I am reading Genesis right now and this morning I read Genesis 22. It's about when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but then at the last minute God provided a ram to be sacrificed instead. This was an amazing act of faith on Abraham's part; he was about to kill is own son because God asked him to do so. Of course, God did not want Isaac to die, but wanted to test Abraham's faith in Him. And what happened? In Genesis 22:16 it says, "This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly." And this was after Sarah, Abraham's barren wife, gave him a son when he was 100 years old. (I would definately make the record books if I made my husband a father when he's 100.)
Some people may wonder why God asked Abraham of this; why does God want to test our faith? I'm no scholar and definately can't fully understand God, but I do have His Word. The Bible says in Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose." So if we are obeying Him and living in His purpose for us just as Abraham was in the story above, God is working for our good. His tests of faith, perhaps times of great sufferings, will only be for our very own good. What good? For one, it builds character. Romans 5:3-5 says, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
It's a scary prayer, but our prayer should really be to put our faith to the test. God loves us and if we are obeying Him and living in His purpose, He will greatly bless us, more than we can even hope for, because he works for our good. But more so, if our faith is tested we will build perseverance and character and hope in Christ. Yes, a test of faith may be difficult to endure for awhile, but the test will be worth the rewards.
