Our stories began long before this life and will continue long after it is over. As we seek to do God's will in our lives Jesus feels after us and helps us become like Him. Tests and trials we pass through are as necessary for us as they were for saints of other generations. They are customized for our growth and require sacrifice. Consider Abraham, who was a Nomad who wander with flocks and herds that needed feeding; yet, in his wanderings his will was swallowed up in God’s will. God’s perfect will was Abraham’s strait and narrow path to eternal life. It took a lifetime of test and trials, while pursuing righteousness, for Abraham to receive the Abrahamic Covenant, and beyond his mortal life to realize the unfolding of all God’s promises, which are still unfolding.

As we walk in God’s perfect will for us we become His true sons and daughters. It is by giving our whole soul and will to Him that our path to eternal life is made strait. In the tests and trials we pass through we become sanctified and are made pure and holy. Our journey requires patience, diligence, and divine perspective; for God’s plans for us are much larger than our own. At times we may suffer doubt and wonder if we have wandered away from our mark, because Satan’s enticements to do evil do not cease, and God’s timing regarding his promises are often different from what we imagine. For example, when God commanded Abraham, Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife, and from Hagar sprang forth a nation! But this was not how Abraham, or Sarah, imagined the blessing of children would come to them. They were required to wait upon the promise of children from their union, until natural child-bearing years completely passed them by.

Do you think Abraham ever wondered about his standing before God, or if he disqualified himself to become a father of nations? Abraham and Sarah wandered in a strange land and had no children born of their union, until Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90. Have you ever been tested and tried to the point it felt as if God had forsaken you? What can such trials do for us? Can they help us own the light and truth we have already received more fully and prepare us to receive more? Without opposition, we cannot receive faith sufficient to lay hold upon further light and truth. Thus, we are tried, tested, and left wanting for something, in each stage of our lives.

Amidst his trials, Abraham grew to attain stature and wisdom before God and men, while being purged and refined in the fiery crucible of God’s perfect will, doing all that God asked of him for the cause of righteousness. After years of being tested and refined the Lord spoke to him from the heavens. He responded, “Lord, here am I,” and the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac upon an altar. Consider the years of patient longing for a son and the hope Isaac represented to Abraham. No greater sacrifice could have been asked. Abraham knew, from having escaped being sacrificed in his youth, that sacrificing children was evil; yet, Abraham’s faith in the true and living God was now such that he knew that whatsoever God asked of him was for a righteous purpose!

True to his faith Abraham began his journey early the next morning, to where he would offer up Isaac unto God. After three days journey, he lifted his eyes and saw the mountain whereon he was to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac asked where the animal was that was to be sacrificed? Abraham replied that the Lord would provide. When the time came, Isaac submitted himself to be bound and made ready for sacrifice. As Abraham raised a knife in his hand to offer up Isaac unto the Lord, an angel stayed his hand and provided a replacement offering—a ram that was caught in a nearby thicket!

As Abraham righteously endured this greatest test of all, his faith was finished by the author and finisher of his faith. He learned that sacrifices God asks of us are restored to us one hundred fold, and more! Not only was Isaac restored to Abraham, but through Isaac, Abraham was given innumerable seed, and through the ministry of his seed, all nations of the earth are being blessed with the blessings of the Gospel.

If you would dwell in celestial realms with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other saints—give your whole soul and will to God as a righteous offering—to be consecrated and set apart for His holy purposes. Thus, you will receive the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and will find wisdom; and you will receive hidden treasures of redeeming light and knowledge, even great treasures,  to enable you to become, even as Christ is; and as you do God's perfect will you shall run and not be weary, and you shall walk and not faint under your burden of discipleship; and the destroying angel will pass you by.