The world is in commotion & the Church has been changing rapidly to adapt. Many have watched their best, most well-intentioned plans to serve the Lord turn to dust & sift between their fingers. That which has disrupted society feels to have disrupted God’s work...
We, like Abraham with his son Isaac, have been asked to lay our own will upon the altar & sacrifice it for the will of the Lord. Sometimes he places a ram in the thicket. “Thank you,” he says. “You gave me your will. Now MY will for you has changed.”
We may be inclined to see this disruption in the sacrificial process as a denial. We may hesitate to lower the knife. Why wld God refuse to let me do this, just as I summoned the courage to follow through? Why has he taken this away? Was it not his will? What now will I give him?
The reality, as it was with Abraham, is that the sacrifice HAS been made: first, your will HAS died as soon as your heart abandoned it to the Lord. Second, it was HIS will that changed. Will you change with him and adapt?
Will you halt that which he intended before & rise to do what he intends now? Will you glean intended wisdom from the first trial & set your feet on the path to the new experience, even if it feels foreign or unconventional? Will you follow him, even if he turns another way?
We need never assume that the Lord’s will is always the thing which will make us most deprived, most wanting, or least happy—even temporarily. We need not assume that the lot of a Christlike sacrificial life is whatever hurts deepest or costs most. In reality...
The Lord’s will, absent our own, is always that which will do our souls the most good & save his children, that which will best build up his kingdom. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it will gut you. But it’s also a series of exquisite miracles that will bring you to your knees.
Sometimes the sacrifice you’ll be asked to make is to accept a new direction. It may feel like an altered or lesser sacrifice because it doesn’t look the way you expected. Pulling that ram so easily from the thicket may feel like cheating the plan. It is NOT. The ram is Christ.
Jesus Christ put himself upon the altar to provide grace for mankind. His grace removes the sting from our deepest sorrows and sharpest sacrifices. We do not cheat the will of God by accepting mercy. We cheat ourselves by refusing it—by demanding the old, familiar, ritual pain.
Full-time missions have been ended & disrupted. Temple service & church meetings have been halted. Ordinances have been unattainable. For months, a service as small as visiting the sick has been unrenderable. We have felt the sting of laying our will upon an altar & being halted.
Adapt, said the Lord. There’s a ram in the thicket. You have laid down your will. I accept your offering. Stand now & change course as I bid thee. Be brave now. This is my will. Rejoice in it.
“But what if I’ve misunderstood?” you may wonder. God wants you to learn to walk & so he must take away his hand. If even the will to walk is really there, he is pleased, even with your stumbles. (C.S. Lewis) If you’re trying to do his will, no stumble will disappoint him.
The ram in the thicket, the Savior of the world, has made it possible for you to learn to walk. His grace corrects your stumbles as you go & heals your bruises when you fall. If you truly abandon your will & seek the Lord’s, no mistake provokes him—except giving up.
So make choices & trust the Lord. Adapt as he bids you. Be brave enough to risk mistakes to take the path he laid before you. The grace of Christ will be at your elbow to steady your steps. These times are unconventional, the adventure is unfamiliar. Trust him. Stay close. Adapt.
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