PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES

 

Light Vessel by Annie Henrie Nader

It is important to consider three practical things when studying these two books of scripture:

 

1.      The wisdom given in these books is wisdom that is applicable to this life only.  It is wisdom from a worldly perspective meant to aid us in earthly life. When Ecclesiastes repeatedly says 'under the sun', he is meaning he is intentionally restricting his point of view to this world;

2.      The reason we need to apply wisdom 'under the sun' is because everything is 'vanity'. 'Vanity' in Ecclesiastes means transitory or fleeting, thus the repeated and frequent use of this word denotes that he who applies wisdom in his life is wise, for this life is fleeting and will one day come to an end (Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Ecclesiastes");

3.      Wisdom in these two books of scripture is allegorized as a woman because the word 'wisdom' is feminine in gender thus an adulterous woman in Proverbs is a metaphor for foolishness as foolishness is the opposite of wisdom.

 

The most valuable lesson we can take away from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is the admonition 'to trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding' (Prov. 3:5). This is true wisdom.  

 

The italic preface to chapter 8 of Proverbs tells us that 'the Lord and the sons of men possessed wisdom in premortal life'. 'Sons of men' refers to anyone who has been born in mortality, in other words, earthly beings.

 

The wisdom we possessed in premortal life enabled us to choose the Firstborn as our Saviour and to fight the forces of evil opposed to the Father's plan. Now that we are living on the other side of the veil, wisdom is once again needed to enable us to trust the choice we made so long ago. In this respect wisdom and trust go hand in hand. One day when this fleeting existence is ended we will have to account for our use of wisdom by which we conducted our mortal lives.

 

The other side of our trust in the Lord is His trust in us: "The Lord wants us to trust  him, but He also wants to be able to trust us. One of our great prophet leaders said, 'To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved' (David O. Mckay, "Character", True To The Faith, Bookcraft, 1966, p. 274).

 

One of the principal purposes of this life is to find out if the Lord can trust us: “One of our familiar scriptures says, 'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them' (Abraham 3:25). We are destined to be tried, tested, and proven during our sojourn on earth to see if we are trustworthy” (Robert E Wells, "The Cs of Spirituality", Ensign Nov 1978, p 24).

 

I tend to agree with the importance of trust. I receive a great boost of self-esteem when I attend to my responsibilities which are based on this principle. I learnt about this in great detail many years ago. One of the self-help gurus I used to follow impressed upon me how much she loves paying her bills. I was taken aback by it but she assured her readers that paying her bills increased her self-respect because whenever she paid a bill it affirmed to her that the person who provided her with a service trusted her to pay for it.

Even though I always paid my bills, I had never considered this concept before but I took it to heart and have seen the benefits of it. To this day I pay all my bills with cheerfulness and on time. I am never late paying anyone. Whenever I pay what I owe straight away it not only makes me feel good about my trustworthy character, but it tells me that I am not poor. I come from a poor family so not feeling poor goes a long way with me.

I love that I can be trusted. This principle has infiltrated my spiritual life too. The importance of being trusted has helped me to stay true to my convictions and my testimony of the Gospel. I honour the witnesses I have received from the Holy Ghost regarding Gospel truths to the point of stubbornness. Whereas I don’t hold it against people who move away from the Church, I often cannot understand how they can be baptised promising to join the body of Christ and not following through.  

I have a great desire to meet God one day with a pure heart, having honoured all my covenants with Him and having done all I could to obey His commandments. I have sacrificed much over the years to make this desire a reality.

I marvel that You could perceive

every thought of my heart,

Long before you gifted one to me;

That you trusted my will to obey

With You so dim in my memory.

I stand amazed at Your sufferance

Of the struggling sinner like me,

And the steadfast flow of help You bestow

From the merciful heart that is in Thee.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE POWER OF TRIBULATION

 

Thy Will Be Done by Jay Bryant Ward

It was revealed to me a while ago that I was strong and fearless in my pre-mortal life but I suspect that I was so self-assured that I was bordering on being cocky.  I think I honestly thought I was going to ace it here on earth.

Being an idealist, I was attracted to the Church in my youth because it felt like I had found the principle that was going to give me power to become who I wanted to be and that principle was obedience. I thought through obedience to the Gospel laws I was to become this giant of endurance and strength in the face of evil, temptation and tribulation. Obedience became everything to me. I did well enduring trials for many years so then my goal morphed into something else – dying with amazing achievements under my belt and going home in triumph. I was going to return home with honour.

What I didn’t realise is that honour lies in un-glamorous attributes such as endurance, repentance, humility and compassion amongst others. Honour lies in what you become and not in what you have achieved.  Never did I expect that an invisible monster called pain would come to live on my back with its claws in my flesh and would have so much power over me. This monster has taken me on a roller coaster of struggling emotions and has robbed me of motivation to achieve anything on more days than I care to admit.

I have always admired Job because he was a ‘strong person’ in the midst of his tribulation but now that I understand that monster that was on his back too, what I think he stands for the most is the proof of the reward of his endurance. More of that as we study the book of Job.

