God is there for the righteous. But his companionship is not always perceptible. It is a lot easier to turn to your neighbor than it is to cry to God. Your neighbor responds right away, and you can speak with him face to face whenever you want. Don’t succumb to this temptation. Although your neighbor will try to answer you with something helpful as soon as you want it, he will not be able to comprehend what you are going through, to benefit from what you know, or provide any advice to you. It is much better to rely on God only.
Imagine for a second that you were the Savior during New Testament times. To whom could you turn? Who could understand what you were going through? Who could provide you with advice that would be worth hearing? None but the Father. And, contrary to popular opinion, Jesus did not have a special hotline to God. He had the same tools we have, and they worked in the same ways for him that they do for us.
While Jesus knelt and prayed, and sweat came out of his pores, his disciples—those closest to him—slept. Those most aware of what Jesus was going through were not at all aware of what Jesus was going through.
The Lord cried for the Father while on the cross. He asked why the Father had abandoned him. Clearly, Jesus did not feel the support of the Father at that moment, and we have no reason to believe that this sort of thing hadn’t happened before.
God has great things in store for every person that loves and obeys him:
Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. (Alma 26:22)
You might think that sounds exciting and exhilarating. Actually, experiencing this description will quickly disabuse you of that illusion.
Can you even imagine what it would be like to know things that no one else knows? Realize that the only reason others would not know what you know is because it lies outside of what they can perceive given their heed and obedience to God. No one will believe you, so you can’t share what you are taught. Because you can’t share what you are taught, no one can sympathize with how you feel, and you have no one to talk to about it. You will feel that you are alone. You will realize what God meant when he said it is not good for man to be alone.
The hard truth is that those with the most light are the most lonely. Those who venture further and further in search of light will find themselves needing comfort and companionship more than ever before in their lives, drifting away from the experience and comprehension of their mortal peers while still acutely separated from feeling the consolation of divine approval. They will feel absolutely alone.
But they are not alone. Their companionship comes from the righteous men and women who walked the same path in times past. Few find this path, it is true, but some do.
Abraham walked this path, and his experiences can inform those who follow in his footsteps. Abraham’s household had at least hundreds of people who believed and trusted Abraham on some level, having chosen to live with him in spite of not being related to him. Knowing this, it might be tempting to imagine these people providing support to him. Yet, this was not the case. Abraham was constantly giving, but no one in his circle was able to provide what he lacked.
Abraham had leaned into his life time after time, constantly enveloped by afflictions which he suffered for and due to others. His wife let him down and proved incapable of comprehending the mystery of godliness with him. His second wife let him down. He had to live through the pain of banishing her. His son Ishmael was also dismissed. Lot had let him down. All these people—for whom Abraham had sacrificed so much—had utterly rejected the light and truth Abraham had worked so hard and sacrificed so much to obtain. All they had to do was accept what he freely offered, but they would not. They were so narrow in their desire for light and truth that they could have been saturated in the dim light offered by any normal man. But Abraham was no normal man.
Why was it so hard for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? People think it was hard because it was his son and he loved him. That is true. But Abraham already had a son (Ishmael), and that son was not sacrificed. Isaac was a child of promise, which meant more to Abraham than a son through whom he would bear grandchildren (again, Ishmael did that). Abraham’s promise was not one of mere seed, but of seed of promise. He was promised not only a son, but a son who would be capable of using the light and truth that Abraham had worked so hard to accumulate. Isaac would be someone with whom he could share the depth of his love.
The greatest joy a person can have in life is to give away the light and truth they worked so hard to obtain. Isaiah says that the Lord’s servant’s soul will “be satisfied” when he sees the growth of those he toils and sacrifices for:
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53)
How old was Isaac when Abraham took him up the mountain to kill him? We don't know. But we do know he was old enough that Abraham could tell that this was a person who was capable of assimilating the light and truth Abraham had acquired. He was capable of appreciating everything Abraham had become, and Abraham could see that his son would become so much more because of Abraham's suffering than he could be on his own. Abraham's effort in lifting the curse from his father's household—his successful recovery of the path from a start steeped in idolatry—would not be in vain. His repeated trust in God through the fires of losing Sarah twice and having to send away Hagar and Ishmael, and all his other trials would be worthwhile in what he could transmit to Isaac.
So how did Abraham muster the strength to give away what, in his old age, would have been the only opportunity of finding consolation in another, and why did God ask him to do it?
Abraham trusted God. The cycle he had watched play out repeatedly over his long life was that his feeling lonely did not mean God was not there. Without exception, God had proven trustworthy time after time. After each trial, Abraham learned how what he went through was an example of God’s love for him, even if it wasn’t obvious while he was going through it. By the time Isaac came along, Abraham trusted God so much that he felt he would be ok if he continued without the earthly companionship he had longed for his whole life.
Here is the key to conquering the same test in your own life: God will not grant you the kind of companionship you seek until you have proven that you trust him enough not to need it. It would be unloving of God to give you that experience before you are ready for it, because in doing so you would be tempted to put your relationship with another person above your relationship with him, which would harm you.