Tested and Tried

Abraham faces his ultimate test, we see, as we join him at Genesis 22:2, “Take your son,” God says to him, “your only son – yes, Isaac, whom you love so much … sacrifice him as a burnt offering….”

And, as we watch this historic event, Abraham is obedient to God’s call to him. But does he understand it? Does it come easily for him to obey God’s command, he and his wife Sarah have waited so long a time for their own son? Can we Christ-followers today understand the tests God sends our way? how long would He have us to wait? For what purpose? Yet, as the Life Application Study Bible notes, “not to trip him and watch him fall, but to deepen his capacity [toward obedience] … to develop his character. [Likewise,] God refines us through difficult circumstances [which may include waiting].”

As Abraham and Isaac are traveling to the place that God will show, the boy asks, “Father, I see we have the fire and wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”

“God will provide, my son,” Abraham answers. (See Genesis 22:7.)

And indeed God does provide – a ram caught in a thicket. His care, protection, and provision, just as He promises.

Ours is but to trust and obey.

Centuries later, and we're seeing another historic event: Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), knows to trust and obey. There in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prays, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done,” (Luke 22:42)

“When the right time came, God sent his Son … to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his own children.” (Galatians 4:4-5, NLT.) God’s provision to rescue us from our evil, darkened nature; He, too, loved His own Son so very much.

And God so loves us. “Even before he made the world … God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:4-5; John 1:12 –13; John 3:16.) How great is the Father’s love!

 “This is why we work hard,” writes the apostle Paul, “… for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.”

(See 1 Timothy 4:10.)

Zooming still further ahead through history, we arrive at Horace Allen. Born in Delaware, Ohio, in 1858, he is educated at Ohio Wesleyan University and Miami Medical School in Ohio.

He is appointed by the Presbyterian Church and first serves God’s

Kingdom with his wife Frances as a medical missionary to China. However, because they are bombarded through the night with calls from opium addicts, they soon become dissatisfied with being there.

“Sleep was quite impossible,” he declared.

Agreeing, his wife stated, “Life was made miserable.”

And so, serving less than a year in China, the Allen's are transferred to Korea. Yet, largely

Allen's residence in Seoul, in 1904, 
under armed guard.

due to Korea's way of relating to missionaries, Allen and his wife find no happiness there either. Though tested and tried, even amidst political strife, including Korea’s struggle with Japanese imperialism, the Allen's nevertheless keep at it.

After just a few months in Korea, and perhaps because of having saved the queen’s wounded nephew, Allen is invited by the royal couple to establish a hospital in Seoul. Later, at the request of the Korean king, he serves as a diplomat representing Korean interests in America.  (Allen’s works Things Korean and A Chronological Index relate to his life in Korea and his diplomatic experience.)

In some respects Horace Allen may have failed as a normal missionary, but as author Wi Jo Kang writes: “[He] left behind a rich legacy of Christian witness to political justice....” It was he, more than anyone else, Ruth A. Tucker writes, “Who paved the way for the long-term presence of Protestant missionaries in Korea.”

“When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1: 2-4, NLT.)

Information gathered from Ruth A. Tucker’s From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Second Edition, and WikipediA.


Coming next month A Good Neighbor

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