Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Genesis 22:1 (NASB)
If you think God “tests” us with difficulty, you might conclude that we can fail that test. You might think the test is about performance. “How holy are you?”
You might come to resent a God who would test us and cause us to lose things we love. But you’ve misunderstood.
The Hebrew word for “test” (some translations say “tempt”) is נָסָה (nasah), and this word appears for the first time in the Bible here in Genesis 22. The picture is NOT of us standing before God and having our righteousness tested like some kind of morality pop-quiz.
The word nasah means proved.
It does not mean that God demanded that Abraham perform in order for him to prove himself worthy to God. The text says the opposite of this. Look more closely!
The text says GOD PROVED ABRAHAM.
And there’s another clue in the same verse.
The Hebrew word nasah (proved) is in the pi’el perfect form (nissah), which implies that it DID happen… not that it would happen later.
So when did God PROVE Abraham?
It’s in the same verse. God says “Abraham!” and Abraham responds “I’m here.”
The PROOF of God’s people is that when God calls us by name, we will hear him. When God demonstrates His great love to us, we will respond in worship. Our hearts will melt, and we will draw near in trust and in hope.
Because our God is good.