Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Old Testament 2026

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

From a Brigham Young University devotional address given on January 13, 2009.

Look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.

By President Russell M. Nelson

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe.

Sarah dies and is buried in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham buys from Ephron the Hittite.

Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his son—Both father and son yield to the will of God—Abraham’s seed will be as the stars and the sand in number—In his seed, all nations will be blessed—Rebekah is born to Bethuel.

Sarah bears Isaac—He is circumcised—Hagar and her son are cast out of Abraham’s household—The Lord saves Hagar and Ishmael—Abraham and Abimelech deal honorably with each other.

Abimelech desires Sarah, who is preserved by the Lord—Abraham prays for Abimelech, and the Lord blesses him and his household.

Lot entertains holy men—The men of Sodom seek to abuse Lot’s guests and are smitten with blindness—Lot is sent out of Sodom—The Lord rains brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah—Lot’s daughters preserve his seed in the land.

Abraham entertains three holy men—They promise that Sarah will have a son—Abraham will command his children to be just—The Lord appears to him—They discuss the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham and Sarah’s life, filled with events both heartbreaking and heartwarming, is evidence of a truth Abraham learned in a vision—that we are on earth to be proven, “to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command” (Abraham 3:25). Would Abraham and Sarah prove faithful? Would they continue to have faith in God’s promise of a large posterity, even when they were still childless in their old age? And once Isaac was born, would their faith endure the unthinkable—a command to sacrifice the very son through whom God had promised to fulfill that covenant?

Abraham and Sarah trusted God, and He trusted them (see Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). In Genesis 18–23, we find stories from the lives of Abraham, Sarah, and others that can prompt us to think about our own willingness to believe God’s promises, to flee wickedness and never look back, and to trust God regardless of the sacrifice. In proving us, God also improves us.

Elder Patrick Kearon

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles