Like Noah - Abraham 1:13-20

1:13-15 - Abraham has been snatched up by the priest of Pharaoh and is in the process of being sacrificed on this altar that so many other believers have been sacrificed on before. I read a note that seemed to be important that Terah, Abraham’s dad, was behind this sacrificial plan, which I think makes it interesting because, if I understand the timeline, Abraham later takes his father with him when he leaves the land. I personally might not do that, but then again I’m the only one of my parent’s siblings willing to take care of my dad if my mom dies first, despite him being an absolute monster, so maybe I should take courage that Abraham did the same thing, that’s actually pretty comforting. It seems like all the events here took place just as Abraham was *about* to be killed, just like later when he was just *about* to sacrifice Isaac, the intervention came. Just “as they lifted their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God.” I read a note somewhere that we pray so that when we really need God’s help, He’ll hear us, and I disagree with that because when we cry out to God in anguish, He always hears us, it’s just a matter of what His will is to determine what happens, not whether or not we are righteous. The answer is “no” just as much if we are righteous as it is if we are not, so the amount we pray doesn’t have any bearing on whether or not God “hears” us anytime we address him. Abraham cried out to God to be saved, and God answered with “the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands.” This is significantly more than I bet Abraham had in mind when asking for help in the first place. I’d also like to note that most of the time, our cry out to God for help is answered by less dramatic means. I’ve been struggling recently with an existential crisis of just a general apathy and depression, and when I ask for help feeling better, it comes in ways that aren’t visions or angels or anything, sometimes it’s just breathing a little easier, or having a couple of hours to take a nap which always makes me feel better, or a thought that teaches me something. For instance, I had a thought today while I was in the shower that Jesus has not only felt all our pains and lived our lives, but he’s overcome them. I’ve never understood the concept of “overcoming” in the part of the atonement, I always just thought that it meant that he didn’t give up, that he continued experiencing everything until the end. But today I had the thought that he not only lasted until the end of our pain, but that he was able to not give up hope, that he was still able to be happy and have faith in the process and belief, it means he has prepared a way for me to be happy, despite everything else. 1:16-20 - The vision Abraham sees is the voice of God saying, “Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee.” He also tells Abraham that he’s going to be leaving his father’s house and family to go into a “strange” land that he doesn’t know about yet. God’s doing this because the people around Abraham “have turned their hearts away from me,” to worship idols and God is not happy about it. Why though? Because God wants all the attention? No, because idol worship is not conducive to active spiritual growth because it is led by the devil and leads the people to do horrible things like murder, etc. God promises Abraham that he “will lead thee by my hand” and be given His name as well as the priesthood and his power, just like Noah had.” With the flood being so recent in the people’s memory, a promise to be taught and given power just like Noah had would have been a very significant promise, I would imagine it would be similar to God promising someone today to be given the same guidance and power that Joseph Smith had, just because that’s so close to our day chronologically. That is quite the promise. Not only did the angels loosen Abraham’s bands to free him, but God also “broke down the altar of Elkenah… and smote the priest that he died.” I don’t remember if I heard this correctly but somewhere I think I read that either the priest suddenly had a heart attack and died just like the guy who was going to kill Ammon while he was knocked out with Lamoni and the queen in vision, or if I read that the giant stone idol that was next to the sacrificial altar just fell down on top of the priest and killed him. Either way, both are pretty dramatic and possibly neither are true. Interestingly, instead of seeing this as a sign from God to change their ways and maybe listen to Abraham, “there was great mourning in Chaldea, and also in the court of Pharaoh.” They bemoan this tragedy without considering that maybe they could be pondering the implications and lessons of the event.