Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Abraham 1:15-16 -- On Unloosed Bands and Strange Lands

"And as they lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands;
And his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father’s house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of;"
Abraham 1:15-16


This is part of the beginning of the story of Abraham, where God saves him from being a human sacrifice.  The whole story is amazing, but what strikes me today is the way that God delivers Abraham and then sends him to a new place... a promised land, if you will.

This is a pattern that we see all through the scriptures.  The Brother of Jared, Noah, Moses, Nephi... and others.  It's something that happens a lot, this delivery from a bad life and God showing a new path... and I submit that is is also a pattern in each of our lives.  God does this for each of us, if we allow it.  He wants to deliver us and show us a new, better life.  And maybe in our individual lives we haven't seen the new, better life yet.  Maybe, like the people of the Brother of Jared, we're still on our journey, trusting completely in God with no windows and no escape in the middle of the ocean, waiting for the wind to take us somewhere we've never been.  And it's tough sometimes to have faith when things are so unknown... but like the Brother of Jared's people, we too will arrive and find that God's promises are always fulfilled, if we stay the course.

Today, wherever we are in the cycle, let's turn to God who can and will help us, and show us something much better.  Let's trust in that, and work for it, as Abraham did.

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