Is God Testing Me?
- Ryan Leak
- Apr 16, 2023
- 9 min read
Tests and trials are unavoidable, but the way we respond to them is up to us. Join us for the next talk in our series Far from Perfect as we take a closer look at how Abraham responded to the ultimate test of his faith.
Far From Perfect Week 4
March 17/19, 2023
Far From Perfect Week 4
“Is God Testing Me?
Ryan Leak
Welcome to Chase Oaks. We’ve been in a series called Far From Perfect
learning lessons from the life of Abraham who was considered one of the
greats, but he was indeed, far from perfect, but God used him a powerful
way.
If you missed any of the messages in this series, I encourage you to go back
and see messages delivered by Jeff and Greg that unpack Abraham’s story.
In case you know nothing about Abraham, God comes to Abraham and his
wife and tells them he’s going to use them to change the world and that he’s
going to start with helping them get pregnant… at a very old age. Not like
40s/50s. No, Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was in his 100s. But God
let’s an imperfect couple that he’s going to do the impossible through them.
Their story is inspirational and powerful. I want to zoom in one piece of
their story that wasn’t so fun for Abraham. And it’s found in Genesis 22.
SLIDE______________________) Genesis 22:1
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Anybody like test? I certainly never looked forward to them in school. I
certainly don’t look for them in life. But ready or not, they land on our
front doorstep often, right? Sometimes they arrive in the form of a
circumstance. An unforeseen layoff. A diagnosis. A breakup. A pandemic.
All tests…
Sometimes a test arrives in the form of a person. Got anybody in your life
that test your patience? Don’t look at them. Could be a family member, a
boss, a colleague, or a neighbor that we would say… they hold a special
place in our hearts. =)
Regardless, I find it interesting that scripture says God tested Abraham,
called his name, and Abraham’s response is, Here I am. I think if we were
told that tomorrow a test would be coming from God, I think most of us
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March 17/19, 2023
would say return to sender. If there was a website where we could sign up
for God tests, I don’t think many of us would willingly take those tests, but
Abraham is moving towards the thing that most of us steer away from.
I’ve found that for a lot of people who follow Jesus, they’d like a
testimony, a God story to share with others… without going through a test.
But I think it’s hard to have a God-story without a God-trial and a God
test.
Here’s Abraham’s big test:
SLIDE_______________________) Genesis 22:2-3
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and
go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on
one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took
two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood
for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had
told him.
This is no small test, ladies and gentlemen. Obedience is easy when it’s
convenient.
Growing up I had friends who did great missions work in Africa. And
they’d always say that they prayed, God don’t send me to Africa, and
that’s exactly where they ended up. I thought… well why don’t I pray…
God, whatever you do, don’t send me to Hawaii.
Sometimes we’re ok with obedience as long as it lines up with our 5 year
plan.
But I can guarantee you for Abraham, this did not line up with what he
thought was going to happen in his future.
Remember, the back story of this is that Isaac is Abraham and Sarah’s
miracle baby. Can you imagine the dinner conversation with Sarah after God
told Abraham to kill him? You know how it is when you got bad news for
your wife. You be giving it to her in pieces to see how she swallows it.
Hey bay…
Far From Perfect Week 4
March 17/19, 2023
God spoke to me tonight.
That’s great. What he say?
He said I need bring a burnt offering before him on a mountain.
Which one?
He didn’t say yet.
Well, that sounds fun.
Yeah.
So, you need to pick up a lamb on your way?
Nope.
God told me to kill our only son.
Often times God will tell us things that are unpopular. God tells Abraham
to go before he tells him exactly where he’s going. I believe God often
reveals our destiny piece by piece. Here’s what I know about you and me:
SLIDE______________________)
If God gave us the full picture of where he wants you to go, we may try
to get there without him.
There are moments when God will tell someone to resign from their
position before having their next job. There are moments where God will
tell you to break up a dating relationship with someone long before he
reveals your future wife or your husband. Some of us are waiting for the
full picture before we obey the first step. But if there’s one thing this story
tells us about God is that he often allows us to go through tough seasons to
TRAIN our ears to hear his voice. The Bible says that God tested
Abraham. I believe God often tests us and that’s not bad. The question you
have to ask yourself tonight is how are you doing with your test? This
weekend I want us all to consider how we are you doing with obeying
what we heard God say last?
