Most of us, upon reading that G-d tested Avraham: ?Take your son, the only one you love ? Isaac. Bring him as a burnt offering" assume that Avraham's test was to do the almost unthinkable and kill his son in the service of G-d.
But Chassidic sources conceptualize Avraham's trial in a radically different way.
Mei HaShiloach, basing himself on the Zohar, points out an interesting anomaly. When the Torah tells us that "G-d tested Avraham", the appellation used for G-d is "Elokim" as opposed to the more frequently used "YHV'H." YHV'H is G-d's most personal name, the name he uses to develop and maintain a clear, direct relationship of prophecy with Avraham. Elokim is more of a title than a personal name, something like "The Deity". It is distant and removed, and denotes a lower level of prophecy than the name YHV'H would. The Elokim mode of prophecy requires some interpretation on the part of the receiver.
According to the Mei Shiloach, G-d deliberately communicated with Avraham in this less-than-clear manner so that Avraham could not be completely sure what he was supposed to do. The text never says "slaughter your son" it says "bring him as a burnt offering." Without the clarity of the "YHV'H" type of prophecy, the phrase "burnt offering" is unclear, and could be understood literally or metaphorically.
Avraham's natural inclination would be to show love and compassion for Yitzchak. But the test of Avraham is to surpass his natural inclination. It is no test for a man who shows love and compassion to everyone, even the sinners of Sdom and Amorah, to do the same for his own child. But it is a test for such a person to put aside his love and compassion, and find the strength to interpret G-d's will as antithetical to his own, regardless of his doubts and how he would like things to be.
Shabbat Shalom!