IN HEAVEN'S CARE

 

".....be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God , that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." 

(Ephesians 6:10-13)

There was a king in ancient Israel by the name of Ahab who was the most wicked and most powerful of the kings of northern Israel. He married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess, through whose influence the worship of Baal and Asherah was established and an attempt was made to exterminate the prophets and the worship of Jehovah (1 Kings 16, 18). Due to Ahab's political prowess, the kingdom of Israel was strong. When Ahab led his army against the forces of Syria, he took every precaution to come out of the battle alive, even disguising himself so that the Syrians would not recognise him.  The only thing he failed do was wear enough armour. It took one bow drawn by one man to hit the King of Israel between the section of his armour and cause a fatal blow. Ahab stayed out the battle in his chariot bleeding slowly to death and by night time he was dead (1 Kings 22:34,35).

The concept of battle armour is a foreign concept to us in this dispensation of times. The protective battle gear and weapons have somewhat changed since ancient times. Many of us cannot relate to fighting a battle in the physical sense, especially those of us living in the peaceful western world. There is, however, a battle we are all engaged in with the enemy that cannot be seen. This enemy is cleverly disguised in many evils of mortality who carefully draws his bow and fires his darts and arrows aiming to wound so we would, like Ahab, slowly bleed to death. Since the battle is directed at the destruction of our souls, meaning both body and spirit (D&C 88:15), it stands to reason that our armour should be spiritually strong.

When Nephi's brothers asked him the meaning of the rod of iron that their father dreamt of, Nephi replied that it was the word of God, which if they would hearken to, would protect them from the fiery darts of the adversary which could prove to their destruction (1 Nephi 15:23,24). The degree of protection we receive to combat the adversary is directly proportional to the diligence and heed we give to God's word, meaning obedience to His commandments.  How obedient we are here is an indication of how much we are willing to stand for the conviction that was ours in pre-existence.  The extent of our armour is a good indication of how valiant in our testimony of Jesus we are being here and now.  Since the battle for our souls is fierce, we cannot afford to choose which commandment we will obey and which we will let slide. Every act of disobedience creates cracks in the armour that is supposed to protect us. And it is just such cracks that the adversary targets. Many cracks make a loose armour. A cracked and loose armour is sufficient to cause discomfort leading to conviction that the armour is useless and not needed after all.

Paul's answer to combat the forces of evil is one of brilliance. The full armour of God that he admonishes the Ephesians to wear addresses all the vulnerabilities of mortality:

• Loins (reproductive organs): typifying virtue and chastity
• Heart: in the scriptures the heart is always used to typify our conduct
• Feet: typify objectives and goals in life which would take us to perfection, armour would protect us from getting off 'on the wrong foot'
• Head: a place the thoughts are stored which lead to actions

"Well, now, the apostle Paul went one step further. He didn't leave the man just with the armour on and expect him to cope against an army, seen or unseen. He had his armoured man holding in his hand a shield and in his other hand a sword, which were the weapons of those days. That shield was the shield of faith, and the sword was the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. I can't think of any more powerful weapons than faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in the which are contained the Word of God. One so armoured and one so prepared with those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy [and] is more to be feared than the enemies of the light" (Harold B. Lee, "Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace", Speeches of the Year, 1954, pp 2-4, 6-7).

If you ever wanted to be a hero, this is the time and place.  Examine the cracks in your armour and sharpen your sword of righteousness.  President Ezra Taft Benson said: "You will never have a better opportunity to be a greater hero in a more crucial battle than in the battle you will face today and in the immediate future. Be warned that some of the greatest battles you will face will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.  David's battles in the field against the foe were not as critical as David's battles in the palace against a lustful eye.  We will each find our own battlefield". (Ezra Taft Benson, "In His Steps", 1979, Devotional Speeches of the Year, 60).

"As a small boy in grammar school, I had a teacher who made King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table come alive.  She caused me to become so obsessed with stories of knights that I played and dreamed that I was one.  One evening I dreamed that I was a white knight on a white horse riding over the greens of England.  Suddenly, without warning, a knight dressed in black armour and mounted on a black horse appeared at the edge of the forest.  We measured each other carefully, lowered our lances, and charged at full gallop.  The lances struck target and both of us were knocked off our steeds.