“Enduring ‘well’ means passing the breaking point without breaking, having cause to be bitter – as men measure cause – without being bitter. Enduring ‘well’ means the disciple in the very trough of his difficulties avoids, as Job wisely did, having ‘charged God foolishly’.”  (Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, p 115)

We are told that we are here to walk by faith but I would say that the higher path of faith is trust.  It is easy to believe in God but it is not easy to trust Him. For instance, King Mosiah of the Book of Mormon tells us that unless we submit to ‘all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us’, even as a child submits to his father, we can never overcome the natural man (Mosiah 3:19). This is a hard doctrine that asks of us an exorbitant amount of trust in the process that will refine us and make us rise above the mortal self to eternal glory. Job understood this when he said regarding his suffering: “when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). This is trust, when you can accept your extreme suffering believing it will be for your ultimate good.

When we can trust in a God, we cannot see, and His plan for us, which we cannot remember ever agreeing to, that is ultimate trust. I am a firm believer of freedom of choice that existed even before this life but I didn’t know our freedom to choose determined the course of our earthly lives to such an extent as it does. This was confirmed to me just recently when I asked God if my illness was in my life’s plan and received an answer I did not expect:  “Yes. You chose it over mental illness. You wanted to keep your brain so you could understand the doctrines of the kingdom and teach it to others and so you could bear witness of Christ.”

This revelation made amazing sense of my life. The next day I reflected on it and realized the exact nature of that choice I made so long ago.  I remembered my physical illness runs in my family as does dementia. I think I was told when my plan was devised that these two illnesses will be in the genetic legacy of my family and I was given the choice as to which one I would prefer to suffer. I chose the monster and I know my choice went beyond my desire to keep my mind.

Trust was the major component of our willingness to come to a world of suffering. Our trust in the saving grace of the Atonement of Jesus Christ would have been supreme before we came. No sane person would accept a painful plan with the risk of being lost, without a sure way of eventual escape. It would be like entering a tunnel knowing there is no exit at the end. We knew that the Saviour could do it and would do it. Trust is also double sided. The Father’s ability to send us to temporary affliction shows His utmost trust in His Beloved Son and the process of the Atonement, knowing full well that because of it we would survive.

When I entered my stage of illness I became very introspective of my life. Somehow I felt I was to blame for the hard life I was given but a realization came to me that I followed my heart in all my major decisions and steps I took and I realized I was being guided and I responded to that guidance with trust. Knowing that freed me from self-accusation. I am learning now to accept submission in this the hardest leg of my journey…..and I’m hearing clearly the agony of those famous words coming from Gethsemane: “nevertheless not my will but thine be done” (Luke 22:42)

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 

TRUST

 

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 by David Beraru)

A GLORIOUS HOPE

 

“When we go out of this life, leave this body, we will desire to do many things we cannot do at all without the body. We will be seriously handicapped and we will long for the body; we will pray for early reunion with our bodies. We will know then what advantage it is to have a body….” (Melvin J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness” p 213)

I have never much appreciated my body in until I entered the stage of prolonged bad health. Simple tasks became huge ordeals and successfully putting on socks came to be a triumph. I have longed to walk unassisted and to perform the simplest tasks with ease, the ones I used to take for granted.

The other day as I was struggling with my socks and its frustration, I came to understand the above quote. I could see how a spirit without a body he or she once experienced would feel without it. Indeed, we get a glimpse of that from President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the spirit world which tells us that ‘the dead looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage’ (D&C 138:50). I began to appreciate that maybe my body is a privilege……

The other day I quoted Melvin J. Ballard who shared his conviction of our unreserved willingness to come to earth and obtain a body whether it be cripped, maimed, or deformed. I thought as I was struggling with my socks, surely those afflicted with such bodies would have regretted that choice. I know all about physical pain and limit of movement. I cannot imagine that to be my whole earthly experience.

Elder Ballard continued to express our pre-earthly knowledge of the necessity of a body for our ascension to godhood which enabled us to be centered on an eternal view rather than the sorrows and troubles of this life ("Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, p 179). Reconciling our pre-earthly perspective and the reality of living on this side of the veil is something of a challenge though.

In his last conference talk Elder Bednar spoke about enduring to the end and he connected to it a very necessary component, that of trust. It is something that has been on my mind of late. As I considered his talk I realized that this is the key to acceptance of earthly suffering and the power to endure to the end.

I realized my willingness to trust that my life is playing out according to God’s plan for me and my trust that what is to come in next life is imperative for my existence here and now.

And my ultimate trust comes with a hope which is this: to be faithful and valiant in my testimony of Jesus whilst in mortality with ‘a hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ’ (D&C 138:12-14)

Because the valleys do not

Lead to where I need to be,

You give me mountains to climb

To reach Your divinity.

 

You are so high

And my reach is so low.

To come to Your arms

I accept the mountains

That show me which way to go.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Ponder Anew by LDS Book Store)

TRUST

 

"There is a story told that a company of botanists seeking some special flowers up in the Canadian Rockies, came one day to a very rare flower down on the side of a cliff.  To reach it they would have to retrace their steps and go back ten miles to come up from the valley below.  Someone suggested that if they had a rope they could let a boy down to pick the specimens.  That suggestion was prompted by the fact that a little boy had been following them for about an hour, watching them silently.  They got the rope and said:

 

'Here lad, we'll give you $5 if you will put this rope around you and permit us to let you down to get those flowers'. Without saying a word the lad scampered off.  They thought they had frightened him.  He went to a house nearby and soon came back with a man by his side.  Then the little fellow answered: ‘You may put that rope around me, and I'll get the flower, if you'll let my dad hold the rope'." (President David O. McKay, CR. April 1944)

 

When you study the scriptures you can see so clearly the intimate and close connection the Saviour had with the Father whilst in mortality. He spoke of Him incessantly. Once I counted 163 references that He made to the Father during His visit to the Americas. Fifteen of those referenced His obedience to Him which included the sacrifice He was to offer and save the rest of us (John 10:17-18).

