone through now was perhaps the time when life’s storms had blown over and peace and enjoyment could now be his in his old age; he could now raise and enjoy his son God had promised to him so many years ago . . . God would now exercise Abraham’s faith with a trial that would rip out the heart of any man. God came to Abraham and said, "Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering".

God could have just said "take Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering". God didn’t say that though. He reminded Abraham that Isaac was his only son that he loved. Abraham’s love for God would have to overrule his love and bond with Isaac. God was testing Abraham. Abraham had numerous bullocks and lambs that he could have sacrificed to God; I dare say he would have sacrificed all of them if this would have pleased God instead of sacrificing Isaac. I believe that Abraham would have given all he had to God to save his son, but God asked for Isaac.

After receiving this commandment from God, Abraham had to sleep that night and rise up in the morning to perform this act of obedience. Did he sleep that night? I don’t know how I would have even gotten through the night or been able to pull myself up that morning to begin to make preparations to sacrifice my son. The Bible records that Abraham arose early that morning; he did not try to put anything off. For Abraham to rise that morning was the first step toward obedience; However God gave him a sacrifice animal and he didn’t have to sacrifice his son. It was a test, God did not need the life of Abraham’s, He only tried Abraham’s heart. Afterwards, Abraham would have to take many more steps to obey the voice of God.