“After these things God tested Abraham…” (Genesis 22:1)
Genesis 22 contains one of the most difficult moments in Scripture. God tells Abraham to take Isaac, the son he had waited decades to receive, and do the unthinkable… offer him as a sacrifice. The narrator leaves no room for confusion: “God tested Abraham.”
This made me wonder… Does God still test people like that today?
The New Testament certainly speaks about testing. James writes that “the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:3, NIV). Peter compares faith to gold refined by fire (1 Peter 1:7). Yet there is an interesting shift in emphasis. While Genesis explicitly describes God initiating Abraham’s test, the New Testament spends far more time discussing the trials believers face than on God creating them.
In fact, James goes on to say, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me’” (James 1:13). God is not a sadistic examiner sitting in heaven, inventing ways to trip us up. He is not hoping we fail.
Perhaps a better image comes from the world of metalworking. The English word “test” is related to the idea of a crucible, a vessel used to refine precious metals. The fire doesn’t create the gold; it reveals it. It burns away impurities and exposes what was already there.
That seems much closer to the way the New Testament describes our lives. We live in a world already full of challenges, disappointments, temptations, losses, and uncertainties. We don’t need God to manufacture difficulties; life provides plenty of them on its own. Yet God, in His grace, refuses to waste them.
A difficult conversation may reveal our patience. A season of waiting may expose where we have placed our hope. A loss may uncover what we truly trust. Trials have a way of bringing our faith into the open, where God can strengthen and mature it.
This means that when life feels difficult, we don’t have to wonder whether God is trying to catch us failing. The cross has already answered that question. The God who gave His own Son for us is not against us. He is for us. He wants all of us to pass the tests of life!
Abraham’s test revealed his faith. Our trials can do the same. Not because God delights in hardship, but because He delights in forming His people. He is not the author of every fire we face, but He is the God who meets us in the fire and uses it to make us more like Jesus.
Josh Rose
Family Pastor