I scrambled to my feet knowing that swords would be drawn and that hand-to-hand combat was imminent.  Fear gripped my heart as I saw my opponent rushing toward me flashing a long, gleaming sword.  Instinctively, I reached to my side and drew forth from the scabbard my weapon.  That is when the dream turned into a nightmare!  For in my hand was a small, dinky dagger - not a long, gleaming sword.  I woke up in a cold sweat screaming for help. 

Many times since that nightmarish experience, I have wondered about the serviceability of the Saints, particularly the young Latter-day Saints.  When God calls you to serve, are you positioned in the scabbard and ready to be drawn?  When the Lord draws you forth as his instrument in combating evil forces, what does he have in his hand - a long, gleaming sword or a dinky dagger?...The saving virtue of a sword is related to its strength, sharpness, cleanliness, and the hand which guides it.  Is it not the same with people?  I would pray that you would seek strength of character, sharpness of mind, and cleanliness of soul so as to become gleaming swords of righteousness.  By doing this, there will be no embarrassment, no disappointment, and no nightmare when He draws you out in battling the powers of darkness" (Elder Carlos E. Asay, "Instruments of Righteousness", New Era, June 1983)

A FALL FROM GRACE, A FALL FROM GLORY

"Do we emphasize the David who killed Goliath, or the David who killed Uriah? Should we view him as the servant who refused to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed, or as the Lord's anointed who lifted his hand against a faithful and loyal servant? Was his life a tragedy or a triumph?" (Old Testament Student Manual, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p 287)

David's accomplishments were not only great but they were great accomplishments. David did three things for temporal Israel that typify what Christ will do for spiritual Israel.  Following Saul's death, Israel's kingdom was divided in two for seven years. The tribe of Judah accepted David as their king and the rest of the tribes of Israel were ruled by Ishbosheth, one of the sons of Saul, whom Abner, Saul's commanding general set up as the new king (2 Sam 2:8-9). Despite being anointed as Israel's king, by Samuel, the prophet, David refrained from taking action against Ishbosheth in honour of the covenant he made with Jonathan not to retaliate against Saul's family when he came to power. Following Ishbosheth's murder (2 Samuel 3) David showed great wisdom and judgment by executing the two men responsible. This brought him into favour with the tribes under Ishbosheth and ultimately united all twelve tribes into one nation under the ultimate leadership of God. Secondly, David succeeded in winning the whole extent of the promised land for the covenant people. For the first time the chosen people of the Lord controlled the whole land promised to Abraham's posterity nearly a thousand years earlier. Thirdly, David established Zion or Jerusalem as the spiritual and political center of Israel. Under David's reign Israel reached its golden age. Never before had Israel achieved such heights of power nor did they ever again. (Old Testament Student Manual, p 291)

Despite all his great accomplishments David made one very big error of judgment. He became very comfortable as a monarch of a successful kingdom. This comfort zone became detrimental to his ability to endure to the end. As his kingdom ran like a well oiled machine, his approach to his kingly duties became somewhat lax. "At the time when kings go forth to battle" (2 Sam 11:1) David chose to send Joab and all Israel to fight Ammonites while he remained in Jerusalem, strolling upon the roof of his house to cool off in the heat of the night. This was David's first and big mistake that began his gradual demise into depths of sin from which he could not extricate himself. Sin seldom happens in one giant leap. As Elder Boyd K. Packer says: "I don't think anyone steps off a precipice into the depths of immorality and apostasy. They slide down the slippery sides of the chasm...." (Improvement Era. May 1970, p. 7)  It would seem that David didn't think he needed his armour of God on such a hot night while he was lounging and relaxing away from battle but the adversary doesn't take sabbaticals and he took advantage of David's lack of protection. David spotted a temptation bigger than the Goliath he slew so valiantly some years prior. Not turning away once he happened to see a woman washing herself his gaze lingered enough to discover she was beautiful. Not content with leaving it there, he inquired about her. This should have stopped him in his tracks for the reply he got was that her name was Bathsheba (which means "daughter of the covenant") and that she was married to a man called Uriah (which means "Jehovah is my light"). These two names alone should have lifted him to a higher plain but 'his casualness in righteous things had dulled his spiritual senses' (Bruce Satterfield, Lesson 24,  "Create In Me A Clean Heart", Meridian Magazine). The adultery that happened next was tragic but what happened after it was devastating. David dared to believe that he could conceal his sin, not just from Israel but from God. As he devised one plan after another to cover his sin he developed a treacherous character that led him to the loss of his salvation. When he failed to entice Uriah to spend time with his wife so that the conceived child could be passed off as his, David allowed the spirit of murder to enter his heart. He devised a plan that would insure Uriah's death at the front lines of battle and took Bathsheeba to be his wife. At what point do you think David could have stopped himself from advancing towards the edge of the precipice? None of this need have happened if David was at the right place at the right time, namely, out on the battle field instead of the roof of his house.

