DIVINE HUMILITY

 

 

One of the greatest lessons the Saviour taught when He established His Church in the meridian of time was one of humility. This is something we need to take note of especially in the Church.

There was something of a hierarchy in my mission field. It was like a ladder of progression which was deemed by us as success. We all felt important when we were elevated to higher positions. The progression of success went like this: becoming a senior companion, district leader, zone leader, assistant to the President, a member of the ‘power team’.

It makes us feel good when we are recognized and utilized for our abilities. Sometimes too good. The downside of the hierarchy is that it makes others that don’t make it to these stations feel like they are less.

My Mission President realized he needed to teach us young kids in the Church the danger of authority that was placed on us. He often referred us to D&C 121:39 which points out that authority can lead to ‘unrighteous dominion’. Such is the danger of pride.

Over the years I have witnessed some pretty prideful priesthood leaders in the Church and some very humble ones too. Authority comes with danger and an opportunity. Pride is he danger and humility is the opportunity.

The Saviour said in that scripture that it is ‘the nature and disposition of every man’ to get carried away with authority so He endeavoured to give us a lesson in humility that we should never forget.

At the last supper, the Saviour washed the feet of the apostles. I believe it is a priesthood ordinance practiced by the Twelve of the Church to this day. No doubt it is meant to remind them that they are servants and of humility the Saviour exercised when He did so. The lesson is that he who is the master is the servant of all.

This, however, is the greatest lesson the Saviour taught by washing of the feet. When He explained the ordinance to His disciples and said, “the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him”, He was speaking about himself (John 13:16). He that was sent was Jesus and He that sent Him was God the Father.

Such was the humility of Christ who sought the honour and glory of His Father. Never at any time did He seek to elevate himself above the God who was above Him. Think about this and compare it to Lucifer who was once in authority in the presence of God, and who sought to dethrone them both (D&C 76:25-26; Isaiah 14:12-20).

Is there a greater humility than the Saviour of the world? Think of the power within His grasp that was never used for self when He walked upon this earth. Think of the power He had to walk off that cross and save himself. Think of the pride He never succumbed to. This is the God we worship, this is the God we love, this is the God we follow……and follow we should to the ends of the earth.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Greatest Among You by Yongsung Kim)

BEING WEAK PART 2

 

Some months ago I wrote a post about total dependence on Christ. One woman was outraged. She said I was ‘making’ people reliant on someone they can’t even see. She also said she doesn’t need to depend on anyone because she is strong enough to do anything herself.  

 

Consider the greatest reason for putting us in the condition of weakness in mortality: "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble" (Ether 12:27). The Saviour then proceeds to say that if we humble ourselves before Him, meaning if we come to Him with a realisation that we need His help, He will grant us strength through His grace to overcome our weaknesses.

 

The weak state of mortality is designed to humble us and strip us of pride. It is designed that way so that we will come to Christ for our salvation.  And so that we will become like Him, devoid of pride.

 

We cannot become gods even with the least degree of pride in us. Consider a god without humility. It means He would be full of pride instead. Pride seeks to elevate the one above the others.

 

If God the Father was full of pride, He would not seek to elevate His children to His station so that they could possess all the riches of eternity that He Himself has. If He was full of pride, He would seek to keep it all to himself because pride only takes care of oneself.

 

The status and power of godhood cannot endure if it is contained by one person. The role of a god is to ‘bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). That’s the ultimate power that no one else but a god can have. Without exalting his children to the status of godhood, God would fail to be a god.

 

This is where Satan misunderstood what it means to be a god. Consider his pride when he volunteered to save us. His intent was to do so by exalting himself whilst Christ’s intent was to exalt others. Christ’s exaltation began in the hour of His humility when He said: “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27).

 

If you exalt yourself in this life through pride, you cannot be exalted on high. Salvation and exaltation comes through humility (Matt 24:12; D&C 101:42; 112:3; 124:114; Alma 4:12,13). Our hour of exaltation begins when we become like the Saviour, devoid of pride. The first step in that direction is our climb to the top of the hill of Calvary……

 

I carried my cross to the foot of Calvary,

While you carried yours to the top.

I cried bitter tears over the injustices of my life,

While you bled valiantly for all that was lost.

I carried my hurts like a badge

So scornfully proud and spiritually poor,

While you rose to the heights of your exalted throne;

Perfected, ennobled and infinitely more.