SLIDE_____________________) Genesis 22:4
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from
afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey;
I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
Sometimes we want everybody to come along our journey with us, but
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March 17/19, 2023
often times God wants to get us alone. There are some people we have to
let go of so that we can hear God alone. Sometimes we struggle with
loneliness, and it can be viewed as a negative thing, but perhaps our
solitude for a season is a strategic set up to hear from God.
Abraham viewed this as worship. However, there was no singing.
SLIDE____________________) Genesis 22:6-7
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac
his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went
both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My
father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
If I’m Isaac, I’m asking the exact same thing. Scholars believe that Isaac
was actually strong enough to fight his dad. They believe he was a late
teenager or in his early 20s.
This is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ giving his life for humanity. He
had the power to deliver himself, but he willingly gave his life for all of
us. This is a beautiful picture that tell us that our ability to hear God in the
moment doesn’t just affect us, but it affects other people around us. Our
ability to hear God affects our kids. And they trust that the moves we’re
making in faith are really God.
Abraham is in a real pinch here. Because listening to what God told him to
do has him conflicted with his wife obviously, and he had to be conflicted
internally. But …
SLIDE__________________) Genesis 22:8
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt
offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
The more time you spend with God, the more you’ll get to know him and
his voice. God’s training session with Abraham involves Abraham being
able to hear God’s voice under pressure. It’s under pressure that we begin
to lean on other people’s voices instead of our own. Think about it. Who
do you call first when you have a problem? It’s often a person. But
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March 17/19, 2023
Abraham, in a high-pressure situation, perhaps questioning if he’s really
hearing God begins to rely on God’s character and His character is what
he explains to his son. GOD WILL PROVIDE. Dad, are you sure? I don’t
know how; I don’t know when. But I know my God will provide.
One of the greatest things we can instill into our kids is the ability to trust
God and I think the best way to do that is by modeling it first. Perhaps the
greatest impact my parents have had on me was watching them trust God
my entire upbringing.
SLIDE_____________________) Genesis 22:9-14
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built
the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and
laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out
his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the
Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And
he said, “Here I am.”
He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for
now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt
offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place,
“The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the
Lord it shall be provided.”
Sometimes the picture I get when I read this story is Abraham walking up
one side of the mountain with Isaac and the angel of the Lord walking up
the other side with a ram. I have to wonder if that’s us this weekend. Feel
liking we’re in uphill battle on one side of a mountain not realizing God’s
coming up the other side with exactly what we need.
SLIDE_________________________)
If we could see our life as God sees it, obeying what He asks us to do
would make so much sense.
Is there anything in your life that you’ve felt nudged by God to do but it
just seems way too outside of your comfort zone? What I love about the
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nature of God is He rarely gives assignments without provision to pull
them off. It’s just that the provision for it often comes after obedience. I’m
learning to just say yes to God even when it doesn’t make sense because
when I look back on my life, every time I felt alone, I look back and
realize, I’ve never walked alone.
I had one of the biggest speaking engagements I’ve ever had about a year
ago. Was speaking to about 9,000+ people. And what a lot of people don’t
know about me is I get extremely nervous before preaching and speaking.
I was especially nervous not just because of the size of the audience, but
also, I had some potentially big clients in the room as well. And there was
a young man in the back who was there to assist for me the morning and
right before I was getting ready to walk on stage. He put his hand on my
shoulder and asked if it was ok to pray for me. It changed everything for
me that day. I realized I wasn’t just there to speak, but God had an
assignment for me that day and knew exactly what I would need to
complete it.
Provision is interesting but we can be the type of people that pray for it, or
we can be the type of people that try to be an answer to somebody else’s
prayer for it.
SLIDE_______________________) Genesis 22:15-18
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from
heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because
you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will
surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of
heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall
possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
“The blessing of God is not good luck; it's hard work. The blessing of God
is not a magic trick; it's long obedience in the same direction.” - Mark
Batterson
I’ve never met a person who regretted obeying God.
What I want to mark my life is that I have obeyed the voice of God.
Far From Perfect Week 4
March 17/19, 2023
Here’s what would make all of our lives better: If we woke up every day
and said: Lord, what’s your will for my life today? (And then sat quietly
before God for 5 minutes.)
Some of us are being tested right now and didn’t know it. I want to
encourage you this weekend to pass the test. Continue to pause long
enough to hear God and trust that as you’re going up one side of the
mountain, God’s doing the same with exactly what you need to pass the
test.