KNOWING GOD

 

The Fireworks of Faith by Eva Koleva Timothy

28. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.

29.He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;

31.But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

The first time I heard these verses of Isaiah 40 was whilst watching a highly moving movie called “Chariots of Fire” back in 1981. I was enthralled. Nothing speaks better to a soulful person like me than beautiful words. They embolden, inspire, elevate, enlighten…you name it, words do it for me.

The above-mentioned verses were Isaiah’s attempt to accentuate God’s ability to empower His people Israel, and in turn, all of us. Preceding these scriptures is his almost frantic attempt to help Israel understand who God is in verses 22-27. It is obvious Isaiah knew God and had not failed to see His obvious power and is amazed that others fail to, by asking: “Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? “ (v21).

There is an interesting word in verse 28 that tells us it is virtually impossible for us to grasp the grandeur of God. Isaiah says: “there is no searching of his understanding.” That word ‘searching’ is clarified in Romans 11:33 which says: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” In other words, you cannot fathom God.

I had an experience some months ago where I came to understand just how much we do not understand and know God. I was reflecting upon my life one day wondering how I would feel on judgment day when I found myself in my mind standing in front of God himself and hearing Him ask me three questions: How did you enjoy your mortal probation? What do you think you learnt from it? How do you think you did overall?

And this is what amazed me. I could not answer. Whenever I opened my mouth nothing would come out. I realised in that moment that I could not say anything that He did not already know. I could not lie, I could not tell half lies, I could not even tell the truth. I understood that He already knew everything about me: my deeds, my thoughts, my desires, my attitudes, my good moments, my resentments, my rebellious moments, my likes, my dislikes. As I stood there I felt like I was transparent before Him and He was looking right through me as if He was almost inside me, so well aware was He of all that made up what is me. I could see that we do not understand how inter-connected He is with His children and mostly, how incredibly powerful He is, which is beyond our understanding. He truly is ‘unsearchable’ to mere mortals.

If the concept of God and His existence is this difficult to understand, how do we come to the ability to have faith that He gives power to the faint, that he increases our strength and mounts us up with wings as eagles?

When I used to post on Facebook, I had one lady accuse me of encouraging people to put their trust in someone whom they cannot even see. She claimed she doesn’t rely on anyone to help her achieve anything but herself. She saw trust in invisible power as something dangerous that would surely bring about failure. It is difficult to explain God to someone. How do you explain the feelings of the spirit, or the breath that you breathe or revelations you have, or anything of spiritual nature? Even Isaiah asked on Lord’s behalf: “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” (Isaiah 40:21)

We can look at all of God’s creations and come to the conclusion that the big bang theory is ridiculous, that a greater power must have created everything. Some people explain God in those terms. I look at myself and ask, how did all that God saw in me come to be? The body perishes and returns to mother earth but the earth cannot contain this soulful spirit that is in my mortal heart. It came from someone great who had the power to create it. It flies on wings like eagles ‘trailing clouds of glory’ to the one who created it. This to me is who God is.

The winds of tribulation

Bend down and lift me to the sky

To see the tapestry of my life.

I understand the hows and whys, Father,

But the pains of mortality drag me to the ground

To forget your perfect design.

 

In my moments of darkness

Lift me to higher ground

That I might bow

in praise of Thy wisdom divine.

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

WORTHY OF PRAISE

 

(Art designed by Digital Portrait Shop)

PSALM 150:1,2,6:  Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

One of the dominant themes of the Book of Psalms is praise. The entire book ends with it. Ancient scripture shows us plainly that praising God was very much a part of religious worship.

The various heavenly beings that John the Beloved saw on the isle of Patmos in his Revelation, were all worshipping the Father (Revelation 4:8-11). John also taught that exalted beings will continue to worship Heavenly Father in the eternities to come because He will always be our God (D&C 76:21; 92-93). In response to John’s vision, Elder Neal A. Maxwell affirmed that “we will go on praising the Lord for ever and ever”.  (From Whom All Blessings Flow, Ensign, May 1997, 12).

The practice of praising God seems to be a foreign one in our day and age. All our prayers consist of is thanksgiving and requests. Rarely in our prayers do we praise God for who He is and what He does.