You are so high

And I am so low;

I consent to climb to Calvary’s top,

I consent to be lifted to Thy throne.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Humility by Greg Collins)

BEING WEAK PART 1

 

Ether 12:27 must be the most important scripture in the book of Ether. It is widely known and widely quoted. It deals with weakness.

I don't know of anyone who sees weakness as a positive thing. None of us want to be weak. We don't want to be seen as weak and we don't want to feel that we are weak.

The world tells us we need to be super achievers and excel in all we do and that it is up to us to make ourselves successful.  For this reason we persist in making goals and sometimes tackling that which is beyond our capacity to overcome, relying solely on our motivation and willpower. 

Both motivation and willpower are incredibly difficult to maintain and so we beat ourselves up when we fall short. And in the process we allow our weaknesses to define us.

Consider alcoholism. The weakness of drinking has now become the weakness of disease. I do not agree with Alcoholics Anonymous who define people as 'alcoholics'. What's worse, they tell people they are alcoholics for life.

I get it, they want people to be vigilant but what happens when you label yourself? You act and behave according to that label. If you think you are an alcoholic, you will always struggle with the temptation to drink. Even some who abstain from drink for years fall off the wagon because in the end what does an alcoholic do? An alcoholic drinks.

The danger comes in saying 'I am'. I AM is highly declarative. Once declared, it becomes a reality you live by. Obviously, the importance lies in recognising that what we do is not who we are. It is better to say, "I have a weakness for drink" than to say "I am an alcoholic". This gives one hope that he or she can become free from drinking through the help of the higher power. One thing Alcoholics Anonymous got right.

The Saviour’s explanation of weakness in Ether 12 would have us know that our weaknesses need not define us. According to the Bible Dictionary, weakness is the primary condition of mortality and a state of being in this fallen world. It is unavoidable because mortality means weakness. Weakness means being human.

The weakness of mortality is manifest in individual weaknesses and frailties that each person has.  In Ether 12:27, Christ told Moroni: "If men come unto me I will show unto them their 'weakness."  Notice the word of 'weakness' is singular here. This is the condition of being weak.

What the Saviour is referring to here is the weakness of mortality, not our individual weaknesses, of which He speaks in the latter part of the scripture when He says: "...for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them". The weak things He speaks of are in reference to individual 'weaknesses'.

So being weak is not our fault. Being weak means being human and a condition of living in a fallen world. This does not, however, mean that we are to remain in this condition. Christ’s main purpose is to lift us out of the fallen world and restore us to the Father through His Atonement.

There is so much more to this scripture in Ether which I am eager to expound on in more posts. This is but an introduction to this important subject. In the meantime, remember there is hope:

The Saviour 'descended below all things' so that He might comprehend all things (D&C 88:6), meaning all our sins and our weaknesses. In the words of Elder Tad Callister: "....you cannot sink farther than the light and sweeping intelligence of Jesus Christ can reach.....as long as there is one spark of the will to repent and to reach, He is there....." (The Atonement of Jesus Christ, April 2019).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Sanctify Them by Chris Brazelton)

EXEMPLARY FAITH

 

Whenever I read the story of the brother of Jared, I ask myself: what kind of faith does it take for the veil to become so thin that the Lord was compelled to fully show himself to this man?

Undoubtedly, this faith began the moment the solution to the problem of light entered into this man’s mind. The solution he came up with may not have been so unusual since some rabbis and scholars claim that Noah’s ark had the same illumination and the brother of Jared might have been familiar with that fact (New Era Dec 2020).

Certainly, the carving out of the stones would have contributed greatly to his faith in this solution for why would you go to such trouble if you were not a hundred percent sure that it would work?

Bringing the stones before the Lord and acknowledging his personal conviction in the Lord’s power to do all things would have added another decibel to his faith (Ether 3:4). Being specific about the finger would have taken that faith up another notch.

What amazes me further is this. Once his faith rendered the veil, everything beyond it was fair game. He was shown not only the Lord but ‘greater things that never have been manifest before’ (v 18,19,20; 4:4). These greater things are contained in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon (Ether 4:4,5).

Much can be written about the brother of Jared’s experience but my intent here is to show that we need to take note of the principle of faith that unfolded the whole story. There are two things I find are of great interest.

Firstly, Moroni indicates that the brother of Jared was told ‘in times before’ that if he believed in the Lord, He could show him ‘all things’ (Ether 3:26). We can conclude from this that the brother of Jared had a long-standing relationship with Christ, he had a desire to know the mysteries of the kingdom and he worked on developing his faith to come to the point where ‘the Lord could not withhold anything from him’ (Ether 3:26).

