The Testing of Abraham

Test of Response-Decision
Genesis 12:1-7
o Test: Abraham left Ur and Haran for an unknown destination at God’s direction.
o Application: Do I trust God with my future? Is his will part of my decision making'

Test of Obedience-Provision
Genesis 22
 Will you still follow God despite your financial condition, give even if you are short
of money

Test of Patience-Anticipation (waiting)

Genesis 15:1-6
o Test: Abraham trusted God’s promise that he would have a son.
o Application: How often do I consciously reaffirm my trust in God’s promises'

Test of Compassion-Intercession
Genesis 18:22-33
o Test: Abraham prayed for Sodom.
o Application: Am I eager to see people punished, or do I care for people in spite of
their sinfulness'

Abraham is father of the faith for Jews, Christians, Muslims

 Judaism, Christianity and Islam are called the Abrahamic faiths, because each
tradition sees Abraham as a pivotal figure in its history.
 For Jews, Abraham is seen as the one from whom all Jews are descended. Abraham
is the father of Isaac and grandfather of Jacob, who is renamed Israel and whose 12
sons represent the tribes of Israel
 For Christians, Abraham is seen as the “father of the faith” and is honored for his
obedience.
 The Apostle Paul expands the concept of being a descendent of Abraham when he
writes in his letter to the Galatians: “So also Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness.”
 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture
foresaw God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance
to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
(Galatians 3:6-9, NIV) In Islam, Abraham, called Ibrahim in the Quran, is honored
for his obedience and submis

Judaism claims that it came from Abraham

Christianity
Galatians 3.6-7
6 
So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 
Islam came from Ishmael the first born son of Abraham from Hagar

Abraham experienced many testings and trials

 We study some of his trials

Test of Response-Decision

Genesis 12
1
Sinabi ni Yahweh kay Abram, “Lisanin mo ang iyong bayan, ang tahanan ng iyong ama
at mga kamag-anak, at pumunta ka sa bayang ituturo ko sa iyo. 2 Pararamihin ko ang
iyong mga anak at apo at gagawin ko silang isang malaking bansa. Pagpapalain kita, at
gagawin kong dakila ang iyong pangalan at ikaw ay magiging pagpapala sa marami.
3 
Ang sa iyo'y magpapala ay aking pagpapalain, at ang sa iyo'y sumumpa ay aking
susumpain; sa pamamagitan mo, lahat ng mga bansa sa daigdig ay aking pagpapalain.”
4 
Sumunod nga si Abram sa utos ni Yahweh; nilisan niya ang Haran noong siya'y
pitumpu't limang taon. Sumama sa kanya si Lot. 5 Isinama ni Abram ang kanyang
asawang si Sarai at si Lot na pamangkin niya. Dinala niyang lahat ang kanyang mga
alipin at mga kayamanang naipon nila sa Haran. Pagkatapos nito'y nagtungo sila sa
Canaan.

There were people who did not respond well from God’s call
1. Jonah instead of going to Nineveh, he went to Tarshish
2. Moses-when called by he made many excuses
3. Gideon-when called by under estimated himself
4. The Parable of the 2 sons

No matter how good the commandment and blessing be-it is still based on the response

Abram was 75 years old when God told him to move

When God began working with Abram, his name was later changed to Abraham

Many believers want to know God’s will. What is God’s will for my future? What major
should I pursue? Who should I marry? What should I do next?

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s
household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
 
The Lord spoke to Abram in a very definite way. This was an unambiguous call. But this
was not an easy call.  Imagine being asked to leave your country, leave your family,
leave your roots and start a new life… at the age of 75. Where to Lord? “Don’t worry,
you don’t need to know that, I’ll show you…”

Abram Obeyed God’s Word (12:4-5)

“So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-
five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all
the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and
they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” (Genesis 12:4-5)
 