 

The closeness Jesus felt to the Father during His life was such that when He told His disciples that they will scatter and leave Him in the end, He said with assurance: “….yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him (John 8:29; 16:32).

 

This is a clear indication that Jesus felt sure the Father would be with Him during His atoning sacrifice  and so perhaps it was not just sheer obedience but also trust that there will be a rope around Him to the very end. Perhaps this trust played a big part in enabling Him to say, “not mine, but Thy will be done” as He began to submit to His excruciating ordeal (Matthew 26:39).  

Imagine then the shock when He was descending into the bottomless pit of human suffering to discover there was no rope around Him, like in the Garden, and no Father to catch Him….when He uttered that heart breaking question asking why the Father had forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46). There are reasons why it had to be so but the startling point is, the Saviour was utterly and totally alone.

Here again there had to be trust even though the rope was not there. There had to be trust that He could finish His crucible until every soul was atoned for and until He could give His all in the voluntary surrender of His life (John 10:18). There had to be trust until He could say: “It is finished” (John 19:30)

I have been puzzled by the concept of suffering my entire life. I used to think there had to be a better way to exaltation, for the Saviour and for us. Over time I received glimpses here and there about that necessity but none of these intellectual explanations seemed to make a dent into my understanding pertaining to my life. The other day I had a revelation about it so intense and so poignant that it took the explanation of my life to another level.

Through it I learnt something extremely important: the Eternal Father knows me to the depths of my soul and the plan for my life which I agreed to before I was born was so finely crafted that it has the power to prepare me for something much greater. I came away from that experience sobbing and understanding His mercy for the life He had planned for me. All I have to do is trust that there is a rope around my waist like Christ ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Thy Will Be Done by Jay Bryant Ward)

 

INTEGRITY

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 a tender consideration because Joseph was a prototype of the Saviour and this story supports this doctrine.

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, to whom his brothers sold him, 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 Potiphar, the third in rank of Pharaoh’s officers, Potiphar also didn’t believe that Joseph was a slave because of his cultured manner 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. If this story is true, Joseph’s integrity is astounding.  This seems very plausible when you consider the importance the ancients placed on family honour (Genesis 37:9,10) and Joseph telling the chief butler in prison that he was ‘STOLEN away out of the land of the Hebrews’ (Genesis 39:15).

Joseph’s integrity was such that Potiphar made him the overseer of his house and left everything in his hands without supervision (Genesis 39:5,6). When the temptation came from his master’s wife, Joseph used the trust that was placed in his integrity as a shield to the temptation (vs 7-9).

Imagine if Joseph used the Ishmaelites to get him back home and he aborted his role of saving his family when the famine came……now imagine if the Saviour backed out of His role…..

When we sustained Him as our Saviour, we had full confidence in the integrity of His character. We knew, even back then, 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. The Atonement performed in mortality was in fact just a formality…. But even in pre-mortal life it was our reality where we benefited from its effects and could be born free from sin (see Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite Atonement” p 80-85).

A life well lived,

The price willingly paid,

A glorious victory

At His feet laid. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Love and Faithfulness by Chris Brazelton)

 

HAPPINESS

 

 

I have posted of late a lot of pictures of Jesus smiling. The response to these pictures has been overwhelming with many of you loving to see Him happy. I agree these pictures are beautiful and very endearing. I guess, because we love Him, we don’t like to be reminded of His suffering. It is drummed into us repeatedly. What we are not regularly reminded of is His happiness ‘who for the JOY endured the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2). Of course He is happy, He suffered, He endured and He is now exalted.

One innocent comment I had to one of Christ’s smiling images was: “I wonder what He could be seeing to give Him such a happy smile. Probably a puppy or a kitty”. I could tell you what would really make the Saviour smile, our righteousness. I was very happy to see another comment confirming my belief: “I know that Jesus smiles every time we do good and keep our covenants with Him”.

I am very passionate about ‘trust’. I relish paying my bills because it confirms to me and to those who have provided me with a service, that I can be trusted. My value of trust has been one of the things that has kept me on the strait and narrow path. My reasoning is this: If I have made a covenant at baptism to obey the commandments and made higher covenants in the Temple and then walk away from these covenants, where is my integrity? The message I then send is that I cannot be trusted. It would kill me if God thought He could not trust me. So yes, every time we do good and keep our covenants we bring a smile to the Saviour’s face.

