The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Would God Ever Ask Us to Do Wrong?

No. But he might push to the limit our ability to trust him. The first words of this chapter—“Some time later God tested Abraham”—suggest that God never really intended the sacrifice of Isaac to take place. The point was the test: Did Abraham really trust God?

We are shocked by this situation today because we know the Bible’s strong commands against child sacrifice (see Lev 20:1–5; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35). That’s what pagan gods demanded, not the holy God of Israel.

Because the Biblical laws against child sacrifice came later, we can’t be sure what Abraham understood about the practice. Even so, God had shaped Abraham’s values. This request would not have been consistent with God’s character as Abraham had come to know him to this point, so perhaps Abraham was confused by the nature of God’s command. But even though God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the son promised to him, the writer of Hebrews states that “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead” (Heb 11:19). The laughter of disbelief when Abraham had been promised a son with his aged wife had become a firm confidence in the God who had made—and kept—that promise.

God’s command was harsh (even for the ancients). But Abraham believed God would fulfill his promise through Isaac. It makes us ask ourselves, will we entrust our futures unreservedly to the God Abraham trusted?

Taken from the NIV Starting Place Study Bible.