Abraham's Faith Tested, March 5

I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. Genesis 12:2. It was not a small trial to Abraham to be called to leave his home and acquaintances and go into a land that he knew not. When he came into that land, he found that the Canaanites were there, and he would have all their idolatry to meet. This was a severe trial to Abraham's faith. He could not see any possession that he could claim as his own. But in his perplexity the God of heaven condescended to preach the gospel to him and show him the possession that he should have for an eternal inheritance. Abraham moved from place to place, as it seemed advisable for him, in order to obtain a support for his family, and his family was not small. His trained servants numbered more than four hundred. At every place where he pitched his tent, close beside it he erected an altar; so he worshiped God in every place where he was called to be. In thus doing he was training his family to love and fear God.... All God's followers, wherever they shall go, should carry the true principles of their religion with them. If sin, forgetfulness of God, and idolatry exist in the places where they shall go, then is the time for them to show their true principles. When we set ourselves where all is convenience and ease, we do not feel so much the necessity of depending moment by moment upon God. God in His providence brings us into positions where we shall feel our necessity of His help and strength.... Now, the Lord has a controversy with His people, and He wants every one of us to come into obedience to His requirements. We are none of us, when duty is laid out before us, to question, “Is it convenient or will it please me to do this?” If God says it, it is enough. We are to take our Bibles; we are to study and see what the will of God is concerning us, and then to follow as Abraham did, in faith and confidence. Now, you see, the first test was a very close test for Abraham—to leave everything and go into a land of strangers.... There were adverse circumstances that followed Abraham for a time that brought him into positions of trial and where he was proved of God.... When the Lord opened before him the view of immortal life, of this earth purified, which was to be his home, he was satisfied.—Manuscript 19, 1886 (see also In Heavenly Places, 112; Manuscript Releases 10:120, 121).