When John the Revelator wrote that Christ is ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ he was telling us that the Atonement was already in place in the premortal world and that the Atonement performed in mortality was just a formality. We could draw upon its blessings and power in pre-existence as if it had already happened. This is the power by which we overcame Satan in the great war in heaven (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Mosiah 3:13; 4:7; D&C 93:38; see also Institute Manual comments for Revelation 12:11). I stand amazed at the man of integrity that the Saviour was from the very beginning. That we not only believed that He COULD carry out the Atonement but that He WOULD. That’s trust of the highest kind. That’s a gift to humanity beyond description. So yes, every time we keep our covenants, we affirm our faith and gratitude that He kept HIS covenant before the world began. The question is, can He trust US???

The Saviour’s happiness is very much intertwined with ours. The joy that was before Him when He hung on the cross was not only for His but also our eternal happiness. Of course He would be happy if He knew He did not suffer in vein. The Atoning power with which we overcame Satan I pre-existence is the power by which we can overcome him again. How happy that would make the Saviour if we overcame His enemy in this life and subdued the powers of hell with our righteousness! Perhaps we should be a bit more concerned about making HIM happy and less about ourselves. Smile, He is on our side…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus the Source of Joy by Ivan Guaderrama)

THE WISDOM OF OUR GOD

In the Lectures on Faith, a document which was the basis for instruction in the School for the Elders in late 1834 and which appeared in the Doctrine and Covenants from 1835 until 1921, Joseph Smith stated that a man cannot exercise sufficient faith in God unto salvation without having a 'correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes (Lecture 3). This means that before we can move on to experiential faith meaning faith derived from our experience with God, such as faith derived from His power to save, or to forgive, or to lend comfort, we need to possess faith that He has the attributes that would lead us to such experiences. Where do we learn of Christ's attributes so that we may put trust and faith in them? The scriptures: "The scriptures, in a marvelous way, are the repository of the characteristics and attributes of God. It is as if the prophets were giving evidence that God was worthy of our trust, that we could indeed depend on him in the most difficult trials of our lives. In fact - and this is a wonderful point to consider - 'the God of heaven, understanding most perfectly the constitution of human nature, and the weakness of men, knew what was necessary to be revealed, and what ideas must be planted in their minds in order that they might be enabled to exercise faith in him unto eternal life' (LF 4:2)" (Jerry A. Wilson, The Great Plan of Happiness, Insights from the Lectures on Faith, p. 28). When I first learnt of Joseph's statement about knowing God I determined that I would read the Book of Mormon with that in mind. I looked for His characteristics in the way He dealt with the inhabitants of ancient America and in what the prophets said of Him. I still do so. Whenever I find something relating to His character, I pencil it in the margins. Now when I flick through my Book of Mormon I am amazed to see pencil markings on just about every page. This has made me conclude that we can 'see' the Saviour on every page of the Book of Mormon.

The most prominent characteristic of Jesus Christ that comes up over and over again for me in the scriptures is that of mercy. For the first time in my life when we studied  The Old Testament the year before last, I learnt about the God of mercy as I witnessed through the power of the spirit His dealings with ancient Israel. Not many people would describe Jehovah as merciful, the world at large sees Him as a vengeful God of the Old Testament but to me the mercy is so much more evident. After all, who can forget Jehovah passing by Moses on Mount Sinai saying to him: "....the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6)? Or Jehovah leading Israel into promised land with an admonition "know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations" (Deut 7:9) Who could possibly say they possess mercy towards another being 'to a thousand generations', meaning infinitely? We can also discover the God of mercy on just about every page of The Book of Mormon. This book of scripture also teaches us of another prominent characteristic that I wish to discuss here and that is wisdom. I will cite two examples of this. The first is found through Nephi who upon Lord's command created two sets of golden plates, the purpose of which he did not know. But one thing he did know and that was that the Lord knows all things from the beginning (1 Nephi 9:5,6). What the Lord knew in this instance was that the larger plates which were essentially The Book of Lehi would become the 116 pages of the lost manuscript translated by Joseph Smith in 1828, over 2,000 years later. The smaller plates which Nephi was commanded to make without knowing why covered exactly the same period as the lost manuscript and basically summarised Lehi's prophecies. The story does not end there either. Mormon, under the inspiration of the spirit, included these smaller plates in his own abridgement of the plates we now know as the Book of Mormon. He must have wondered if he was repeating himself including these plates, having just abridged Lehi's account but Mormon being obedient did as he was prompted to do admitting he did not know all things but like Nephi, he knew that the Lord knew (Words of Mormon 1:7). One cannot but be convinced that Nephi and Mormon knew God and of His wisdom and were therefore able to exercise sufficient faith and trust in His commands so that we today could have the richness of Lehi's prophecies such as his dream of the tree of life.