One of my favourite scriptures of all is what I call a modern-day psalm recorded by Joseph Smith:

“Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory and salvation, and honour, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities and powers!”  (D&C 128:23)

Whenever I read this scripture my heart swells with admiration of our God and His immense power. So well did Joseph understand this power that he felt the very nature should shout praise to Him who created all things, the greatest of which is God’s work and His glory to bring about eternal life and immortality of man (Moses 1:39). This is thanksgiving veiled in praise.  

Something important to remember. We have to know what we praise in God: who He is, what He does, His involvement in our lives, His love, His constant care, His greatness. We have to know God. If we do not glean this from our own lives, we need to do so from the scriptures. Our knowledge of His greatness needs to be so great that we struggle to find mortal words to express it. This knowledge needs to be so ingrained in our hearts  that no amount of adversity can take it away from us.

Until we find utterance for the deserving praise of Him who lives our souls to save, may we allow our desire to grow until such words flow from the very depths of our hearts:

I long to praise Thee

With magnitude of words I cannot find

That tell the glory that is Thine.

As I can do so little this desire to meet,

I place my loyal love at Thy holy feet.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

TREASURES IN HEAVEN

 

Book of Life by Chris Brazelton

“The Book of Mormon has much to say about earthly and heavenly treasures, in the same sense in which the newly found apocrypha do. Of course, the image is also found in the New Testament.

“The Book of Mormon prophets explain many references to heavenly treasures in the Bible. Helaman is fondest of treasures: “And even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt….ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment” (Helaman 8:25).

“This is the correct concept of what is meant by a treasure, it is a very common idea in the early apocrypha. We find in the many treasure passages that the treasure is the wisdom and knowledge we left behind us when we came down to this earth. In the premortal existence, we left our treasure in God’s treasury, in His keeping.

“There it is, and by our good works here we can add to it; more will be waiting for us when we go back….In the Jewish apocrypha, God orders, by his word, the lights in the heavenly height, and by the utterance of His mouth He opens the treasury, where the righteous have a store of good works preserved…..everything we add to our credit is being preserved in God’s treasury.”

-          Hugh Nibley, Temple and Cosmos, p 232-3

 

Your truth pierces my soul

And binds me to Your loving heart.

Your teaching moments

Find my hungry mind

And feed me like a bird in flight

Searching for a morsel

That gladdens its hungry heart.

Your mysteries are laid at my feet

And I, I come to you Father

Clutching these treasures

that are mine to keep.

- CATHRYEN ALLEN 

THE GREAT I AM

 

When Moses was 40 years old he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and he left the Egyptian court. He joined his people Israel preferring God to the riches of Egypt and believing God would by his hand deliver his people but they ‘understood not’ (Hebrews 11:24-27; Acts 7:25).

In short, Moses went from the privilege of his Egyptian upbringing to slavery, to being a shepherd in the land of Midian where he married and received the priesthood from Jethro, his father-in-law (D&C 84:6). After another forty years of pastoral life, Moses finally had confirmation that he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He was by then 80 years old.

When God spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai out of the burning bush, He identified himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and commanded him to deliver the children of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage (Exodus 3:6-10).

But Moses was not content to go to Israel telling them ‘the God of your fathers sent me’ so he asked God to identify himself by His name which he would take to the Israelites (v 13). God answered: “I am that I Am. Tell them I AM sent me” (v 14).

I AM is the name that identifies Jehovah. It is the equivalent of “Yahveh” or “Jahveh” now rendered “Jehovah” and signifies “The Self-existent One”, “The Eternal”, “The First and the Last”. So sacred was the name regarded by the Jews that their traditionalism forbade the utterance of it. (see James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ”, p 412)

Hence the Lord was not saying “I AM THAT I AM” but rather, “I am ‘that’ I AM”. I am Jehovah.

During His earthly ministry, the Saviour identified himself as seven main I AM’s as contained in the Gospel of John:

-          I am the bread of life (6:31,51)

-          I am the light of the world (8:12)

-          I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)

-          I am the good shepherd (10:11,14)

-          I am the resurrection and life (11:25)

-          I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6)

-          I am the true vine (15:1,5)

As I look at these seven proclamations I could summarise them in this one scripture: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

As we approach this Easter season and yet again acknowledge the Saviour’s Atonement, may we reflect on who He really is and more importantly, who He is to each of us individually. We should know that.

