Welcome the test (1)

‘God tested Abraham.’ Genesis 22:1 NKJV

The Bible says: ‘God tested Abraham, and said…“Take now 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.” So Abraham…went to the place of which God had told him.’ (Genesis 22:1–3 NKJV) You say, ‘Why would God test me?’ First, to prove Himself faithful to you. Second, to give you an opportunity to prove yourself faithful to Him. Your tests are God’s proving grounds. They’re the way you graduate to the next level in His Kingdom. That day Abraham proved there was nothing he loved more than God. And that was the day when God introduced Himself to Abraham as ‘Jehovah Jireh’, the Lord who provides. It’s when you exercise your faith that you discover God’s faithfulness. That’s why God will test your faith. The tests get progressively harder as the stakes get higher. And the tests will undoubtedly revolve around what’s most important to you. What do you find your identity in? What do you find your security in? That’s your ‘Isaac’. God will test you to make sure your identity and your security are found in Him alone. Indeed, He will go after anything you trust in more than you trust Him until you put it on the altar. Don’t worry; you don’t have to live in fear that God is going to take away what is most important to you. But if the gift ever becomes more important to you than the Giver, then the very thing God gave you to serve His purposes is undermining His plan for your life. And that’s why God will deal with it.

欢迎试验（1）

神要试验亚伯拉罕。创世纪22章1节

圣经说：“神要试验亚伯拉罕、就呼叫他说……‘你带着你的儿子、就是你独生的儿子、你所爱的以撒、往摩利亚地去、在我所要指示你的山上、把他献为燔祭。’亚伯拉罕……就起身往　神所指示他的地方去了。”（创世纪22：1–3）你可能会说：“神为什么要试验我呢？” 首先，要显明祂对你是信实的。其次，给你一个证明你对神信心的机会。你所面临的试探就是神的试金石，是在神的国度中提升你的方式。神试验亚伯拉罕的那一天，亚伯拉罕证明了他爱神超过了一切。同样是在那一天，神向亚伯拉罕显示祂是“耶和华以勒”的神，意思就是耶和华必有预备。当你凭着信心仰望神的时候，你就会发现神的信实。这也是为什么神要试验你的信心。随着你生命的成长，试验的难度也会越来越大。毫无疑问，在测试的过程中，你最看重的是什么就会逐渐显露出来：你最看重的身份是什么？你的安全感来自什么？那就是你的“以撒”（译注：以撒是亚伯拉罕最看重的，神要的就是你最看重的）。神会试验你，直到你在祂的里面找到了你的身份和你的安全感。实际上，神会不断地在那些你想要去依靠的事情上挑战你，直到你愿意把它们都放到祭坛上。不过你也不用担心，是不是神将你最重要的东西拿走了，你是不是就要生活在担惊受怕中。如果对你来说，神的赐予变得比神本身更重要时，那么神为着祂的目的而赐给你的东西就是在破坏祂在你生命中的计划。这也是为什么神会解决它的原因。