Another example of God's wisdom that is found in The Book of Mormon has to do with the Nephite's failure to record Samuel's prophecy that many saints would rise with Christ at the time of His resurrection. Why would the Saviour call them up on this particular prophecy? Why would this error have been significant enough for the Lord to correct it? Well, it has to do with the fact that The Book of Mormon, being "Another Testament of Jesus Christ", was specifically written for our day and in our day the accuracy of historical events recorded in the Bible is greatly under fire. One of these historical events recorded in the Bible that is greatly misunderstood and refuted is the resurrection. Jesus's rise from the grave is the subject of much modern scholarly debate. This debate was brought to the attention of one Latter-Day Saint whilst attending a well-known graduate theological school. He recounts: "In a class on Christ, entitled Christology, the professor was asked a question about the resurrection. He became very animated as he explained that this was the subject of his doctoral dissertation in Germany. He said that the answer to the student's question was complicated by the fact that there are various interpretations of the biblical account. He proceeded to draw a rectangle on the board representing the Bible and began to explain that this well-known scholar had his opinion based on these verses, while another theological had her opinion founded on some other passages. He then humorously noted that he differed from their interpretations due to still other verses. All the while he was banging away with his chalk at the rectangle representing the Bible. Then this professor, unacquainted with the Restoration, did an amazing thing. He said to the class, 'You know what we need? We need another book'! At this point he drew another rectangle next to the first, representing the 'other book' and said, 'If we had another book it would prove them (the other scholars) wrong and me right!' I sat stunned. Here was a learned man, a student of the Bible, who recognized the inadequacy of that single record to teach accurately about the resurrection. Soon after this event I was reading in 3 Nephi 23 and was amazed at the significance of the Saviour's correction to the Book of Mormon record. I understood more fully why the inclusion of Samuel's prophecy being fulfilled literally was so significant" (Philip Allred, BOM Lesson 41 "The Lord Esteems His Prophets", Meridian Magazine)

So often we, who are required to live by faith, fail to understand why the Lord deals with us in certain ways. For instance, we are told to 'ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened" (3 Nephi 27:29) and yet when we do just that and pray, often our prayers go unanswered. We want what we want when we want it and we usually want it now. Consider this modern day story related by Elder Bateman of the Seventy who inadvertently proves this point by relating a story of a returned missionary he interviewed when he was a Stake President:

"One interview in particular left an indelible impression on me when a young man shared an experience that had changed his life. This elder had spent two years serving a mission in Mexico. Like many others, his gospel foundation had been somewhat shaky before he entered the missionary training center. But as the interview progress, I could tell that significant changes had occurred within him. After a few weeks in the field, this elder had become concerned that he was telling people that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet when he didn't know for himself. How could he assure others when he did not have his own assurance? In discussing the problem with him, his companion challenged him to follow the counsel he was giving investigators: read the Book of Mormon and pray with a sincere heart, with real intent, even if he could only desire to believe. a month went by and my friend's feelings did not change. he read parts of the Book of Mormon and prayed daily that he would know the truthfulness of the message, but nothing happened. Two or three more weeks passed. He was obedient in his scripture study, prayers, tracting, and teaching, but he still lacked conviction.

As this missionary and his companion were tracing during the third week, they made an appointment to teach a new family the next evening. When they arrived home that night, the elder, who, at his companions' request, had agreed to teach the Joseph Smith story to the new investigators, began reading the Book of Mormon again. He read and prayed and then read some more. he was determined to have an answer before teaching the family. Through most of the night he repeated the pattern of reading and praying. As morning came he was disappointed; no swelling motions, no particular enlightenment or feeling had been received.  he dutifully followed his companion during the day but worried about the evening appointment. When the our came, they knocked on the door. The husband answered and ushered them into a small home. Sitting on the dirt floor were nine children, and the father joined the mother behind them. Soon it was time for the struggling elder to teach his part of the lesson. he began by describing rather methodically young Joseph's confusion regarding which church to join and his subsequent prayer on a beautiful spring day in 1820 in a secluded wooded area near his father's farm.

As the elder reached the point in the story where the Father introduced the Son, saying, 'This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him!'  (JSH 1:17), a warm feeling began to envelop him, starting in the deep recesses of his soul. Within moments, it had filled his entire being, and he began to cry. He dropped his head in embarrassment. Why was he crying? What were these feelings? he had never felt them before. The feelings were sweet and penetrated his very being. As thoughts rushed through his mind, he realized the he knew that the Father and the Son had appeared to the boy Joseph, that the Book of Mormon was true, and that the gospel had been restored. Regaining control of his emotions, he looked up at the father and mother. Tears were streaming down their faces! They were feeling the same powerful influence of the Spirit that he was feeling. He looked at the children. They, too, had tears in their eyes. The Spirit had borne witness to them of the truthfulness of his words. he continued the story and finished with a humble witness that the Father and the Son had appeared to the boy Joseph.

As this elder concluded telling me his story, he said: 'President, I never had a problem teaching people after that. I knew the gospel was true, for I knew that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith. I knew why I was in the mission field'. As I listened the Holy Spirit bore witness of the extraordinary missionary that the young elder had become. I thought of how efficient Heavenly Father is. The father, the mother, the nine children, and the young missionary were all converted that evening. Twelve were converted that night, whereas only one would have been converted the night before" (Elder Merrill J. Bateman, Living a Christ-Centered Life, Ensign Jan 1999, p 7)

When Joseph went back to translating after the loss of 116 pages of the manuscript, the Lord told him not to translate the same pages again because of undergoing conspiracy which might disprove his ability to translate. The Lord explained it to him this way: "I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil" (D&C 10:43). This plan certainly didn't seem like it would be such proof at the time. It most likely seemed to the men of Joseph's day that he couldn't translate the same pages but we of our day, who know of Joseph's fate understand this plan perfectly, and can say with assurance that God knows all things from beginning to the end. Why is it necessary for us to know this about Him? So that we can more fully trust those things we cannot understand. Trusting is important because when we trust, we do not seek to re-invent the wheel. I am often amazed how much we seek to reject our parents' acquired knowledge and wisdom once we grow into adults. We want to make our own mistakes, learn on our own terms and basically we believe that our parents know nothing, mostly because they come from a different generation and time 'when things were different'. The Saviour however, is not like that. He is a God who knows all things from beginning of times to the end of times. Because of this knowledge He often protects us where we don't see it, denies those things that would be our undoing, puts us in places that would elevate us in faith and basically puts up with our blunders because He knows we are just now learning to walk and the running will come later. Because He can see further down the road, He tolerates our mistakes and sins of today knowing that one day we will be in a better place. All these lessons and more can be gleaned through the scriptures to better convince us that we can trust Him whose work and glory it is to 'bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39). If we believe that this is His purpose, then we need to trust Him that He can get us there.

