Genesis 22:1,2 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. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

So if God TRIES US but doesn’t TEMPT US, why then does the Bible say God tempted Abraham? Well, the simple answer is that, It’s a translation issue.

The Hebrew word translated “tempt” in Genesis 22:1 is “nacah“; and it could mean to test, to try, to prove, to tempt, to assay”. It could mean both TEST and TEMPT depending on how it is used. So to understand which one it is, we need to do a contextual analysis of the text, else we might misinterpret it.

Was God TESTING or TEMPTING Abraham? Let’s ask that question another way:

Was God  “enticing Abraham to sin and murder his son?”, or Was God “examining faith in Abraham’s heart in order to approve him?” Clearly we know God wasn’t tempting Abraham to sin, because at the end He provided an animal and stopped Abraham from killing Isaac.

God could not have been TEMPTING Abraham to sin and fall. That will be incongruous or inconsistent with the nature and character of God – GOD IS LIGHT AND IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL.

 It was a test, and in the end, Abraham passed the test.

Beloved, BE STEADFAST AND STRONG IN YOUR FAITH; DON’T LOSE HEART FOR THIS ALSO SHALL PASS. RECEIVE GRACE AND STRENGTH  TO PASS ALL THE TESTS OF LIFE THROWN AT YOU WITH DISTINCTION IN JESUS NAME. Amen.

              GRACEFUL MORNING