Search Me, God, Know My Heart

Introduction

When our girls first began to swim it was at a pool. They would stand on the edge of the pool with all of their flotation devices securely attached and we would encourage them to jump off ledge, into the water, into our outstretched arms.

I’m glad to report that we caught them every time.

They all take to the water like fish now.

From their perspective, it seems terrifying and contrary to safety, but from the our point of view, it's about building trust and enabling growth.

In Genesis 22, we encounter a far more dramatic test of trust - one that causes us to ask deeply troubling questions. What kind of God would ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? Isn't this request in conflict with everything else God seems to value? Yet like those moments at the pool's edge, this story reveals something profound about the relationship between a father and child, about trust in the face of fear, and ultimately about a God who always has His arms outstretched to catch us. This is the crescendo of Abraham's story, and it has something vital to teach us about faith, testing, and God's ultimate provision.

If you have your Bibles or on your devices, would you turn to Genesis 22. If you are willing and able, would you stand with me as I read our text this morning.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Thank you. Please be seated.

The Crisis of the Test (What God Asked)

Jarring nature of this request: "Take your son, your only son, whom you love"

A test… our author lets us know right away that God is testing Abraham. (vs1)

When we think about a test, it can bring up some real emotions. It can seem cruel and even at times unjust.

Our understanding often times hinges on who is the one giving the test.

Do they want to see you fail or benefit from your possible failure?

Or if the one giving the test has your best interest in mind then it can be seen as an opportunity. Both types of tests appear in the Bible. If we see that God is giving the test, then we know it is for our benefit or the benefit of the one being tested.

Build the tension by highlighting:

This wasn't just any son - this was THE son of promise

The one that he had been waiting to receive. He has been waiting for over 25 years.

He had him through Sarah and is now being asked to give him up.

The specificity of God's command (location, type of sacrifice)

Genesis 22:2 “Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.””

The seeming contradiction between promise and command Abraham's immediate response - no argument, early rise

Application: Abraham’s test is unique:

The test was severe: He was to give Isaac back to God. As a test it was designed to prove his faith: Would he still obey God when God seemed to be working against him and against the covenant? For it to be a real test, it had to push the limits of logic and Abraham’s understanding of God. Ross, Allen, and John N. Oswalt. 2008. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus. Vol. 1. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 141

Before going further, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that God would not test us in the exact same way that he tested Abraham. We can be sure that if we think that God is telling us that he wants us to kill our child, or anyone for that matter, we are wrong. It is not God who is asking us to do it. After all, he has made it clear in a way that it was likely not clear at the time of Abraham that he does not want human sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 20:2–5; Deut 18:9–12; Micah 6:6–8 as well as the frequent prophetic attacks on the practice), and God would not instruct a person to do something that he has clearly forbidden as we now understand in a way that Abraham could not. Indeed, Deuteronomy 19:10 forbids the killing of the innocent.

That said, while God would never test anyone again in the same way that he tested Abraham, we know from later Scripture that he does on occasion test his people to expose the quality of their faith. Longman, T., III. (2016). Genesis (T. Longman III, Ed.; pp. 292–293). Zondervan.

I believe while a heavy test that we are being confronted with, we are to sit with this for a reason. One in which I don’t think was primarily for Abraham’s benefit but for ours and all who came after him. I hope to make that clear as we move forward.

But we all face moments when what is happening seems like it is in direct opposition to what we might naturally think/want God’s will to be:

Praying for healing while illness persists

Trusting God's provision during job loss or financial hardship

Believing God is good while experiencing loss

Waiting for God's timing in seemingly impossible situations

Times when we're asked to surrender what we think is essential to God's promise:

Giving sacrificially when we think we need to save

Following a call to ministry when it means leaving a successful career

Choosing obedience when it might cost us relationships or opportunities

This is where in remembering who God is in the moment or season of testing is important and helpful.

The Character of the Tester (Who God Is)

Shift from what God asked to who God is

Explore:

Why God tests: not to trip up but to transform

A test of faith from God proves/shows the genuineness of our faith. Speaking of the hope that is in the new birth through Jesus Christ and the inheritance kept in heaven for us, Peter writes 1 Peter 1:6–9 “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Life’s difficulties and trials can have the result of strengthening our faith.

James, the half-brother of Jesus and pastor of the early church, puts it this way James 1:2–4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

The difference between testing and tempting God's track record with Abraham up to this point

Testing A situation that God allows to reveal our character, motivations, and loyalties. The purpose of a test is to strengthen us, purify us, and grow our character. (The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil)

Tempting An enticement to disobey God's will. The purpose of temptation is to show weakness or failure. (The snake in the garden deceiving the man and woman).

The significance of the name "The Lord Will Provide" (יְהוָ֖ה יֵרָאֶֽה)

The mountains of Moriah: מֹרִיָּה

Moriah has the ראה the root word “to see; to understand; reveal, look at”

What we see is that God will provide. We can trust Him as a good gift giver. As a memorial to this, Abraham names the place (as often we have seen and will see in scripture) Genesis 22:14 “So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”” יְהוָ֖ה יֵרָאֶֽה = The Lord who sees, the Lord who will be seen, the Lord will provide

The Lord sees. The Lord knows. It is not out of His purview. We are not hidden to him. So why the test if he already knows?

It reveals our character and what is true of us, so we know… but not just that.

