When Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac whom he loved, and the only son through whom God had promised to bless him as the father of all nations (Genesis 22:1-2), it seemed like the cruelest of demands! It is inevitable to wonder what went on in Abraham’s mind after he heard that command from God and many of us will want to sit down with father Abraham and hear this part of his story. Did he think God was cruel? Did he think God was greedy? Did he think God was a psycho? Did he question God’s personality? Did he think God was joking? Or did he trust that God was in control? Just what was going on in Abraham’s mind the evening when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac? A very open question with a million answers.

My humble submission is that Abraham trusted that God was in control. Why do I say that? Because Abraham got up the very next day and did just what God had commanded. One may argue that he waited a whole day, but from his overall story, we can confirm that Abraham’s daily routine involved having a quiet time with God, usually at night. When he was told to sacrifice Isaac, it was probably too late to go at that time and so he got up early the next morning. You don’t get up early the morning after hearing such a command when you are second guessing the person who gave the command. Abraham was sure about God. He was so sure that he was willing to stake his whole life, symbolised by Isaac, on it.

Why did this happen? What made Abraham so confident in God that he swiftly obeyed a command otherwise considered remarkably cruel? There can be only one reason. Abraham had experienced a “sweet revelation”.

What is a sweet revelation? A sweet revelation is a unique and deeply personal experience with God which makes one unequivocally and relentlessly sure about God’s goodness and faithfulness towards them. It is an exposure to truths about God that “seals the deal” about one’s trust in God by showing them how dependable and trustworthy God is. Very rarely does the sweet revelation happen instantly as a whole. It comes gradually in bits and pieces until a climax which truly seals the deal. For Abraham, his climax was the birth of Isaac. Abraham went through several experiences in life which gradually increased his trust and confidence in God, but Isaac was the ultimate event. After that ultimate event, God made Abraham the most difficult of requests – Isaac’s life. I believe God knew that Abraham had reached this point – otherwise he wouldn’t have made this seemingly cruel request. I also know that Abraham must have reached the highest point of his sweet revelation – otherwise he would never have obeyed this command which such diligent urgency.

Experiencing a sweet revelation is what makes God’s demands which seem cruel doable. It is what makes them doable with joy in our hearts – and not grudgingly or with pain. And God’s demands in our lives will always align with how high up the scale we have reached in this sweet revelation. Furthermore, our enjoyment of our Christian walk and our spiritual freedom in Christ is equally aligned with the level of sweet revelation to which we have been exposed.

One question comes to my mind, which I believe could also be in you, my reader’s mind. What exactly is this sweet revelation? Is it something tangible. How can we all experience this sweet revelation when each of us goes through completely different experiences in life?

The answer is simple. The sweet revelation is the person of God. The reason why each of us can have it despite our different experiences in life is because God reveals Himself in numerous ways. Since we are over 8 billion people presently in the world, it suffices to say that there are currently over 8 billion ways in which God is able to reveal Himself. And like I said earlier, it rarely (at least none that I have witnessed or read of) happens at once. It is a gradual process which happens in bits and pieces like snapshots of a full video or pieces of a puzzle coming together.

And every time we get an extra glimpse of God, more strength is added to our faith, and our trust in Him is strengthened just like a muscle grows strong each time we work it out. And the more our faith and trust in Him grows, the less absurd or less cruel or less crazy His requests of us become, and the swifter we are to do according to His bidding.