When
you softly whisper to my soul
I
know the Father is there
Ever
mindful of my needful care.
When
you softly whisper to my soul
I
know the Saviour will rescue me
When
I am tempest tossed onto a troubled sea.
When
you softly whisper to my soul
I
know angels are waiting to lift my heart
In
the still of the darkest night.
When
you softly whisper to my soul
I
know You will bring me home
And
never abandon my care,
You
are the gift that will guide me there.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
One
of the most endearing titles the Saviour has is ‘the Lion of Judah’ (Revelation
5:5). It denotes strength and power that balances the picture of the meek and
sacrificial Lamb mentioned in the following verse (v 6).
Before
the patriarch Jacob died he blessed his sons and their posterity and named the
tribe of Judah a ‘lion’s whelp’ (Genesis 49:9) which shall rule in Israel until
‘Shiloh’ (Christ, the Messiah, the Lion) shall come to gather His people (v
10).
To
be a lion of a tribe, one needs to have the blood of that tribe run through his
veins. Not only did Jesus have that blood that bonded Him to His mortal roots
but He had the social and cultural bonding with His people:
“Jesus
was a Jew; he was of the tribe of Judah. David, the Jew, was his fore-father,
and Mary, the Jewess, his mother. He grew up in a Jewish home, spoke the Jewish
Aramaic of the day, Learned Jewish customs and traditions, studied in Jewish
schools, read Jewish scripture, attended Jewish synagogues, and participated in
Jewish worship. From Bethlehem to Calvary, he was a Jew of the Jews.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah
Book 1, p 296)
The
two instances in the scriptures where the Saviour is spoken of as the lion are
relative to His protectiveness of the House of Israel (Isaiah 31:4; Hosea
11:9,10; Revelation 5:5,6).
In
Hosea, the Saviour laments over Ephraim who has forsaken Him and exclaims,
‘mine heart is turned toward thee, and my mercies are extended to gather thee’
(v 8aJST). Hosea then says ‘He shall roar like a lion and the children shall
tremble from the west’ (v 10). We Ephraim, in the western hemisphere, have
certainly trembled at the sound of His voice as we have gathered to His earthly
kingdom restored in 1830 through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
On
his final visit to the Temple, prior to His crucifixion, the Saviour once again
proclaimed His divine Sonship. For the
last time He cried out loud that He who believes Him, believes Him who sent Him
(John 12:44). I think of the Lion in Him when I picture this scene. This was
the last call to the Jewish nation to believe in Him as the Son of God and the
Lion of Judah who ‘washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of
grapes’ to atone for His people (Genesis 49:11). Instead of belief, the people
questioned, ‘who is this Son of Man’ that you say must be lifted up? (John 12:34).
Who
is this Son of Man? He is the Son of Man of Holiness, who is God the Father,
for Man of Holiness is His name (Moses 5:57); He is the light of the world and
whosoever believes in Him will not abide in darkness (John 12:46); He is the
Son of God under whose command He came to preach all righteousness and that
salvation is through Him and of Him (v 49); He is the Father’s servant who came
to offer life everlasting to all who believe on His name (v 50). He is the
bread of life (John 6:35,41,48,51); He is the light of the world (John 8:12;
9:5); He is the good shepherd (John 10:11,14); He is the resurrection and the
life (John 11:25); He is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6); He is
the Messiah, the Lord Omnipotent, Alpha and Omega, He is Jesus the Christ, the
King of Glory.......….…….can you hear the roar???
I
remember coming to You
Long
ago through the water’s gate,
So
inviting, wide open for my soul to embrace.
You
flowed through my heart since that day
Showing
me the wonder of You;
I
have seen Your agonizing sacrifice,
And
Your spilt blood too.
I
hear You, I am Your sheep,
I
know You and Your sacrificial pains
For
the believing blood of Israel
Runs
through my veins.
All that is unspoken
And all that is unseen
All that I feel
In the depths of my soul
I long to give to Thee.
And all that You ask of me
And all that I am
I will place
On the altar of sacrifice
for Thee.
I give You my all
As You gave Your all
Because a heart
Can give no more.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
All
suffering and all endurance of this life denotes the very purpose of God, to exalt
his children. All that is asked of us, our sacrifices, our suffering, our
difficulties, our development and our progression is God’s work and His glory, “to
bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:7). The next
level of our purpose in life is to become gods ourselves.
This is a
hard doctrine for many people to believe that mere man can rise to such stature.
I once wrote on Facebook that God’s purpose is to exalt His children to godhood
and enraged one reader who claimed there is only one God and ever will be and
therefore we are a Church of blasphemy. The funny thing is, deep down in us are
seeds of the very idea. I have been watching a lot of AI generated historical
periods. The Roman Empire in particular is a very interesting time. Everybody
it seemed was vying for the position of pharaoh even though the risk of being
murdered was exceptionally high. The most interesting thing is that many pharaohs
proclaimed themselves to be gods.