More deeper there is the question of WHY as opposed to purpose. Our text shows that the sequence of events is for God’s benefit. This verse is hard to sidestep, you could choose to ignore it all together, but it clearly says what God is benefiting from… “Now I know that you fear God…”

We must distinguish between knowledge as cognition and knowledge as experience. While we can agree that God knew Abraham's actions in advance, Scripture provides ample evidence that God desires us to act out our faith and worship, regardless of His knowledge of our hearts. God wants us to pray, even though He knows what we'll say and may already have the answer in motion. He wants us to praise Him, despite knowing our feelings. God asks us to express our faith and love. It honors Him when we demonstrate these qualities He knows exist, simply because it pleases Him. This is what I mean by God's "benefit." Just as we know our parents, spouses, and children love us, it's crucial to hear and see that love expressed. Cognitive knowledge alone is often insufficient and less satisfying than lived experience. Walton, J. H. (2001). Genesis (p. 514). Zondervan.

Why God values demonstrated faith over mere mental assent

Theologian Matthew Bates helps us in understanding what the ancient notion of faith is. It is more accurately understood in our modern notion of allegiance than a mental ascent. Allegiance speaks more to a belief coupled with action as opposed to just a mental understanding.

James 2:17–24 “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”

Application: Our view of God's character determines our response to His testing.

God has not withheld anything from us. He has given us Himself. When we encounter tests, may we know with full assurance it is a situation that God allows to reveal our character, motivations, and loyalties. The purpose of a test is to strengthen us, purify us, and grow our character.

It is an invitation to relationship. To know Him intimately. To experience Him. To know true love. To experience joy, peace, and abundant faithfulness. Not just up in our minds, but to be transformed by Him.

The Completion in Christ (What God Provides)

Show how this story finds its fulfillment in Jesus:

The parallel imagery (3 days, wood, father/son, willing sacrifice)

Three days travel (vs4)

Go up on the mountain

Wood to use for sacrifice upon Isaac for him to carry (vs6)

Father/Son language (intimate relationship) (vs7)

Son’s obedience at his own expense (vs6,9)

“God Himself will provide the Lamb for the offering” (vs8)

Indeed, early church fathers were not slow to note the connection. To cite one example, consider the poem of Melito in the second century:

As a ram he was bound, he says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a lamb he was shorn, and as a lamb he was crucified. And he bore the wood on his shoulders, going up to slaughter like Isaac at the hand of his father. But Christ suffered. Isaac did not suffer, for he as a type of the passion of Christ which was to come. Longman, T., III. (2016). Genesis (T. Longman III, Ed.; p. 301). Zondervan.

The crucial difference in Abraham and in God: God did not spare His own Son

Abraham told the servants that he and the and boy would go up to worship and then they would come back.

The author of the book of Hebrews lets us know and how to understand what is happening here… Hebrews 11:17–19 “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”

Abraham was never going to be allowed to drop the knife, his son, his one and only son… the son he loved was to be spared. But God knows that He, Himself must sacrifice His only begotten Son that we might have life. Where God stayed Abraham’s hand, He will not intervene when God the Son is sacrificed upon the tree of the cross for you and for me.

***As blessable covenant partners, He not only enters in to our hurt and pain, but in order for their to be relationship, He invites us to understand what it is that He is willfully, joyfully giving up that we might be His again. Created in His image, lost to sin and death, but to be reclaimed and redeemed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus unto eternal life with Him. The Father and the Son partnering with God for the redemption for all those who believe. The Son is willing participant to take His wrath upon Himself for our sin.

John 3:16–17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The ram in the thicket pointing to the Lamb of God Mount Moriah/Jerusalem connection

“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided” = This is the place where the temple would eventually be built and that Jesus would give His life for the ransom of all who would believe on Him. 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.”

That Jesus would willingly lay down His life, that we might have life.

On the grounds of this sacrifice, Paul pronounces one of the strongest messages of hope and consolation in all of Scripture, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39)

The ultimate provision: not just sparing life but giving new life

God makes a good world and creates beings in his image to rule it with him (Gen. 1:26-28). He offers humanity a life with him, the source of all life. But if humanity turned away from him, they would die because nothing can live away from God. Yet that is exactly what humans choose.

God didn't introduce death into the equation; humanity did. God’s problem (and ours) is figuring out how to deal with it.

God can’t pretend death isn’t there. He is life, and we have chosen to live by our own standards. The Hebrew Scriptures wrestle with the question of how death will be resolved. And the answer it gives is sacrifice.

Sacrifice is the death of one thing so something else can have a new life. What makes the Gospel such good news is that God solves the problem of death, not by demanding the death of everything touched by the stain of evil but by offering himself instead. The result of Jesus’s sacrifice means new life for us all.

Application: Just as Abraham discovered God's provision on the mountain, we find our provision in Christ… His life, death, and resurrection.

Conclusion

The powerful truth is that God doesn't just provide a way out of death (like He did for Isaac), but provides the way to life through Christ.

Like Abraham who journeyed up that mountain with his beloved son, we too stand at a moment of decision. But unlike Isaac, we don't need to ask "where is the lamb?" because God has already provided. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, became the perfect sacrifice – not just for a moment on Mount Moriah, but for all time on Mount Calvary. Today, as we pray "Search me, God, and know my heart," we're invited to trust in His provision, just as Abraham did. You don't need to carry the weight of trying to save yourself or earn God's favor. The Father has demonstrated His incredible love by giving His one and only Son, so that by believing in Him, you can move from death to life. Will you trust in His provision? Will you let Him search your heart? He stands ready to welcome you into relationship with Him, to give you a fresh start, and to make you part of His eternal family. The same God who provided the ram in the thicket has provided the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. The choice is yours – will you trust in His provision today?