It must have been hard to make such a move at 75 years old. To leave the security of
his birthplace, his home land, his friends. Moving house is never easy. Do you remember
ever moving to another house? There's the decisions about what you can take and what
you must leave behind, there's the packing up and chucking out. And they didn't have
Pickfords to help in those days. Obeying God mean't more than this to Abram though.
He wasn't just moving from one town to another. He was also giving up his settled
lifestyle.  He dared to be different. He was willing to leave the comfortableness of the
city of Ur with its well built and drainage system and libraries, to live the life of a
wandering nomad living in a tent with no electricity, no piped water, no bathroom no
loo. Can you imagine that? His Chaldean friends must have laughed at old Ab. They
despised people who lived in tents. Nomads were considered uncivilised barbarians. It
was not easy for Abram to leave for that kind of life style. It is never easy to go against
other peoples expectations, to ignore what other people think, to dare to be different
whether you are 75 or 5. What matters is knowing what is right and doing it. A few
years ago a well known fish paste manufacturer became a Christian. On a train journey
soon after his conversion he gushed his testimony to a sceptical passenger who put up
for as long as she could without getting a word in edgeways. Eventually she burst in;
"Yes Mr Shipham, thats all very well, but will it make you put more mackerel in your fish
paste?"  Thats the test isn't it. Obeying God was the evidence that Abram really believed
God's promises. And it was all worth it for God blessed Abram in the most wonderful
way possible.

Very much middle aged for his era—75 years old—Abram was wealthy and settled with
his father's extended family in Haran. He was married to Sarai, but they were barren
and childless. We're not told that he was an especially good or bad man. As with many
of the human instruments used by God, this is secondary—all that ultimately matters is
that God intends to accomplish His will through this particular man and his family.

Stephen stood before his unbelieving Jewish brethren, he recounted the history of God’s
chosen people, beginning with the call of Abraham:

Acts 7:2-3 And he said, ‘Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to
our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran and said to
him, “Depart from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will
show you”’

It is a story of how God reveals Himself to a man, calls and chooses him for a daunting
mission, and then tests him to see how he will respond – to see if he has the capacity to
carry out the mission successfully.

Abram [“exalted father”] was the original name of Abraham [“father of a multitude”].
Because of Abraham’s whole hearted response to God, he would one day be recognized
as the Father in Faith to billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims!

Ur of southern Mesopotamia, on what used to be the coast of the Persian Gulf. 

Hebrews 11
 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 
Our vocation is so named because of its Latin root vocatio, “a calling.” The
term vocational choice is a contradiction in terms to the Christian. To be sure, we do
choose it and can, in fact, choose to disobey it. But prior to the choice and hovering with
absolute power over it is the divine summons, the imposition to duty from which we
dare not flee.
It was vocation that drove Jonah on his flight to Tarshish and caused his terrified
shipmates to dump him in the sea to still the vengeful tempest. It was vocation that
elicited the anguished cry from Paul, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor.
9:16). It was vocation that put a heinous cup of bitterness in the hands of Jesus.
The call of God is not always to a glamorous vocation, and its fruit in this world is often
bittersweet. Yet God calls us according to our gifts and talents, and directs us to paths of
the most useful service to His kingdom. How impoverished we would be if Jonah had
made it to Tarshish, if Paul had refused to preach, if Jeremiah really had turned in his
prophet’s card, or if Jesus had politely declined the cup.
BI-VOCATIONAL
 No matter what you do in life-teacher, carpenter
 Called by God to help others and honor God
 https://www.lightsource.com/ministry/daily-hope/what-is-my-lifes-calling-live-your-
calling-492785.html

Don’t Miss This Call

By Rick Warren

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose”  (Romans 8:28 NIV).

If you were told that God was going to call you sometime today, would you be excited or
scared? Would you let the call go through to voicemail, or would you answer right away?

The truth is, the Bible says God has already called you. Romans 8:28 says, “We know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose” (NIV).
Now, it’s not the same as a phone call—except that it is a message directly to you from
God and it is personal, one-to-one.

The call of God is your life mission, the one he gave you when he created you. But don’t
confuse your calling with your career. Maybe you’re called to be a teacher, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in a classroom. Or you may be called to be a writer,
but that doesn’t mean you’ll work in journalism or even write novels.

Your calling is far more significant than any job. It is an all-encompassing mission that
rests at the center of your life and should influence everything you do.
Throughout the Bible, God calls people to fulfill that special mission—such people as
Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and Nehemiah and Mary and Peter and Paul.
They each had a unique roll that supported God’s plan to redeem humanity.

And the Bible says that God has called you to an equally important task.

