FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

 

 

 

I am sure some of you, like me, have routinely skipped the four chapters of highly detailed instructions given to Moses regarding the building of the tabernacle and priestly robes during Israel’s journeying. Quite simply, it is difficult for us to relate to either the materials or methods used for such an undertaking. Whenever in years past I have skimmed over these chapters, I was amazed at the workmanship required of ancient Israel and wondered how did they know how to accomplish what was commanded them to do without highly skilled labour. This is what happens when you skim…..you miss something important. This year I understood. After four chapters of explicit instructions, Jehovah tells Moses the names of the men and what tribe they are in Israel’s congregation that can do the work needed and adds that HE has ‘filled’ them with wisdom and knowledge and understanding ‘in all manner of workmanship……that they may make all that I have commanded thee’ (Exodus 31:2-6). No doubt these men were inspired from birth to have an interest in specific skills that were needed for an important work they would one day do.

 

This has made me reflect on two things. Firstly, God’s house is a house of order. We are all born in appointed time that is best suited for what we can achieve in this life. It reminds me of this quote: “When we say God has a plan, he truly has a plan – not simply a grand scale, but for each of us as individuals, allocating some special talent to this dispensation and some to another. I regard God as the perfect personnel manager, even though He must work with and through all of us who are so imperfect. I assume, gladly, that in the allocation to America of remarkable leaders like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, the Lord was just as careful. After all, if you’ve got only one Abraham Lincoln, you’d better put him in that part of history when he’s most needed….” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Deposition of a Disciple”, p 46)

 

Secondly, we who are of the house of Israel, particularly us Ephraimites who are responsible for taking the gospel to the world, are harnessed with the Saviour in the work of salvation. Like Esther of old who saved her people from extinction, we were born ‘for such a time as this’ (Esther 4:14). And like the ancient men of Israel’s camp, we have been imbued with wisdom, understanding and knowledge to achieve what is expected of us. In God’s great wisdom He has reserved the most valiant, the strongest, the most dependable servants for ‘such a time as this’ when evil abounds upon the earth in unequalled measure. We are the ones who can withstand the onslaught and who have covenanted long before this earth began that we would uphold the ensign of truth and proclaim to the earth that the God of our fathers is with us still.

 

Thy love for Thy people is beyond compare,

Thy mercy affixed forever more.

Thy power delivered us and 

Thy loving kindness has gathered us;

We are restored to our rightful place

A servant in Thy might,

We are Israel, children of light.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: I Will Go Before Your Face by Kenneth Turner)

SABBATH OF TRUST

 

Whenever I study the Old Testament, I am enthralled with the strong visual tools the Lord implemented to teach the children of Israel how to know Him and trust Him. I know He tailors these teaching tools for each dispensation according to our lifestyles and our spiritual capacity but I sometimes wish for the teaching tools of old because they speak to my soul. 

 

This year more than ever I have come to understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. The Sabbath was so seriously regarded under the Mosaic law that violation of it was punishable by death. Since the Sabbath is the day of sanctification which leads to eternal life, I rather think this physical death was symbolic of spiritual death that comes upon us if we are not sanctified (cleansed from sin). To teach Israel the importance of this, the Lord used the tool of trust through this commandment, which actually became a dual object lesson: to believe in the importance of the sabbath, and to trust Him.

 

The Sabbath was not only intended for people and animals in ancient Israel but also for the land. The commandment was to let the land rest every seventh year, which was called the sabbatical year.  Imagine the amount of trust it took for agrarian people not to work the land for a whole year but to trust in God’s providence rather than in the labour of their own hands. Here is where the motivation to develop such trust was: After giving this mandate, the Lord said, ‘you will ask, what will we eat in the seventh year when we will not sow nor gather in our increase but I will not only make up for this year on the sixth year but I will give you enough food for THREE years ‘ (Leviticus 25:20-22). Remember how they had to gather double the manna on the sixth day because there would none be forthcoming on the Sabbath? Well, the sabbatical year took this lesson in trust to another level. 

 

Drawing from the scriptural base dealing with this commandment, we have been promised three major blessings if we observe the Sabbath: temporal plenty, divine protection and spiritual power. Think for a moment of where the world is today and what threat it is to our temporal and spiritual well-being. Do we have enough trust to obey a commandment that has been given us to ensure that we will have enough food to feed our children, that we and they will be protected from the evils surrounding us and that we will have the spiritual power to see us home?  I stand amazed at the Saviour of the world whose providence has secured this well-being for us. I stand amazed at the way He teaches us and I sorrow for my own failure to trust Him every minute of every day as I struggle to live by faith in my mortal weakness.