Jesus became a god before He even proved Himself in mortality. How come? Because His obedience to the Father was perfect and absolute. In other words, He did not seek to re-invent the wheel. Surely, He who became a God without the need of mortality is qualified enough to pave the path to godhood for us if we would but learn of Him and trust in his might and power. This trust is called faith and we can have it if we know about Him whose virtues and attributes we learn about in writings that testify of Him and His divinity: The Old Testament, The New Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price and most importantly, the Book of Mormon.

BY THE GRACE OF GOD PART 2

".....I will go before your face. 
I will be on your right hand and on your left, 
and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, 
and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." 
(D&C 84:88)

As disciples of Jesus Christ we have been given the mandate to become perfect. This perfection will be reached long after we pass on from this mortal life, nevertheless, whilst we are here we are to strive for excellence which will one day qualify us for godhood. Along this path however, we frequently, if not constantly, lack patience to cope with our sense of personal inadequacy. This impatience makes us prone to discouragement and a belief that because of our inadequacies perfection seems an unattainable goal. The gap between the ideal (perfection), and reality for some of us seems like a painful place to exist. In this gap we tend to encounter extreme guilt which makes many of us believe that we will never 'make it'. Women especially are susceptible to feelings of guilt to the point where some dread family-oriented lessons in Relief Society because emphasizing the ideals of motherhood makes them more aware of their own shortcomings and failure to live up to them. The truth is, all of us are falling short of the ideal for who among us could not relate to this family's scenario of the gap between reality and the ideal: "Then there are the family home evenings and scripture study sessions in our home. Somehow it has not been altogether natural for our children to glide reverently into their places all at once and all on time, prepared to ponder thoughtfully the wonders of eternity. More than likely, especially when they were young, they seemed to come swinging into the family room on the chandeliers like Tarzan on the vines, then would stand on their heads or flip themselves over the back of the couch during most of the lesson. During that stage of our family's history, our bishop lovingly referred to our children as curtain climbers, rug rats, and house apes. There were times in those days  when the gap yawned as wide as the Grand Canyon" (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p. 178). 

We live in a 'feel good' day and age. Modern day psychologists and spiritual gurus advise strongly against any negative feelings that have the potential to harm our self-esteem. One such therapist claims that being seriously religious "is significantly correlated with emotional disturbance" and goes on to say: "People largely disturb themselves by believing strongly in absolutistic shoulds, oughts, and musts, and most people who dogmatically believe in some religion believe in these health-sabotaging absolutes....The less religious people are, the more emotionally healthy they will tend to be" (Albert, Ellis, "Psychotherapy and Atheistic Values", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (1980), p 635-7). The world's solution to coping with the gap between the reality and the ideal is to eliminate the ideal and make peace with your reality. By doing this, we are meant to be free from frustration, guilt and unhappiness. This solution is an appealing one to many who are encouraged to accept themselves as they are. Because not having to change is a more comfortable place to be, we convince ourselves that we are not 'celestial material' and fall out of the race. 

Our modern day pre-occupation with self-acceptance limits severely our possibilities for growth and change restricting the power of repentance. Many of us go so far as to believe that we cannot change human nature at all and that we are what we are. Those of us who are of that belief deny the power of the Atonement and are in effect saying to the Saviour, I don't need you, you have no power to do anything for me. When we come to that point we believe the world more than we believe Him. We then lose all faith that we can ever attain godhood because we know our own capabilities cannot get us there. The other choice we have in this matter is to focus on Him who overcame the world, resisted every temptation and avoided every sin. We must understand that the only way perfection is possible at all is through the grace of Him who has paved the way. Through His grace we too can overcome the world, resist every temptation and avoid every sin because His grace enlarges our capacities and turns our weaknesses into strengths but the most important gift of grace "along that path is the gift of hope, which is a source of comfort and strength for those who move courageously forward toward the perfecting ideal of the Saviour" (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 183)

It astounds me to hear an active member of the Church exclaim "oh, I know I will never make it". This proclamation indicates a lack of understanding of the Atonement and a lack of acceptance of its' power. To me this belief is akin to sin. Contrast that mentality with active members of the Church in Jacob's time: "Wherefore, we search the prophets (scriptures), and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy (testimony); and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things" (Jacob 4:6-7). It is clear from this scripture that those who believe that they will never 'make it' are the ones who put their faith in their capacities alone rather than in the grace of God which is the only way we can ever make it. If we can by the grace of God command the trees, the mountains or the waves of the sea to obey us, surely we can by this same grace also change the human nature. 