Has God ever put your faith to the test by asking you to give something up? Something so precious or so important
to you that you don’t know how you would go on living without it?
Sometimes God takes such things away from us – but I’m not talking about that. Have you ever given anything up
voluntarily, of your own choice, because God has commanded you to do so. If so you will know a little of how
Abraham felt that day when he climbed up Mount Moriah with his only son Isaac.
GOD WAS TESTING ABRAHAM’S FAITH

The angels seems to speak in measured cadence as he utters the dread words: 'Take your son, your only
son, Isaac, whom you love ...." God describes Isaac in two ways:

1. Your only son. "Only" is the Hebrew adjective yāhīd, means "only, only begotten." In this
context yāhīd refers to an only child [3] Though Isaac is Abraham's second son, he has sent away
Ishmael, his firstborn. As far as he and God are concerned, Isaac is the only one.
2. Isaac whom you love. "Love" is the Hebrew verb ’āhēb. This general word for "love" or "like" is
used in many contexts. Here it describes love between human beings, such as the love of father for
son.[4] This lad holds all the hopes and dreams and affection of his aged parents.

A "burnt offering" (Hebrew ‘ōlā) commonly burned the entire sacrifice on the altar. Hundreds of years
later, in the Mosaic law, God prescribes other offerings of which only part is burned and the rest is eaten
by the worshippers. But the burnt offering is consumed completely. Rather than "burnt offering," Lloyd
Carr suggests that "whole offering would be a better rendering in English to convey the theology of
the ‘ōlā," since it involved offering the whole to God.[5]

Test of Patience-Anticipation (waiting)

Genesis 15:1-6

Hope in God’s Anticipated Action  

Although this is one of the more counter-intuitive aspects of our walk with God, it is actually the case that the longer
God makes you wait for something He has promised, the more your faith and expectation in the fulfillment of His
Word should grow.
Waiting on God should produce a hope that invades your soul and carries you away into states of rapture.
The longer you wait, the closer He is getting to fulfilling His word and the more that reality should propel you to even
more faith and hope in what is about to come to pass.
Even as you are waiting on God, don’t miss the opportunity to praise Him for what He is about to do.

In part one of this series on Abraham’s waiting I hinted at the idea of how waiting on God tends to reveal latent
idolatries within our hearts.  An idol is not just a statue or figurine of wood and stone that we physically bow down
to and worship. Fundamentally, the sin of idolatry involves trusting in anything other than God to bring us lasting joy,
peace, salvation, prosperity, security, or a sense of well-being. Idols are things that we invest our hearts in, and
before we know it, they come to control our choices, moods, emotions, priorities, time management, use of money,
actions, and speech in a way that contradicts the revealed will of God.

Test of Compassion-Intercession
Genesis 18:22-33

First we see that true prayer begins with God, vs 17, where God reveals to Abraham that
he is going to go down and see if the sin in Sodom is grievous.  God engages with
Abraham “a friend of God” and tells him that he is going to destroy the cities.  God doesn’t
say specifically what he will do, but says He will go and see, and “I will know”.  Abraham
who knows all the sins of the city, knows the cities are doomed and thus begins to plead
with God, because he recognizes Gods mercy.  Verses 22-32 detail the conversation and
back and forth negotiations between Abraham and God, and it’s quite interesting.

Abraham begins asking for the city to be spared, if there are but 50 righteous who are in
it.  He boldly prays, “Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be it from Thee!  Shall not the Judge
of all the earth do right?  God agrees that he will not destroy the cities if he finds 50
righteous.  Abraham then asks for the city to be spared if there are but 45,
he humbly states, “Behold I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but
dust and ashes.” God agrees to spare for 45 righteous. Abraham asks to spare for 40,
God agrees. Abraham again shows humility and more boldness, “Oh let not the Lord be
angry, and I will speak, suppose 30 be found”, God agrees to spare for 30.  Notice here
that Abraham began his negotiations by increments of 5, but now asks in increments of
10. Abraham asks to spare for 20, God agrees. Abraham asks to spare for 10, God
agrees, and then the Lord went his way.

There are several lessons from these verses that God is revealing to us.

1. True prayer starts with God, it’s about His will and intentions not ours.
2. We should be humble and know our place, we are speaking to God the creator
and ruler of the whole universe.
3. When appealing to God’s gracious nature we can be very bold.
4. Be persistent until an answer is received.
Abraham's prayer for Sodom -- really for Lot and his family -- is an amazing revelation of the faith of one
man in the justice of Almighty God and an incredible boldness of a mere human before the Creator of the
Universe. Abraham seems to stand before God alone, yet wields significant influence over God's actions.