When Moses
encountered God on Mt Sinai, God showed him all the worlds He had made and
Moses was astonished and proclaimed: “Now, for this cause I know that man is
nothing, which thing I never had supposed” (Moses 1:10). Having been raised in
an Egyptian court, Moses was trained to believe there is none greater than the Pharoah….until
he saw God and what He can do and by this he concluded that man is nothing. God
then repeated the vision of all His works to ensure that Moses understood the
purpose of all His creations was to exalt His children (Moses 1:7).
To rise to
such heights as godhood, the price has to be paid. The Saviour has paved the
way but He could not make us godly. Only we can do that by accepting all the
tutoring that God will give and all that we will give in return.
We are told
that: 1. we must be chastened and tried, even as Abraham was, who was commanded
to offer up his only son and if we will not endure chastening but deny God, we
cannot be sanctified (D&C 101:4-5); and 2. We will be proven in all things
even unto death by abiding in His covenant (D&C 98:12-15).
“This seems
like such a high standard. Why must one be tested and chastened before he can
be sanctified? Why can a person not be worthy of God unless he is willing to
abide in the covenant even to death? To understand these questions and to gain
greater insight into why Abraham had to prove himself, think in the eternal
perspective for a moment. Imagine the disastrous consequences of making a
person a god who was not perfect in every respect.
“How would
the universe survive if it were controlled by a god who could not withstand
even intense pressure? Where would we be now if our God had not been disposed
to endure the suffering of seeing His Only Begotten Son go to the cross? If
Abraham had failed his test, he would have lost his position.
“If God the
Father had failed the same test there would have been no Atonement and all
mankind would have “become subject to that angel who fell from before the
presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil….And our spirits must have
become like unto him, and we become devils….to be shut out from the presence of
our God.” (2 Nephi 9:8-9)
-
(Old Testament Student Manual, Genesis – 2 Samuel, p
79)
In other words, we must give our all for God to give
His all…..the bar is high but help is near and the eternal in us yearns to be
more than this mortal sphere can give us. The Saviour made sure our purpose has
an eternal destination.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
I would belong to the enemy.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
I would be lost in obscurity.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
As death would claim me for eternity.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
I miss You Father,
More than I can tell.
I long to come home to Your embrace,
I want to be free from
This harsh and lonely place.
Are You missing ME, Father?
And do You long for MY embrace?
Or do all the hosts of heaven
Fill my empty space?
I want to be the daughter
Like the Son that He was,
I follow, I follow,
Leaving behind all my earthly sorrow.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
(Artist Unknown)
“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)
Looking back on Job’s life and considering the perfection of
his character, it is obvious that the test of his life had to equal the stature
of the man otherwise it would not have qualified as a test. I don’t know how
long Job’s test of faith lasted. The Bible does not tell us the exact length
though most biblical scholars and estimates suggest it lasted anywhere from
several months to under a year, composed of these timeline clues:
-
Initial
Losses: Job’s sudden loss of children and livestock happened rapidly, unfolding
over a single catastrophic day (Job 1:13-19)
-
The
Silent Mourning: Job’s three friends sat with him in silence for seven days and
seven nights after seeing his physical affliction (Job 2:13)
-
Months
of Suffering: Job laments in Job 7:3 that he has been allotted ‘months of
futility’ and wearisome nights, suggesting his physical misery lasted a
prolonged period.
-
The
Discourses: Time passed during the lengthy back-and-forth dialogue between Job
and his friends, followed by Elihu’s speeches and God speaking from the
whirlwind (Job 38-41).
I have looked back to the greatest test of my faith and have
been amazed to discover how perfectly fitted it was to me even though I would
never want to repeat anything like that. This test of faith challenged my best
attribute and my very essence of being and who I am. I have only just now discovered
how intricate the schoolmaster has been with me. The attribute that was tested
also happens to be my biggest strength that has kept me active in the Church
and ensured my obedience to the Gospel.
The test that I passed lasted much longer than Job’s. It
lasted for 11 years and in fact added another 30 years of ensued issues and
fears that needed to be resolved. This has been my extensive homework that has
made my life difficult but has in the process developed the strength of
character I will carry with me into eternity.
The teacher has indeed been my
constant support and has because of my endurance granted me the wish of my
heart….to keep me in His sight.
I failed to understand
Why such deep trials in my life,
I expected much better in my arrogant
pride.
How merciful You were Father
To help me see the purpose of the tide;
That through my bruised and aching heart
You kept me by Your loving side.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
I
wondered why You were absent
When
I most needed Thee;
I
felt so alone in my suffering,
Yet
You promised You’d be with us in everything.
I
thought I was in my own Garden of Gethsemane,
Until
I saw Your footprints
And
Your drops of blood
That
eluded me.
I
looked around and I understood
You
knew every tree,
Every
shrub, even every blade
Of
grass in Your vicinity.
I
was in Your garden, not mine,
that beckoned me.
I
realised You were there still
Praying
for my weak soul to come to Thee.
I
will come, I will honour Thee;
Let
me first sit under this tree a while
To
reflect upon Your suffering.
-
Cathryne Allen
