I recently had an interesting experience with personal revelation. I've been looking for a new job, and finally came to the realization that I might have better luck if I headed to the larger market of the Salt Lake area. As I was pondering this (and thinking about how much I don't really want to live right in Salt Lake City), I thought to myself, "I really just want to live in some random small town...like Herriman". This thought surprised me because I really didn't know much about Herriman besides that it existed. I tried to dismiss it, but it wouldn't leave my head. All day at work, the name bounced around my head: Herriman, Herriman, Herriman. I happened to be going to the temple that day, and again during the session it was on my mind: Herriman, Herriman, Herriman. I felt very strongly that the Lord wanted me to move to Herriman. I shared the experience with my family members and close friends, and they supported me.
Fast-forward a couple of weeks, and I had a phone interview with a credit union that has a branch down in Herriman. At the end of the interview, the HR woman told me she was referring me for a position in their corporate office in Ogden. I thought that maybe this was the reason for the Herriman impression, since this position had yet to be posted anywhere. The next day I had an interview in Ogden, which went really well. The job sounded amazing; it was something I knew I could do well, and the company offered great benefits. There was just one hitch in the deal: the hourly wage was only $8.50, and it sounded like there wasn't really any chance of regular raises. I left the interview confused, wondering if I could even survive in Ogden with such low compensation.
I tried to keep my hopes up as I went to drive by a couple of apartment possibilities, but they were all in various stages of disrepair, located in shady areas of town. With my stomach intertwined in several knots, I finally admitted to myself that I would have to turn down the job I had just interviewed for, if they decided to offer it to me. The knot in my stomach immediately went away, and when the job was offered to me the next morning, I told the HR woman that it simply was not enough money and that I was unable to accept the position. I was a little bummed, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
So what does this all mean? Why on earth would I have such a strong impression to move to a random city, only to end up turning down the job that the impression led me to? While I don't want to draw any solid conclusions (because I never know where my life will go), I have to consider the possibility that I've had what I like to call an Abraham and Isaac situation. When the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he had no intention of letting that happen, but Abraham didn't know that. Abraham's faith in the Lord was such that he was willing to sacrifice the son he had waited a long, long time for. At the last minute, God intervened to save Isaac's life and Abraham passed the test.
I truly believe that God tests us; he exercises our spiritual muscles to see if we will listen to the Spirit. There are a lot of instances when I saw the direct results of following the Spirit, but there have been many times that I followed a prompting, having no idea what the outcome would be, and sometimes I never do find out. Just as a runner trains for a race, we train for those moments in our lives when failure to listen to the Holy Ghost can mean serious consequences.
Looking back at Abraham and Isaac... I always like to read about what happens after the main portion of the story. After Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac is halted, the Lord provides a ram for Abraham's sacrifice, and, in later verses, the Lord bestows blessings on Abraham. (This is in Genesis 22, if anyone wants to read it.) The Lord always blesses those who listen to the Spirit and act upon those promptings. It may not always be in the next verse, or even the next chapter, but I am confident that the Lord will bless me when He sees fit.
*Post title comes from verses 16 and 17 in Genesis 22.
No comments:
Post a Comment