David had many wives and concubines which were given to him of the Lord by the hand of Nathan, the prophet (D&C 132:39). It was Nathan who was sent to prick David's conscience regarding the one wife that was not given to him of God and which 'displeased the Lord' (2 Sam 11:27). Nathan recounted a parable to David in these words:  "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him" (2 Sam 12:2-4). Perhaps the most sombre words spoken to anyone in the scriptures were Nathan's words to David as he responded to David's outrage about the rich man who took the poor man's lamb and prepared it as a meal to a weary traveller whilst sparing so many lambs that he owned. At David's insistence that the man should be put to death for such a selfish act, Nathan's response to him cut deep as he said: "Thou art the man" (2 Sam 12:7). Nathan then continued to recount all that the God of Israel had done for David, pointing out his gross sin of murder and prophesying all the calamities that would befall him. He would not be put to death as the law required but he was given a worse punishment than that. The child born to David and Bathsheeba died and David lived to see many of his wives and sons turn against him and much of his household turn to infighting and blood.

Unlike Saul, David acknowledged where he had gone wrong and suffered godly sorrow that brought him to repentance. His sins, however, were grievous and even though he will eventually receive forgiveness in the sense that all sins are forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost, the forgiveness he will receive will not assure him axaltation. In the LDS Bible Dictionary we read: "Like Sault he was guilty of grave crimes, but unlike Saul, he was capable of true contrition and was therefore able to find forgiveness, except in the murder of Uriah. As a consequence David is still unforgiven but he received a promise that the Lord would not leave his soul in hell. He will be resurrected at the end of Millennium", meaning he will receive the telestial glory. Is this not a tragedy of gigantic proportion? A great man who accomplished so much, who had unwavering faith in God, who stood to remain a king throughout all eternity, will be resurrected to the lowest kingdom of glory. Joseph Smith said that David could get forgiveness only through hell but that his soul would not be left there. The question begs to be asked, who wishes to spend a term in hell with the devil before being cleansed from sin? If you are sitting on the edge of the precipice pushing the boundaries every which way, as far as you can, move. The cost of your falling will far outweigh the thrill and excitement of the edge.

David was promised by God that his throne shall be established through Christ forever, that he would become the progenitor of the Messiah and Saviour of the world (2 Sam 7:16). Jesus thus came into mortality as a descendant of David, through his mother, and as an heir to his throne both physically and spiritually. Elder James E. Talmage explains it like this: "At the time of the Saviour's birth, Israel was ruled by alien monarchs. The rights of the royal Davidic family were unrecognized; and the ruler of the Jews was an appointee of Rome. Had Judah been a free an independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, Joseph the carpenter would have been her crowned king; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews". (Jesus The Christ, p. 87)

So David, a man of greatness who left such a huge mark on the world and who became an ancestor to the most important figure in human history turned out to be a study in tragedy. As we study this tragedy we cannot fail to recognise that the fall from grace is extremely easy. Sometimes we think we can handle a little temptation, that we are bigger than the pull of sin, or that we are strong enough to stand in the side lines and just watch but if you give in to the desire to watch, you will eventually have the desire to do.  And sometimes we don't like to be regimented by the Church and we allow our 'right for freedom' to loosen that armour of God and it starts to slip and eventually it becomes a nuisance to us and we remove it altogether endangering our ability to endure to the end for no matter how great you started off, what matters more is how great you end up.

It is never too late to turn around and go the other way. The road of repentance might be rough and steep as opposed to the smooth road that requires nothing of us and that leads to nowhere. You might get a few blisters and a few cuts but if you press on, by the time you come full circle you will be a possessor of a humble heart worthy of the redemptive power which can make you clean. The Saviour waits ready to forgive and to encircle you in the arms of his love.

What win I if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy?
Who buys a minute's myrth to wail a week
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape, who would the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar but to touch the crown,
Would with the scepter straight be stricken down.

- William Shakespeare