 

 Let me mount up upon the wings of faith

And trust all Thy promises to me;

Help me know I am in the palm of Thy hand

And that power to manifest is in Thee;

Increase in me strength to follow

And help me believe

In the dawning of tomorrow.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Liz Lemon Swindle)

JOSEPH THE PROTOTYPE

 

There is an interesting perspective on Joseph of Egypt in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha which contains the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. These ancient writings are not approved by the Church so they are not doctrine but this story of Joseph offers some tender considerations. 

 

In the Testament of Joseph, he writes this: “For my brothers know how much my father loved me, yet I was not puffed up in my thoughts. Even while I was a child I had the fear of God in my heart, for I understood that all things pass away. I did not arouse myself with evil design, but HONOURED my brothers, and out of regard for them even when they sold me I was silent rather than tell the Ishmaelites that I was the son of Jacob, a great and righteous man.” (p 822) 

 

Joseph goes on to say that the Ishmaelites, who his brothers sold him to, did not believe that he was a slave because of his comely and well-kept appearance but Joseph assured them he was because he did not want to bring disgrace upon his brothers for what they had done. When the Ishmaelites left him in Egypt with a trader until their return and he fell into possession of Pentephris, the third in rank of Pharaoh’s officers, Pentephris also didn’t believe that Joseph was a slave yet Joseph persisted in this erroneous story. And here the story thickens and just blows my mind. When the Ishmaelites returned to Egypt and caught up with Joseph again they told him they discovered who he was: a son of a great man in Canaan who is mourning greatly for his son in sackcloth and ashes and demanded of him that he admit who he was,  for they feared that Jacob would avenge himself on them. Joseph merely replied: “I know nothing, I am a slave” (p 823). Imagine his return to his father and his home within his grasp yet Joseph’s one concern was that he did not want to dishonour his brothers and bring disgrace upon them. This seems very plausible when you consider the importance the  ancients placed on honour (Genesis 37:9,10). If this story is true, Joseph’s integrity is astounding. 

 

Because of his integrity, at great personal cost , Joseph saved the rest of his father’s children and thus became a great prototype of the Saviour. This prototype is also seen in his willingness to forgive his brothers for the suffering they had caused him, as is his acceptance of that suffering which was for a greater good (Genesis 45:5-8). 

 

When we sustained the Father’s Firstborn as our Saviour, we had full confidence in the integrity of His character. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that He could and would save us, without fail. We knew no matter how bitter the cup, He would drink it;  no matter how excruciating the pain, He would suffer it; no matter how dark and wide the jaws of hell, He would deliver us from it and no matter how scarlet the sin, He would forgive it. This Easter, may our hearts turn to Him in repentance for the suffering we had caused Him and may we in return, consecrate our hearts to Him now and forever. 

 

I stand all amazed

That You would offer Your sinless heart

For every sinful soul.

That You would deem us worthy 

And still suffer so.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

Art: Finding The One by Matthew Warren

TRUSTING GOD

 

Imagine being born a slave and being in bondage and oppression all your life. Imagine being miraculously delivered with a promise of being led to a land flowing with milk and honey. Imagine the hope and the exhilaration. Now imagine arriving at the banks of a vast sea before you with the mightiest army of the world behind you. What would your thoughts be? Most likely, fear at the back and fear at the front. And why would God who miraculously delivered you from slavery bring you to a body of water to make your escape impossible? Because there comes a time when our difficulties push us in the direction of needed further growth. 

 

Bearing in mind that the Israelites were in Egyptian bondage for 430 years (Exodus 12:40), it is safe to suppose that they needed some serious tutoring as to the nature of the God that they followed. Had the children of Israel been capable of following the coastal route through the war infested Philistine lands to Canaan, their journey would have been relatively short.  To teach them, however,  to have trust in Him, the Lord took them to the Red Sea instead. All night long He caused a strong wind to divide the Red Sea as they crossed over to their freedom (Exodus 14:21,22) and He did not stop there. He destroyed the enemy behind them. 

 

It's interesting to me that the lesson of trust had to be reinforced with Israelites over and over again, that the plagues of Egypt were not enough. And just as stupendous in scope as the plagues, so were the constant miracles that Jehovah performed in their sojourn to Canaan. Following the crossing of the Red Sea, Israelites sang a song of praise expressing their wonder: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11). Not long after, however,  the murmuring  began….with over 20 serious instances of it in their wanderings. And so the issue of trust needed to be reinforced over and over.