Perhaps for Jewish readers, Abraham is the classic example of both Jewish chutzpah as well as a gift for
bargaining. But I think he is much, much more. He has learned to pray. Let's consider the passage
together.

Boldness Mixed with Humility

Over the course of the next few minutes, Abraham boldly bargains God down from 50 to 10 righteous
people that would prevent God from destroying Sodom -- and the Lord agrees. Abraham dares go no
lower.

Throughout this bold prayer, Abraham asks for the Lord's indulgence, repeatedly acknowledging his own
humble place before Almighty God:
Why Does God Bargain with Abraham?
Why does God bargain with Abraham? God could have said, "What I plan is just -- because I say so!"
Certainly God is the Judge of All the Earth. He would have been justified in destroying that wicked city and
all who chose to live in it. Or he could have said, "Abraham, frankly there aren't even ten just people in
Sodom. Don't waste your breath." Be he didn't.

Instead he engages in dialog with Abraham to see how far Abraham's faith will take him.

Was the Lord angry with Abraham? Oh, no. Not at all. Abraham is the apple of his eye. He is delighted
that his servant Abraham believes in him enough and understands him enough to ask this. Genesis 15:6
explains, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness." The faith of this pre-
Christian human is wonderful to God. Here is a man who actually trusts him enough to pray this kind of
prayer. Wow!

God loves you when you pray to him. When you call out, "Abba, Father," he hears your prayers and longs
to answer them. After all, you are his child. He has chosen to adopt you into his family and bless you --
because of Jesus.

Notice, however, about this bargaining session, that Abraham is not offering to do something in return for
God's favor -- trying to buy God's response. Instead he is appealing again and again to God's own
gracious and righteous character. This is the kind of bargaining that doesn't demean God by cheapening
his response into a transaction, but exalts God by magnifying his righteousness, by insisting that his great
righteousness requires him to spare the city for even ten righteous persons.
Test of Obedience-Provision
Genesis 22
1 
Pagkalipas ng ilang panahon, sinubok ng Diyos si Abraham. Tinawag siya ng Diyos,
“Abraham!” “Narito po ako,” tugon naman niya. 2 Sinabi sa kanya, “Isama mo ang kaisa-
isa at pinakamamahal mong anak na si Isaac, at magpunta kayo sa lupain ng Moria.
Umakyat kayo sa bundok na ituturo ko sa iyo, at ihandog mo siya sa akin.”
3 
Kinabukasan, maagang bumangon si Abraham at nagsibak ng kahoy na gagamiting
panggatong sa handog na susunugin. Inihanda niya ang asno, at umalis kasama si Isaac
at ang dalawang aliping lalaki papunta sa lugar na sinabi ng Diyos sa kanya. 

1. We should expect tests from God. He tests our faith and trust in him.Genesis
22:1, ” Some time later God tested Abraham; He called him, ” Abraham!”
And Abraham answered, ” Yes, here I am!” 
2. That we should not be attached to anything. God can demand whatever He wants
from us anytime. Genesis 22:2a”take your son, Isaac, whom you love so
much”
3. That when He asks us to do anything for Him, He guides us on how and where to
do it. Genesis 22:2b “go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I
will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me “
4. That He expects us to obey Him when He commands us to do anything. Genesis
22:3″ Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice,
loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started
out for the place that God had told him about.”
5. That we should trust and have faith in Him even if we don’t fully understand what
He is asking us to do.Genesis 22:7-8 Isaac asked, “I see that you have the
coal and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham
answered,“God himself  will provide one”
6. That we honour and obey Him when we don’t keep anything back from
Him.Genesis 22:12 “Now I know that you honour and obey God because you
have not kept back your only son from him”
7. That when He demands us to do anything for Him,  He provides us with what we
need to fulfill His demand. Genesis 22:13 “Abraham looked around and saw a
ram caught in a bush by its horns.”
8. That He blesses us when we obey and honour him. Genesis 22:15-18 “I make a
vow by my own name, that I will richly bless you because you did this and did not
keep back your only son from me. I promise that I will give you as many
descendants as the stars in the sky or the grains of the sand along the seashore.
Your descendants will conquer their enemies. All Nations will ask me to bless them
as I have blessed your descendants-all because you obeyed my command.” 
9. That we should always be ready and  willing to surrender whatever He demands
from us.
10. We should also know that everything we are and have comes from Him and
belongs to Him.