One of my least favorite passages in the Bible is Genesis 22.1-2: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 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."
The reason that this passage bugs me isn't what God tells Abraham to do, it is because of the first part of the verse, that God continues to test Abraham. I want to scream, "leave that old man alone!" He has given up his old life entirely because he believed he heard God's voice telling him to move away from everything he knew to a place God would show him. He waited 25 years, sometimes patiently, sometimes taking matters into his own hands because his wife had an idea (thanks very much for Ishmael - so much for the Bible not being relevant to today). Now, in his retirement from public service, God tests him?
The test is to destroy the fulfillment of the promise. During this topsy-turvy time, many people who have served faithfully and who have retired are finding that what they worked so hard to put together is either at risk or lost, they have been thankful for God allowing them to be secure and now it is gone. He is never done with us, He never allows us to rest as long as we draw breath, but it is because He wants us to have more of Himself, find our true security in Him. I don't believe this financial crisis is sent from God to test the saints or to punish them, but it can be used for His glory.
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