Abraham Needed to Learn Something About Abraham

 The past two weeks has felt like a year, but it's been awesome. Some of my highlights have been; waking up to the Muslim 'Call To Prayer' at 4:55am daily, the best soupy-oatmeal type stuff for breakfast, meeting the funnest person named Eliza (who is my best friend cousins name, hehe) and seeing some of the places we've been studying about in Genesis. 

Last week we did an overlook tour of Jerusalem where we saw places like the memorial site for Samuel, the place where the Gibeonites tricked the Israelites into a peace treaty so they wouldn't go to war, but rather protect them, Bethlehem - where the angels visited the shepherds in the fields the night Christ was born, the site where some believe that Peter might have denied Christ three times, and, my favorite, the place where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. 

The site is called Tayelet, which means 'Promenade' in Hebrew- a public park with walkways (the photo is looking into the distance and seeing the area of Mount Moriah, where the Dome of the Rock now is).

When Abraham was living near Beersheba, about 40 miles away from Jerusalem, the Lord 'tested' Abraham and asked him to take Isaac a few days journey to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him to the Lord. 

When Abraham was younger his father tried to offer him as a sacrifice. Sacrificing of children was common, and with Isaac being Abraham's only son between him and Sarah, I imagine this was extremely difficult!

Joseph Smith said, "if God had known any other way whereby he could have touched Abraham’s feelings more acutely and more keenly he would have done so.”

On one level, God needs to know our ultimate loyalty. But if He is all-knowing, why test us? Maybe it's because we get to learn about ourselves and how dedicated we are. This knowledge about ourselves enables us with confidence before God and to know we are capable, through our faith in Christ, to endure any trial before us. 

Hugh B. Brown said:

Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham.’The Lord already knew what Abraham would do, but Abraham didn’t know the depth of his own faith in God until he was actually stopped from making the sacrifice in the very act of performing it. It was then that Abraham realized how far he was willing to go in the service of his God. This was a growth lesson for Abraham.

Friends, I want to be like Abraham. May we all prioritize our faith in Jesus Christ so that we can endure any trial that comes before us. May we take peaceful time to ourselves daily so we can know ourselves better, which will help us become more confident in our own abilities, too. 

Well wishes, 

Ashley Marie