We should take note of this, especially in relation to the promise that the saints of this dispensation have been given as contained in D&C 76:5-10.

The second point of interest involves us. I have friends, who like me, are eager to read the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. I have always thought the ‘yet unrevealed scriptures’ will one day just appear and we will get to read them, probably in the Millenium. There is a catch however.

This is what Moroni was told by the Lord himself referring to the ‘greater things’, when he was commanded to seal up the portion of the plates:

“They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord. And in that day that they shall EXERCISE FAITH IN ME….EVEN AS THE BROTHER OF JARED DID…..” (Ether 4:7)

The Saviour went further to say that we will need to be sanctified in Him before He will unfold to us all His revelations (v 7). This is a sobering thought that tells us we will not get to read these scriptures without any effort on our part…a serious effort, one that leads to the principle of repentance and the manifesting faith like we have never known before…..the manifesting faith of the brother of Jared.  Are we up to it????

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Brother of Jared by Emily Pugmire)

A LESSON FROM GETHSEMANE

 

“We must do as Jesus did – preface our prayers by saying, “If it be possible”, let the trial pass from us – by saying, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt”, and bowing in a sense of serenity to our Father in heaven’s wisdom, because at times God will not be able to let us pass by a trial or a challenge.

“If we were allowed to bypass certain trials, everything that had gone on up to that moment in our lives would be wiped out. It is because he loves us that at times he will not intercede as we may wish Him to. That, too, we learn from Gethsemane and from Calvary.”

-        Neal A. Maxwell, “But For a Small Moment”, Sept 1974 BYU Speeches

I used to think that some people have been allotted to experiences trials in this life emotionally and others physically. I classified myself in the emotional category. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to my 60s facing physical challenges which have morphed into the classification of ‘suffering’.

I didn’t think I deserved it after everything I have been through in my life emotionally and so I threw myself into a tug-o-war with my mortality. The resistance escalated my physical suffering.

A very dear and close friend of mine has been trying for a long time to teach me about acceptance. She kept saying acceptance is everything. I made some progress in that respect over the years until this principle came upon me very strongly recently and liberated me from absence of peace.

Imagine if the Saviour was spared His crucible of Gethsemane. If everything He did up until then was really wasted: His preparation in pre-existence, our sustaining vote of Him and our preparation for earthly life, the creation of this earth, all the people that lived before the Gethsemane experience, His condescension, His teachings, His miracles, His promise of eternal life through His sacrifice…..

Of course, this would have never happened because of the Saviour's impeccable integrity but He had His free agency to the very end and the possibility of such a scenario doesn't bear thinking.

My friend claims I should always say ‘yes’ to whatever God asks of me. I am grateful beyond my ability to express that my Saviour did so.

Because of You,

I do not belong to the enemy.

Because of You,

I am not lost in obscurity.

Because of You,

Death cannot claim me for eternity.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Christ the Creator by SKAI Studios)

EXEMPLARY JOB

 

I revisited the story of Job today for personal reasons I will not go into here. I have written about Job extensively in the past but I have never written about him from this vantage point.

At the onset of his trial of faith, Job received a taste of Satan’s objective through his wife who told him: “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9).

This was the worst affront to Job, “a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil” (Job 2:3). His love for God was beyond fault. How could he possibly curse Him and sin with his lips? (v 10). It was unthinkable for him. As things grew worse from there, that temptation was never yielded to even though Job came to the point of wishing that he would die (Job 7:15,16). In fact, he started wishing he was never born (Job 10:18,19) but still he would not curse God.

Then something interesting happened. Through the merciless taunting of his friends who offered no support, Job stood firm defending God. The more they opposed his strength, the more Job praised God insisting ‘with him is wisdom and strength’ over and over (Job 12:10-24). And in his sorrow, he exclaimed: “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God” (Job 16:20). And then the strength of his testimony: “I know that my redeemer liveth!” (Job 19:25).

To fully appreciate Job’s faithfulness and tenacity we should reflect on his life as it was and how acutely intolerable it became.

Job was righteous, did good continually, was incredibly respected in the community and he was fabulously wealthy. You could say, his life was perfect. Job went from the pinnacle of society to living in rags on the outskirts of the city, in constant pain, not understanding what has happened to him. 

