When We Struggle

Description

Today we wrestle with the deeply unsettling story of Abraham and Isaac, not as a literal command from God, but as a sacred parable about our inner spiritual journey. What is God truly asking us to sacrifice? Not our cherished loves or innocent hopes (represented by Isaac), but the more stubborn, unhelpful attachments within us. Drawing from Swedenborg’s insight that the Word holds deeper, living meanings, we see how Divine Truth invites us to read beyond the surface and find that “the platform on which God’s light operates” is love for others and the conscience born from it (Secrets of Heaven §8728). Jesus’s own struggles, culminating in His forgiveness and hope amid despair, show us the divine pattern: not escape from trial, but union with God through it. In our small way, we are called to follow that path, grounding ourselves always in love for others, even when life is hardest.