Genesis 22:1 (KJV)
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
In Genesis 22, we witness the "ram in the bush" account. Basically, God commands Abraham to kill his son, Issac, for a sacrifice. Fortunately, for all parties (specifically Issac), God never intended on Issac being a human sacrifice. God provided a ram in the bush so Abraham could sacrifice the ram instead of Issac.
We know God did this only to show the extent of Abraham's trust in God. But if God is omniscient, why did He need to "prove" Abraham's trust? Shouldn't an all-knowing God have already known the extent of Abraham's trust without any proof? Genesis 22:1 states God tempted Abraham.
But why?
What was the point of God tempting Abraham in such a drastic way? Oh, and I thought God doesn't tempt us? It says so right here in James 1:13-14:
James 1:13-14 (KJV) Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Now, I will admit the temptation listed in Genesis 22 and the temptation listed in James 1 are not the same. Genesis 22 speaks of God tempting Abraham to establish his level of trust. However, James 1 speaks of us being tempted by lust or sin. God may expose our level of trust through testing, but He will never push us towards temptation.
So, it is evident that God's tempting was a test. Yet, my question still stands. Why would God need to tempt Abraham if He already knew his heart? God already knows if we will or will not be committed... but do we know if we will be committed? When a teacher gives a test, the test is never given to expose the knowledge of the teacher. It's given to determine the knowledge of the student. How will a student know their I.Q. level if they never take a test? Similarly, how will you know your level of trust if you are never tested?
You see, when God tests us, it's never about Him. It's about us. He already knows our commitment level. The tests in our lives are administered to show us our own level of trust in Christ. God's test are like mirrors. They are trust mirrors. They merely reflect whether we will or will not trust God. We can think our trust in God looks good, but until God holds that mirror up for us to see our own reflection, we'll never know.
Abraham's reflection in the trust mirror looked pretty swell. If you haven't been tested already, you will be eventually. So, when God makes you look into the trust mirror... how will you look? Will you like what you see? Or will you recoil at your reflection?
I will do my best to make sure I look good when God makes me look at my reflection in the trust mirror... you should do your best to get spiffy so that you'll like your reflection as well.