By Christine Stuart
In ancient times, Abraham received revelation from God that his posterity would be more numerous than the sands of the sea and more plentiful than the stars in the heavens (Genesis 22:17; Abraham 3:14; Doctrine and Covenants 132:30). After receiving those promises, Abraham was blessed with Isaac. Then he was later commanded to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2). I can only imagine what Abraham may have thought in that time. Conflicted between following the commandments he had received from the Lord and the love of his only son? What purpose could sacrificing him to the God who had gifted him serve?
We sometimes receive revelations like these in which we feel we know what is to come and what we are to do when we follow them, only to find we were wrong. I’m sure Abraham was everlastingly grateful when the angel appeared and stopped him from killing Isaac, but the point is the angel didn’t appear until he had climbed the mountain, built an altar, bound his son, and was about to plunge a knife into his heart (Genesis 22:10–11). That is a long way to go under false pretext from the Lord, but I feel that it is more for us to show the Lord our faith.
We all know that God is omniscient; He knows if we will or won’t do as He asks, but we learn more from actually doing what is asked of us than from His knowing whether or not we would. For us, the bigger benefit is in passing through the trial. God knew that Abraham would go through with what He had commanded and sacrifice Isaac if necessary. But imagine what Abraham learned as he went through the process. Imagine the emotions he had to go through. The faith to gather the wood, climb up a mountain, and build an altar.
I have also heard the experience of Abraham compared to sending sons on missions in many ways that can be similar to sacrificing them to the Lord. I had an especially poignant example in my ward (congregation). There was a father with two daughters and his youngest, his only son. Both of his daughters had served missions and now it was his son’s turn. When his son received his call to Sierra Leone the father shirked. Please, he begged in prayer. Not there, anywhere but there. You cannot have my son. I will not let him go. Then he received a revelation.
I did not hold back my Son.
Neither did Abraham hold back his son. When we do not follow the revelations we receive, especially the ones that are scary and hard, we miss out on the lessons, the testimony building, and the strengthening after. This does not always come at once. Sometimes it can take many months after the experience of prayerful soul-searching, asking, and seeking to know. The Lord will also put these experiences into terms we understand.
In the Parable of the Wedding Promise, Jason thought he was headed to California to be married. I think sometimes the Lord gives us these revelations like this because He knows if He tells us we are going to endure a trial of faith, we will not pursue it the same way as something we want. Also, we all know the Bridegroom cometh, though no man knows the hour or day. One of the ways we can prepare is building the faith to be able to follow these promptings when we receive them and know that we have acted on the will of the Lord even if the thing we thought might happen doesn’t. Sometimes it can be as simple as taking a different route home, and even if you never learn of an accident, or see someone along the new route that needed your help, you can know that you followed the Spirit.
Many of these trials of faith are to bring us closer to God and help us to strengthen that bond and connection with him. While that doesn’t always soothe the emotional pain of facing the trial, it can help to remember that ultimately these will be for our benefit and our good. Are we willing to trust enough in the Lord to follow his direction?
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The Weekly Parable 