My favourite name for the Saviour is “The Great I Am” (D&C 39:1) and surely He is. There is no greater. Hallowed be His name…..forever and ever.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Chris Brazelton)

 

 

 

THE GREATNESS OF GOD:

 

 

When the heavens opened and Enoch was clothed upon with glory, he was admitted into God’s presence where he was shown ‘the world for the space of many generations’ (Moses 7:3,4)

After he beheld God’s immense power of creation, he beheld something he didn’t count on.  He saw God weeping over his disobedient children and in amazement he asked: “How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (v 29) In that instant Enoch saw not only God but the Father (v 33).

If you know what it feels like to be a parent, multiply that by infinity and you will begin to understand who God the Father is: the depth of His love, the depth of His sorrow, the depth of His mercy, the depth of His forgiveness, the depth of His desires to elevate and exalt His children, the very depth of who He is. Enoch did not only understand this but felt it as the Father told him of all ‘the doings of the children of men and their wickedness’ (v 41). So deep was Enoch’s understanding and his empathy that ‘his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook’ (v 41).

If we could but get a glimpse of the Father’s heart we would trust, trust, trust……we would trust His very plan for each of us, explicitly. We would trust His Beloved Son and His power of redemption and we would follow Him to the ends of the earth. If we could just see Him as Enoch saw Him…..and we can.

There is a promise that the Saviour made which makes this possible: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23). If you think this cannot be a literal appearing, think again.

On 2 April, 1843, Joseph was given some clarification regarding certain scriptures and among them was the scripture from the Gospel of John which confirms that the Father and the Son may appear personally to men: “John 14:23 – The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance, and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.” (D&C 130:3)

Jesus was born so that He could reveal to us the Father and Jesus atoned so that we could come back to the Father. The Father and the Son are one in greatness, power, glory and majesty (D&C 50:43; 93:3; 3 N 11:27; John 14:9-11). They are also one in their role of Father (Ether 4:7; Alma 11:38-9; Mosiah 15:4; 16:5). By knowing and loving one, we know and love the other.

Through The One who willingly laid down His life so that we might live, we can, like the prodigal, return into the loving arms of the Father of all creation. May we honour the greatness of Him who holds us in the palm of His hand through the life that we live that we might be the source of His joy forever.

 

I pleaded with you,

In the beginning,

To bring me home again to Thee.

I promised to heed every call,

To avoid every danger,

To abhor every sin.

 

I have laboured, Father,

to bring joy to Thee

and to be worthy

Of Your love for me.

 

When my time comes,

I will come home to Thee

and I will wait

 at heaven’s door knocking

Until I hear the angels sing. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Return of the Prodigal by Pompeo Batoni)

TRUST

 

“We will acknowledge someday, before God and all his children, that life on this earth, that which we longed for as premortal spirits desiring mortality, was the perfect school for our development. Though the curriculum was exacting, the tests were more than adequately supervised by the schoolmaster. Though the homework was extensive, again our teacher was our constant support.” (Jerry A. Wilson, “The Great Plan of Happiness-Insights From the Lectures On Faith, p 75)

In my personal quest for understanding my life, I asked myself recently what would have motivated us the most to desire and undertake an experience with mortality considering it is one of suffering, sorrow and hardship. We are told in the Church that we knew it was going to be hard and yet we still came.

I thought of a couple of worthy replies but what came to me the most is this: trust. We must have trusted God the Father explicitly to accept the Plan of Salvation when it was presented to us and I think this is why:

Firstly, we trusted in His omniscience: “God has knowledge of the beginning to the end. His knowledge is the very reason He is able to save His children…..We do not worship a God who uses expressions like, “Ooops” as an apology for surprising events. He also doesn’t exclaim, “I didn’t know that would happen!” or “That was a shocker”. For him, there is no such thing as an ‘unexpected event”, something coming as a “bolt out of the blue”. He does not miscalculate, nor is he startled over the events of this life or the thought and actions of His children. To our benefit, He has perfect knowledge as an attribute.” (ibid p 30) This is safety.

Secondly, we trusted in His example: the Father was the perfect embodiment of the end product, the ultimate reward promised us. We trusted Him because He had been a mortal man once himself and had been through the experience of obtaining godhood by following the same process as His proposed Plan of Salvation. We could see what could be accomplished and earned. He was proof that the Plan works. This also is safety.