The spiritual endowments of hope are perspective, patience, serenity, peace, insight and endurance. When we press forward with steadfastness in Christ (2 Nephi 31:20), we do so with a hope that we can make it for the one who has made it is before us, behind us and by us (D&C 88:84, 49:27). We desperately need these endowments of hope because they help us to see that development toward spiritual maturity and godhood "is a process and not an event....it is a distance race, not a sprint....it is thus no race for the short-winded. To develop toward a Christlike character is a process, not an event. There may one day be some crowning event, in which the final endowment of grace completes a process that may take longer than mortal life. But to qualify for such a conclusion requires patience and persistence more than it requires flawlessness. It is indeed, our own groping and reaching in the struggle for growth that qualifies us for divine help." (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 184, 186)

In our quest for the ideal, we are like a toddler just learning to walk. The closer we get to the ideal, the more that ideal expands and creates new aspirations and a new gap, until we finally reach godhood: "When our capacities are small, God's expectations are not very demanding.......but just as we master these elementary demands, we discover greater expectations that we didn't quite see before. Gradually our capacity grows, but so does our understanding of what more we must become, 'For of him unto whom much is given much is required' (D&C 82:3). The Lord would have us stretch - but not out of shape.....in the midst of this process, the blessing of hope keeps the gap at a manageable distance. Our perceptions and attitudes really can be shaped and lifted by a gift of divinely given insight that lets us feel, even with some anticipation and optimism, that we can do it.....Hope, a divinely given blessing of atoning grace for those who seek it, after all they can do on their own, establishes in the way our mind sees things just the right distance between where we are and where we strive to be. It also reassures us, somehow, that the ever-receding ideal is not a trick, but part of a growth process that can be not only acceptable but exhilarating" (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 187,188)

We need only search the scriptures in order to know the God we speak of; to know that to Him man is the underlying and over-riding purpose of all His works, that to Him we are everything (Moses 1:39); that it is for our sakes' He willingly laid Himself on the cross; that beside Him there is no Saviour; that the extent of His doings none can find out; that there are none who can stay His hand; that great is His wisdom and marvelous are His ways; that He is gracious and merciful unto those who fear Him and that He delights to honour those who serve Him in righteousness and in truth unto the end (D&C 76:1-5). This is the God we worship, this is the God we serve and this is the God we should believe.

"Behold, I have graven thee 

upon the palms of my hands;

thy walls are continually before me.......

come unto me thy Saviour"

(Isaiah 49:16, D&C 19:41))

THE ROCKCLIMBER

"Brenda was a young woman that wanted to learn to rock climb. Although she was terribly afraid, she went with a group and they faced this tremendous cliff of rock that was practically perpendicular. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear and took hold of the rope and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, whoever was holding the rope up at the top of the cliff made a mistake and snapped the rope against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. You know how tiny contact lenses are and how almost impossible to find. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with who knows how many hundreds of feet behind and hundreds of feet above her.

Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping that she would be able to find that contact lens. Here she was, very far from home. Her sight was now blurry. She was very upset by the fact that she wouldn't be anywhere near a place where she could get a new contact lens. And she prayed that the Lord would help her to find it. Well, her last hope was that perhaps when she got to the top of the cliff, one of the girls that was up there on the top might be able to find her contact lens in the corner of her eye. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye. There was no contact lens to be found. She sat down with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to come up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth". She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every single stone and leaf that's on those mountains and You know exactly where my contact lens is".

Finally the time came when it was time to go down. They walked down the trail to the bottom. Just as they got there, there was a new party of rock climbers coming along. As one of them started up the face of the cliff, she shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, wouldn't it? She had found the contact lens! But you know why she saw it? An ant was carrying that contact lens so that it was moving slowly across the face of the rock. What does that tell you about the God of the universe? Is he in charge of the tiniest things? Do ants matter to Him? Of course they do. He made them. He designed them. Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him this incredible story, he drew a picture of that ant lugging that contact lens with the words: "Lord, I don't know why you want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what you want me to do, I'll carry it for you". If God is in charge of the ants, don't you think He cares about you and me? One could learn a valuable lesson from that ant: TRUST IN GOD! We could probably all say a little more often, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. Still, if you want me to, I'll carry it for you".

-  Author unknown


What can we learn from this story? Several things as a matter of fact:

1. God answers prayer.
2. He uses others to meet our needs.
3. No request of Him is too small or too great.
4. Good sees and knows all things. What is important to us is likewise important to Him: "And not one hair, neither mote, shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand" (D&C 29:25)
5. When we feel inspired to do something we should do it, even if we don't understand why for God is working through us to bring about His purposes. Like Nephi of old who was commanded to abridge two sets of plates because 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation would one day be lost, we should say: "....the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men.......for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey" (1 Nephi 9:6, 2 Nephi 33:15)
6. We should trust in God to bail us out of situations we have no power to resolve. He stands ready to help in all things. Like any father, He is devastated when we do not turn to Him in times of need. 
7. While we are climbing our mountains, we should remember that without God we can do nothing and that with Him, we can do everything.
8. All things and all creations on this earth God has created have a purpose. Remember that next time you are about to step on an ant. Be careful how you treat others for God might need to use them one day for your saving grace.
9. When your vision is blurry and you cannot see, God will provide the perspective and the lens you need to see your path clearly: "Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward...I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts....(D&C 49:27, 84:88). When we walk in darkness, we are not alone, God is on our left, and on our right, and before us and behind us. We are not alone.
10. God is a god of love. He cares for all his creations and we, His sons and His daughters, matter to Him the most. We are at the forefront of all His doings and all His concerns. When God showed Moses all the worlds He had created, Moses was astonished and exclaimed that man is nothing in comparison but God replied, 'No, you are wrong Moses, 'man is the underlying and over-riding purpose of all my work. Man's success constitutes my glory. Man is everything' (Ted Gibbons, OT Lesson 1, "This is My Work and My Glory") 

