Am I enduring adversity? - Part 2

God tested Abraham’s faith and obedience. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes, Lord?” he replied. “Take with you your only son—yes, Isaac whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I’ll point out to you!” The next morning Abraham got up early, chopped wood for a fire upon the altar, saddled his donkey, and took with him his son Isaac and two young men who were his servants, and started off to the place where God had told him to go. On the third day of the journey Abraham saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the young men, “and the lad and I will travel yonder and worship, and then come right back.” Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering upon Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the flint for striking a fire. So the two of them went on together. “Father,” Isaac asked, “we have the wood and the flint to make the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” “God will see to it, my son,” Abraham replied. And they went on. When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood in order, ready for the fire, and then tied Isaac and laid him on the altar over the wood. And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to plunge it into his son, to slay him. At that moment the Angel of God shouted to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes, Lord!” he answered. “Lay down the knife; don’t hurt the lad in any way,” the Angel said, “for I know that God is first in your life—you have not withheld even your beloved son from me.” - Genesis 22:1-12

Abraham believed that God could raise the dead.  Had he ever seen the dead raised?  Not to my knowledge, but he believed that God could raise the dead.  What he really believed was this: that God was so true to His word that if he made a promise He would even raise the dead to keep it - tremendous faith. Now what does that tell us?  It tells us that man can go through the severest imaginable trial of life if he really trusts God and if he believes that God is on the throne, that God will keep His promise, that God never makes mistakes, that God always fulfills His word, and that God will accomplish His purposes.  It is that kind of faith that passes the test. - John MacArthur

While God was testing him, Abraham still trusted in God and his promises, and so he offered up his son Isaac and was ready to slay him on the altar of sacrifice; yes, to slay even Isaac, through whom God had promised to give Abraham a whole nation of descendants! He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again; and that is just about what happened, for as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was doomed to death, but he came back again alive! - Hebrews 11:17-19 (Living Bible)

God doesn’t have to test any of us to find out what’s in our heart.  God tests us so that we can find out.  In other words, He assists us in doing that spiritual inventory.  He assists us in self-examination.  I need to know and you need to know the strength of our faith, and so God brings trials into our lives to demonstrate to us the strength or weakness of our faith. - John MacArthur

True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. - A. W. Tozer

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. - James 1:3-4 (NLT)

God never uses anyone greatly until He tests them deeply. - A. W. Tozer

But He knows the way I take;
When He has put me to the test,
I will come out as gold. - Job 23:10 (NASB)

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die. - Romans 8:18,19,23 (Living Bible)

Before there can be fullness there must be emptiness. Before God can fill us with Himself we must first be emptied of ourselves. - A. W Tozer

Be Encouraged to endure the faith strengthening adversity of this life by filling yourself with the knowledge of God through the study of His Word. 



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