“[Satan’s] cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do [God’s] will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” #CSLewis
Miraculous turning points are often preceded by a moment of perceived bitter forsaking. Joseph Smith was “seized upon” before the First Vision. Moses was confronted by satan before God opened his great vision. Lehi wandered in a dreary waste alone before he saw the tree of life.
Christ himself felt his Father withdraw from him at the moment when he most needed to feel Him near. This was not the absence of God’s love, but its keenest presence—that the Father would allow Himself to suffer so His child could grow, transform, & overcome all evil.
Many of us have not had access to a church, a temple, or one another in many months. It may feel like a forsakening, but this is the test before the miracle. When all hope seems lost & no trace of God is visible, when you feel to say “Why am I forsaken?” will you still obey?
When, like Alma, you are in “the gall of bitterness,” will you call upon the name of Jesus Christ to rescue you? When, like Brother Joseph, you are “ready to sink into despair and abandon [yourself] to destruction,” will you “exert all [your] powers to call upon God to deliver”?
On the other side of this, you will be a new person—either refined in the fires of adversity or consumed in its flames. You decide which. God hurts to see you suffer, but He loves you enough not to interrupt your metamorphosis. You may not see him, but He sits w/ you in the dark.
You are not the first to endure apparent abandonment to claim a divine reward too astonishing to be granted by any other means. You are in the company of giants—Moses, Alma, Lehi, Joseph Smith, & Christ himself. Your reward will be as great. Hold the line. You are not alone.
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