Careless Whisper?

What kind of relationship did Abraham have with God?  Sometimes, I feel as if God is impressing me to do one thing or another.  My rule of thumb is simple; if the impression I have makes sense based on what I know of God, I will do it, if I can.

Based on this process, I have done numerous things in the years such as reading or writing something, praying for a specific person or situation, making a monetary donation to a cause or researching a ministry, educational or job opportunity.  These are all simple, small things that, for the most part, could be my own ideas.  There are only a handful of situations where I can say that I was almost certainly led by God to perform some action or another.

Abraham, on the other hand, receives a message like this in Genesis 22:

     “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

If I had the tiniest impression in my mind of doing something horrible like this, I would immediately dismiss it as a thought from the evil one.  How could Abraham have been so certain that God was telling him to complete this seemingly insane task?

When I think of the command from this passage, I can't help but think of another passage.

     They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
    Jeremiah 7:31

Here, God says that the Israelites who were sacrificing their children as burnt offerings were doing something He did not command, something that had never entered His mind.

Is it possible that the Lord would actually have given Abraham this bizarre command?  Is it possible that Abraham received this idea from some other source and that God stopped him before he could complete the task?  Whether it was directed by God or preempted by God, the end result was a powerful foreshadowing of God's own sacrifice of His son.

A literal reading of this passage says that God did give Abraham this command.  Is this the right interpretation for this passage, or could there be another interpretation?  I simply do not know, but I do know this; every time I had trusted God, He has never let me down.