Lastly, we trusted in His Beloved Son. We had before our eyes the very similitude of the Father in His entirety, a perfect Son who would condescend in His stead from His godly realm and would implement the Plan without fail and make it all possible, at all odds. Without Him the Plan would fail. He was the pinnacle of our trust. This is fixed, abiding, unwavering safety.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever (1 Nephi 10:18; Moroni 10:7; 2 Nephi 29:9; Mormon 9:0). He is the same God now as the one we had before our eyes in pre-mortal life. We need to hold onto that in faith. His tutorial of overwhelming and underwhelming experiences of this life is in perfect harmony with His goal to exalt us. Distrust feeds fear and turmoil. Trust gives us freedom…..I know that from experience.

 

I viewed my life as hopeless pieces

And shame consumed my fragile heart.

I questioned every move and every choice;

I berated, I gave no value to any part.

Not until my trust consumed me

And my will to heavens flew

Did solace nestle in my soul

And such freedom as I never knew.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus the Beacon of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)

THE ONLY ONE

 

When I joined the Church, I was very grounded in it. I felt like I had come home. The doctrine of the kingdom sunk deep into my soul. I loved it all: the members, the meetings, the leaders. I revered the prophets who led me to Christ but prophets come and go and yet this truth remains….there is only one source of salvation and that is our Saviour Jesus Christ. His power and glory will endure forever. He is our focus, He is our model, He is our all…..

Through “The Lectures On Faith” we are told that we need three kinds of knowledge for salvation: 1. The knowledge that God exists; 2. The knowledge of the characteristics and attributes of God; and 3. The Knowledge that our course of life is agreeable to God (Jerry A. Wilson, “The Great Plan of Happiness, Insights from the Lectures On Faith”, p 9)

Who is our God? It is He who has created this earth and made himself the author of our salvation. It is He who works to bring about the purposes of the Father regarding His children. Whilst we are here, the Saviour, the Christ, the Rock of Heaven, the He who was crucified for the sins of the world is our God. He is the one who deserves the glory, the adulation, the love….more than anyone.

I wager that most people in the world know that God exists. Somehow it seems innate in us to believe in higher power. The privilege we, as Latter-day Saints have, through the restored gospel, is the knowledge of the character of God we worship, the Son of the Father:

 1. He was God before the world was created; 2. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness; 3. He changes not, He is the same yesterday, today and forever; 4. He is a God of truth and cannot lie; 5. He is no respecter of persons, He offers salvation to all who will believe and accept Him; 6. He is a God of love.  (ibid p 28). He is the same as God the Father and in that respect they are one God.

In our present sorrow, there is great comfort because we have such a God, He who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2); the joy of uniting the human family beyond the sting of death…..we owe it all to Him: our family and friend associations throughout eternity, our everlasting life, our glorious destiny for all eternity.  Is it not a time to rejoice??? 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Majestic Christ by Chris Brazelton)

TO WORSHIP

 

“I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.”  (D&C 93:1)

Elder James E. Talmage said that our worship depends upon our comprehension of worthiness of the person we worship and therefore our capacity to worship God is a measure of our comprehension of His being. (“Articles of Faith”, pp 395-96).

For years now as I have studied the scriptures, I have been on the lookout for the Saviour’s characteristics. So far I have 18 on my list. One year I noticed a virtue in Doctrine and Covenants that I had overlooked before. It was the virtue of humility. This is the scripture that opened my eyes to a greater understanding of who the Saviour is:

“Therefore, I command you to build a house unto me, for the gathering together of my saints, that they may WORSHIP ME” (D&C 115:8). Can you imagine the amount of humility it would take to say such a thing for a God of perfect attributes and totally devoid of pride? It would have to be someone who knows perfectly well who he is, is confident in that knowledge and most of all, has a purity of spirit and heart. Compare this to Lucifer’s desire to be worshipped (Moses 4:1-4; 1:16-19).

It amazes me that someone so powerful who calls himself ‘the king of heaven’ (2 N 10:14), who can create worlds and annihilate them by the power of His word (Helaman 12:9-17; D&C 63:4; Isaiah 11:4) can also be so humble. This is the perfection of God, the balance is indisputable. Whenever I discover something new about Him, it’s like I don’t really know Him and I ask in awe, “who are You????” I stand amazed.