MUSIC IN THE SOUL

"Oliver Wendall Holmes said:

 'Many people die with  their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.'

Tagore expressed a similar thought in these words:

'I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung'.

My plea therefore is this: Let us get our instruments tightly strung and our melodies sweetly sung. Let us not die with our music still in us. Let us rather use this precious mortal probation to move confidently and gloriously upward toward the eternal life which God our Father gives to those who keep his commandments"

- President Spencer W. Kimball, 'The Miracle of Forgiveness'


I love opera. My favourite operatic piece is 'Casta Diva' from opera 'Norma' by Vincenzo Bellini. I have a recording of it sung by Renee Fleming which is just beautiful. I love listening to it. The high notes sung by this opera diva are exquisite and would truly exhilarate anyone who would listen to it. I also have the recording of this musical piece by Joshua Bell who is a violinist. When I listen to his rendition of Casta Diva I am convinced that this piece needs no lyrics because the violin has a voice of its own. It speaks to me the same as if it had vocal chords. I have often reflected on how such different renditions of the same piece of music can be equally thrilling. I have concluded it is because each of these artists has a different voice by which they can perform the same task in their own unique way. So it is with us. Each one of us has a unique instrument inside us ready to perform the song we came here to sing.

Often we think our contribution to the world does not matter so we do nothing and our song remains unsung. We tend to get lost in the multitude of people thinking we cannot possibly make a difference and we overlook the responsibility which is ours to discover our talents which can serve us and mankind. This is a gross mistake for we of the eleventh hour have been sent here with a specific song to sing in preparation of this earth for the millenial glory. Consider this quote from Elder Neal A Maxwell:

"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 for 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 in history when he's most needed - much as some of us might like to have him now".

- Neal A. Naxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p. 46

So all of us are needed but a lot of us stagger about from year to year allowing our weaknesses to be our stumbling blocks which prevent us from fulfilling our divine destiny. As the new year has rolled around once more we are again reflecting on new year's resolutions which we need to make. Most of those resolutions for a lot of us are of temporal nature, some weakness we want to give up, some physical improvement we want to make and a lot of the time we forget to look at our lives long term and what we need to improve on today that we will be grateful for 30 years from now. We were born to this earth to basically fulfill two purposes: 1. To achieve something unique to us and; 2. to qualify ourselves for eternal life. The Saviour Jesus Christ offers a pattern for achieving both of these. The Saviour was a God before he was born into this world yet his birth caused him to forget all that He was before he entered mortality, just the same as us. He had to start just as all other mortals do and gain his knowledge line upon line (Luke 2:52, D&C 93:13). In other words, the Saviour of the world himself had to discover who He was and what His mission was. This knowledge came to Him by revelation and visitation of angels but it had to come line upon line, precept upon precept, and He had to seek it to receive it. So it is with us. If you do not know what your purpose on this earth is, seek revelation to educate yourself on the matter and then do everything in your power to fulfill that purpose, just as He did. Jesus also had to qualify Himself for eternal life by fulfilling and living all the laws and commandments of the Father. In the words of Joseph Fielding Smith:

"The Saviour did not have a fulness at first, but after he received His body and the resurrection all power was given unto Him both in heaven and in earth. Although He was a God, even the Son of God, with power and authority to create this earth and other earths, yet there were some things lacking which He did not receive until after His resurrection. In other words, he had not received the fulness until He got a resurrected body."

- Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of  Presidents of the Church, p. 315

This year we are studying The New Testament and the life of Christ. This course of study is the most spiritually charged course of study we have in the Church. It educates us as to who Christ was, is and always will be. It offers us knowledge about the Atonement and how we can access its power to overcome this world even as He has overcome it. We cannot make it back to our heavenly home unless we become as He is. It makes sense then that we need to study His life in order to pattern our lives after His. The Saviour did not leave His song unsung. In His holy words: "....I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19:19). The task was overwhelming, the pain unthinkable, the gift priceless. For a few excruciating moments He has felt your sorrows, endured the wrath of God for your sins and learnt what it is like to be you. Now that He knows you, He can succor you, in every weakness, in every way and He can make you powerful enough to release the music of your soul. He can make you what you came here to be. Trust Him, turn to Him, accept Him.

"You did not come into the world to fail. You came into the world to succeed. You have accomplished much so far. It is only the beginning. As you move forward on the trail of life, keep the banner of faith in self ever before you. You may not be a genius. You may not be exceptionally smart. But you can be good and you can try. And you will be amazed at what might happen when in faith you take a step forward."

-  Gordon B. Hinckley