 

It has been my experience that acceptance of the growth we need in any particular area, comes in increments. The Lord’s wisdom is un-surpassing when it comes to His understanding of our capability to grasp what would propel us to greater heights. The pressure exerted upon us to move up a ladder is only ever equal to our ability to rise. If you have come to the banks of your Red Sea, TRUST that it will part even if you have to wade waist deep…..

 

You opened my heart

And searched for what 

You there did not see;

My feeble faith and lack of trust

Stood in contrast to your will for me.

You sorrowed at the tears I shed

With every step I was led to take

To find You in my hour of agony.

How patiently You stood waiting

With open arms hoping I would come to Thee;

How patiently You hoped

I would give You all that was lacking in me.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Rescue Me by Yongsung Kim)

PEACE AMID STRIFE

 

The world is getting worse and worse. It is becoming the challenge of the day to foster contentment and peace. As we contemplate that it might get much worse, hope seems to be on the slippery slope. Now more than ever we need to believe that peace of heart is still possible. Consider the blessed state of those who did something to make this a reality: “….they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation…..because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Helaman 3:35). This state of joy and consolation came to the Nephites who were members of Christ’s Church amid much ‘persecution and affliction’ (v34). In other words, their state of contentment was not situational or circumstantial. It came from their spiritual well-being. This is not all, however….there is something greater. In the second part of this verse it says: “filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea,  even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts” (v35). To be sanctified means to be freed from sin and to be made holy. There is only one path to sanctification and that is obedience and obedience becomes ever so much easier when you are yielding your heart to God. When you do so, you are sanctified and you enter into a state of spiritual joy and consolation. Consolation means comfort and solace. And is this not needed in the world today? 

 

We are in the twelfth hour. The Saviour is at the door. However, that does not necessarily mean that He will come tomorrow, this year or the next. There is still so much more to come before He appears, so much good to fulfill the promises, but also so much more strife as evil grips the ‘powerful’ men of this world who yield control. We might have to endure much more than we want to but the tool to survive it all is ours and then the peace…..for a thousand years…..such as has never been known on earth before…may we await with eagerness, hope and iron-clad conviction, the one and only, Prince of Peace. 

 

 

I long to reside in Your presence;

To never know sadness

Or the wretched heat of my tears.

I know I will be safe there

Where fears cannot find me

And trials cannot scar me.

I know there will be safety

In the shadow of Your wings;

My burdens You will carry

And wipe away my sins.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Time Is At Hand by Danny Hahlbohm)

ODE TO THE HOLY GHOST

 

 

Have you ever wanted an assurance that the course you are pursuing is leading you to eternal life? Did you ever wish to have a witness of God’s approval of you? Well, there is a way….a very simple way, through someone who some of us usually take for granted and that someone is the Holy Ghost:

 

“There is a difference between the gift of the Holy Ghost and the enjoyment of the gift. All saints after baptism receive the gift or right to the sanctifying power of the Spirit but only those who are worthy and who keep the commandments actually enjoy the promised reward……The actual ENJOYMENT of the gift of the Holy Ghost is a SUPERNAL GIFT that a man can receive in mortality. The fact of its receipt is a WITNESS that the saints so blessed are reconciled to God and are doing the things that will assure them of eternal life in the realms ahead.”

(Bruce, R. McConkie, “A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], p 257)

 

Nephi spoke of the power of the Holy Ghost carrying the truth ‘UNTO the hearts of the children of men’ (2 Nephi 33:1). Why UNTO and not INTO? Because only we can open the pathway to the entry of our hearts. Clearly, the acceptance of truth allows that entrance. I have never felt the administrations of the Holy Ghost stronger than when I have studied the word of God and feasted upon the words of Christ.

 

I don’t know who he is besides the obvious fact that he is the third member of the Godhead but I marvel at his power and what he can do. His omnipresence is beyond my mortal understanding but this much I do know: The more I feel his administration, the greater I feel the love of Christ for me and that makes all the difference to my day, to my life, to my purpose. 

 

 

The days you embrace my heart

I can scarce contain my tears.

You are the witness,

The Testator of truth,

The illuminator of my path.

I crave your presence

In the caverns of my heart.

 

 

Art: "As One" by Danny Hahlbohm