Basically, he went from the picture of perfection to being disfigured with boils and worms and maggots were bred in his sores (7:5). He ended up living outside the city on the refuse heap where outcasts and lepers lived. Pain was his constant companion (30:17,30) as were also terrifying nightmares (7:14). Whereas, everyone in his community honoured him before, he suddenly became an outcast.  

 

Job, however, did not foresee in the midst of his suffering that his life would take a turn for the better. This turn did come as 'the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning' (Job 42:12). Job lived another 140 years in prosperity and wellness after the trial of his faith. Would he have had such a glorious ending to his life if he had cursed God and died???

When Joseph Smith sat in Liberty jail and cried out in anguish: "Oh God, where art Thou?”, the Lord responded with: "My son peace be to thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.....Thou art not yet as Job” (D&C 121:1,7-10)

In the words of Neal A. Maxwell, endurance is “passing beyond breaking points without breaking”.

ODE TO JOB:

You sank so deep

Into the mire of your pain;

Nobody followed you,

Nobody sang praises to your name.

 

In your hour of agony

You gloried in His name,

You became my beacon

Of hope that I can do the same.

 

Your blessings multiplied

As the stars of heaven do

Each night I see them,

I am reminded of you.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Lord, I Believe by Liz Lemon Swindle)

 

A MEASURE OF TRUST

 

The story of the Jaredites would have to be one of the most interesting in the Book of Mormon.

Imagine the confusion and fear that would have ensued as the only language you have ever known became confounded and you saw people scattering  (Ether 1:33).

I presume this process was gradual and so the fear would have been so much greater. You would wonder if one day you would wake up and not be able to communicate with your family.

Ether, who was a descendant of Jared recorded that his brother cried unto the Lord a ‘long time’ before the Lord answered his petition to not confound the language in their family (Ether 1:6-32; 43). In fact, chapter 1 mentions the word ‘cry’ seven times suggesting the brother of Jared ‘pleaded’ with the Lord. But there is something else that piqued my interest.

I have never before noticed the hand that Jared had in his people’s possession of the land of promise. He must have been an optimist. He not only asked his brother to plead with the Lord so their language would not be confounded but he expressed a hope that the Lord might bless them beyond what they expect: “And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth?” This was the beginning of trust.

Then he went a step further. Jared did not only hope for the blessing but he ensured that his family and friends were worthy of the choicest land the Lord could give them by exhorting them to be faithful (Ether 1:38). He was no doubt the patriarch of his family and respected as a leader by his friends.

The Lord answered their petition and promised them He would deliver them to the land choice above all other lands (Ether 1:42,43). So intent was He that they would arrive to America that He personally led them in their travels and gave them directions where they should go ‘as he stood in a cloud’ in their midst (Ether 2:5).

The trust that the Jaredites had in the Lord during their experience is astounding.

I don’t know if this company of people ever travelled anywhere by sea. The fact that the Lord personally led them to it suggests, not (Ether 2:13). Now imagine you get into barges you had never seen or been in before to travel to another land. They were small and light and tight and the length of a tree (v 16,17).

All you know is that they were built according to the Lord’s instructions (v 16). And then a frightening warning: ‘you will be as a whale in the midst of the sea, for the mountain waves shall dash upon you’ (v 24).

If you were claustrophobic, would you get in? And once you are in, you see no rudder or anyone at the helm. All you are going on is the word of a friend who said that God told him He will blow you by the breath of His mouth to a ‘choice land’ you have never been to (Ether 2:24).

How would you feel if you were in there listening to the deafening sounds of crashing waves against the barge you were in? On top of that, you are constantly listening to a ‘furious wind which tossed you upon the waves of the sea continually’ (Ether 6:5). Add to that being ‘buried in the depths of the sea because of the terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind’ (v 6).

You have no idea if the other barges are safe, if the other half of your family is alive or not. No mobile phones, no reception, no communication. Only trust.

The worst is this: you do not know how long you have to endure this journey. Three hundred and forty and four days, to be exact (Ether 6:11). That’s 21 days short of a year.

But something marvelous happened in those barges. The trust never died….. for one reason. They sang praises to the Lord unceasingly (Ether 6:9). And 344 days of praises later, when they arrived, they shed tears of joy ‘because of the multitude of the Lord’s tender mercies over them’ (v 12).

Next time you are buried in the depths of your sea, sing…… 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: God of Wonders by Yongsung Kim)