In his Conference Report of 1971, Elder Bruce R. McConkie listed 17 ways of being able to worship God, overwhelming I know…. Even he admitted that as he said: “It is ten thousand times ten thousand things….” (Ensign Dec 1971, p 130)

I have never read anything written by Elder McConkie that made me think he didn’t know Christ. The love he had for him is unmistakable. I am sure he observed the whole 17 ways of worship he mentioned.

I don’t know that I am that valiant but when I come face to face with the Saviour, I know I will fall at His feet and I will know Him…..I will know His love and His mercy and I will acknowledge Him to be my Saviour, my God and my King.

My heart is full of thoughts of Thee

As I stand in awe of Thy majesty.

The magnitude of worlds

And the stars of heaven

That roll upon their wings praising Thee;

But none greater than this,

The creation of man, a crowning glory

To Thy priesthood and Thy throne

In endless worship of Thy name

In the splendour of Thy celestial home.

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Creation by Yongsung Kim)

HE IS ALL

 

Those of you who read my posts will be aware that I base a lot of my knowledge on the scriptures. I don’t profess to know it all but over the years I have followed suggestions and instructions from several Church leaders on how to study and understand the scriptures.

 Every once in a while I will get a reader who will challenge what I write. In one of my recent posts titled “A Clear View” I attempted to prove that Christ has known everything from His very beginning, including the extent of the suffering He would go through during His Atonement, thanks to the Inspired Version which points out that it was the disciples that were ‘sore amazed’ in Gethsemane and not the Saviour (JST Mark 14:36).

One reader pointed out the scripture in Matthew 24:36 that quotes the Saviour saying that only His Father knows the day and the hour of His Second Coming, so in his opinion, the Saviour doesn’t know everything……this in spite of me citing two references in the Doctrine and Covenants where the Saviour said that only men and angels don’t know the day or the hour indicating that He knows too (D&C 39:21; 49:7).

I don’t need to tell you how aghast I was that a member of the Church considered His opinion of Christ to be more accurate than what the Saviour has said of Himself, namely that He knows the end from the beginning (Abraham 2:8); that all things past, present, and future are before Him continually (D&C 130:7); and that He knows all things and there is not anything that He doesn’t know (2 Nephi 9:20).

To me, the Matthew scripture is either mis-translated, as Joseph indicated in his teachings about certain errors in the Bible (Teachings, p 327) , or the Saviour was saying to His disciples, ‘I know also but I am not going to tell you the day and the hour because no man is supposed to know…..as when I come I will come quickly, meaning suddenly, as a thief in the night so all I will give you are the signs to watch for’ (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual commentary for 34:7-12).

In my mind, the Saviour didn’t need to spell out that He knows when He will come. He is not some junior apprentice in the Celestial Kingdom who has to be told what to do and when to do it. He is a God and He is one with the Father (D&C 50:43; 93:3; 3 Nephi 11:27; John 14:9-11). What the Father thinks, the Saviour thinks, what the Father knows, the Saviour knows, what the Father wants, the Saviour wants. He is in all and above all and through all, the light, the truth, and the way. Why would He not know when He is supposed to come the second time?

My point is this. How can we have faith in a God who doesn’t know everything? It doesn’t make sense to me….so it behooves us to know Him like we have never known anything or anyone before. And this is how we can know Him: “Search the scriptures……..they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39; 3 Nephi 23:5).

And in Joseph’s words: “Search the scriptures – search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory, nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God, nor will there be any room for speculation. No, for when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them.” (History of the Church, 1:282)

Daily I stand in my holy place

As I feast upon Thy word,

Ever hopeful I will meet You there,

Thy Spirit to embrace

And the cares of this world to arrest.

I reach for You in darkness

And step up to heaven’s door;

I am bathed in light

And am granted entrance to Your heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Majestic Christ by Chris Brazelton)

KNOWING GOD

 

 

In his message to the unbelievers, Moroni points out that those who do not believe in the revelations of God, prophecies, gifts and healings, do not understand the scriptures nor do they know the unchangeable God ‘in whom they should trust’ (Mormon 9:8,19,20). This certainly includes those of us who have the Gospel but do not really ‘know’ God.

This is what I found interesting in Moroni’s message. Having listed all the things that prove that God is a God of miracles, Moroni brings prayer into the equation by saying that ‘whatsoever we ask the Father in the name of Jesus, doubting nothing’ will be given us (v 21). This is a plain indication that answers to prayers are included in the category of miracles, because they are one of the major ways of knowing God.

However, asking for ‘whatsoever’ comes with a warning: we should ask for what we stand in need of and that which will enable us to serve God (v 27,28). This is about submitting ourselves to God’s will. This is a scary concept for some of us because we feel that God’s will means denial of things that we want. In actuality, God’s will means something so much better:

 “Many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God, we lose our individuality (Mosiah 15:7). What we are really worried about, of course, is giving up not self but selfish things – like our roles, our time, our pre-eminence, and our possessions.

“No wonder we are instructed by the Saviour to lose ourselves (Luke 9:24). He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is a question not of one’s losing identity but of finding one’s true identity.”  (Neal A. Maxwell, “If Thou Endure It Well”, p 51).

This is a sobering thought in our self-centered world where individuality and identity has become an obsession. However, nobody knows better who we truly are than God whom we should know enough to trust. We are His greatest miracle.

He will move heaven and earth to ensure we become who we are meant to be. He will chart our journey always for our ultimate good. If we know Him, we will trust Him and we will be able to let go of our self-perception according to our limited earthly knowledge.

The Saviour, in His hour of agony, trusted this process to the Father when He said, “Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42). He now sits on His throne that He was destined to possess in the beginning. We likewise, were destined to be priests and priestesses, kings and queens to reign with Him forever and ever…..if we will but allow God to make of us what we are meant to become and be wise in the days of our probation that we ‘may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day (vs 6, 28).

I will trust in Thee

My God and my King

To make of me what I am

Meant to be.

I will look up to heaven

And believe in Thy throne;

I will trust in the strength of Thine arms

To carry me home.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(ART: Not My Will by Yongsung Kim)

THE ROAD

 

“I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all my heart, mind and strength, and loving them more, I find it easier to abide their counsel.”

-        President Spencer W. Kimball (as quoted from Seek The Spirit of the Lord by Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign April 1988, p 2)

Nothing testifies to me more of the importance of scriptures than the story of the Saviour meeting two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus post resurrection. The travellers told Him they ‘trusted’ the Galilean was the Messiah who would redeem Israel but were now sceptical because He had died (Luke 24:21).

The Saviour was gracious even though He chided them for their unbelief (v 25). He then expounded to them all that was prophesied of Him ‘beginning at Moses and all the prophets’ (v27). His point was, ‘how is it that you know the scriptures but you don’t believe them’?

These two disciples indeed came to believe. Upon heartfelt reflection they identified how: “Did not our hearts burn within us….while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Luke tells us that these disciples’ eyes were restrained from knowing Him (v 16a). Could it be that it was more important for Jesus that they believed on Him through the scriptures than through showing them His resurrected body because the lesson is this: the ‘burn’ comes from only one place: The Holy Ghost.

The lesson is also this: the Saviour is in our midst STILL through the medium of The Holy Ghost. It is he who can open our eyes and our hearts so that we will not only believe but KNOW Christ. And where is the Christ most if not in the scriptures? If we study the scriptures without the presence of the Holy Ghost we are just building upon our knowledge and not our testimony.

We need to feel ‘the burn’ to know. We all know what we must do to be worthy of the sacred companionship of the Holy Ghost. As you travel on your personal road to Emmaus may the scriptures be burnt upon the tablets of your heart and may you know, and not just believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. He is the Resurrection and the life. He is the Redeemer of your soul. He is the road……

I gave you My all:

My heart, my body, my soul.

I paved the way

And conquered death.

I am in your midst;

I am the only,

I am the last,

And I am the first.

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Emmaus by Liz Lemon Swindle)

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

 

I want to testify of the sacred role of the Holy Ghost who reveals all truth to the true followers of Jesus Christ……the Revealer, the Comforter, the Spirit of God, by whom all revelation is given to the children of men through his power.

It came to me recently to understand something that has corrected my misunderstanding of the Saviour’s nature. For a while now I have been of the opinion that the Saviour is excessively merciful and tolerant towards us. This error was brought to my attention unexpectedly through the story of King David. I don’t know why, but this story flooded my mind, in the middle of the night as I slept, and taught me something I had not seen before.

To recap…..there was not a king who loved the God of Israel more than King David. When he conquered Jerusalem he brought the ark of the covenant into the city ‘with gladness’ and led a procession of Israelites playing instruments, shouting, singing and dancing ‘before the Lord with all his might’ in praise of the God he worshipped (2 Samuel 6:12-15). No king of Israel was more free from idolatrous inclinations or practices than David. Because of this, he became the standard of excellence that all subsequent kings came to be measured by.

David’s valour and his accomplishments as a king were outstanding. His reign is known in the annals of history as ‘the golden age of Israel’. His love for the God of Israel can leave you breathless through the psalms he wrote about him. And who can forget his valiant Israelite spirit as he slew Goliath exclaiming: “Is there not a cause in Israel?”

David’s fall from grace we know well. What is less observed in that moment of history is his godly sorrow and repentance. Equally impressive is his rejoicing and his hope of a lesser degree of eternal reward praising God because ‘He will not leave his soul in hell’ (Acts 2:25-26). This hope of the resurrection of the unjust is known as ‘the sure mercies of David’ (see Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 272).

I can think of no one who would have wept more when this tragedy unfolded than the Saviour himself. To lose someone with so much promise and faithfulness would have been agonizing to Him. If there was anyone the Saviour could have been excessively merciful to, it would have been David. But where would that have left Uriah, and his innocent blood that was spilt? One truth remains….mercy cannot rob justice (Alma 42:25).

I always thought I understood the relationship between mercy and justice but now I understand it at a deeper level because I was taught through the medium I would understand. David’s story has always tugged at my heart.

Can you see the perfect nature of a God that we worship and trust through this story? On Judgment Day, the balance between justice and mercy will be so perfect that we will not be able to question it…..for our God knows all: He knows our hearts, our capabilities, our intents, our souls, our pains, everything that could induce mercy….but yet He obeys all the laws that He himself is governed by and ensures there will be no one left without justice.

This understanding of the Saviour’s perfect character came to me through the power of the Spirit. My intent is to bear witness that the Holy Ghost can teach us what we need to know and more importantly, he can broaden our vista of knowledge of God. And this is why it is important for us to know Him: “Three things are necessary in order for a person to exercise faith in God unto life and salvation: 1. The idea that He actually exists; 2. A correct idea of His character, perfections, and attributes; 3. An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to His will.” – Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, Lecture Third.

 

ODE TO THE GOD WHO SEES MY SOUL:
You who know me well
Teach me all that I need
And send me Him
My soul to feed.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Spirit of God by LDS ART)

UNDERSTANDING LIFE

 

For years I struggled to understand my life. I was grateful for the difficulties I have experienced because they brought me to ‘know’ God but I think that understanding was more intellectual and gratitude only skin deep. When your mind understands something that your heart doesn’t, it’s always a struggle. I remained in this struggle for many, many years handling feelings of failure because my attempts to rise above my situation seemed fruitless.

 

In his farewell address, King Benjamin spoke a lot about humility and taught me an important lesson one morning. He said if we humble ourselves ‘in the depths of humility’ we will be: filled with the love of God; retain a remission of our sins; and grow in the knowledge of the glory of Him (Mosiah 4:11,12).  For years my desire has been twofold: to come to know what I now understand to be the glory of God and not just knowledge of Him,  and to never become lost. I realised as I studied King Benjamin’s comments on humility that my humble little life has had me on this path all along. Every difficulty, every teaching  moment from above brought me to the foot of His throne and brought me closer to Him. I could see that over the years, I became more and more teachable and felt His love more and more. This closeness strengthened me to the point where I was  consecrating myself and my life to Him each and every day. The morning I studied Mosiah 4, my vision embraced this truth and gratitude overflowed my heart as I accepted my life and was glad it had not been otherwise. I never thought I would come to the point where I would be grateful for all my earthly lack, inadequacy and unfulfillment. 

 

I give all glory to Him who is without beginning and without end; whose wisdom surpasses all; whose work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man….who can lift me to the heights of His throne.

 

If you are in the same struggle as I have been for many, many years, may God grant you the wider view and show you the wonder of you…..

 

 

You stood in the vista of my heart

Granting me the wider view

My eyes were opened

And I understood the meaning of You.

You came to this plane of sorrow

Your footsteps to pave the trail;

I follow, I follow

Gathering drops of You that feed me

Like manna in the wilderness

And life giving morning dew.

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Calming the Sea by Danny Hahlbohm)