Lift up your aching heart
And seek your release in me.
I am the sacrifice that was paid
For your years of pain to cease.
My mercy shall spill from Me
And erase every tear
You have wept seeking peace.
Come unto me,
In me you will find release.
-
Cathryne
Allen
Alma
of the Book of Mormon taught that God grants unto men according to their
desires, whether it be unto salvation or unto destruction (Alma 29:4). Elder
Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught our
desires affect our personal development and eventually determine our eternal
blessings:
“Desires…become
real determinants, even when, with pitiful naivete, we do not really want the
consequences of our desires….therefore, what we insistently desire, over time,
is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.
“Righteous
desires need to be relentless, therefore, because, said President Brigham
Young, ‘the men and women who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom,
will find that they must battle every day’ (in Journal of Discourses, 11:140.
Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors…
“Remember,
brothers and sisters, it is our own desires which determine the sizing and the
attractiveness of various temptations. We set our thermostats as to
temptations. Thus educating and training our desires clearly requires
understanding the truths of the gospel, yet even more is involved. President
Brigham Young confirmed, saying, ‘it is evident that many who understand the
truth do not govern themselves by it; consequently, no matter how true and
beautiful truth is, you have to take the passions of the people and mould them
to the law of God’ (in Journal of Discourses, 7:55).
-
Neal
A. Maxwell, According to the Desire of our Hearts, in CR Oct 1996,
Ensign Nov 1996
I
have for a long time now believed that our righteous desires come with us into
mortality because they are God given. They correspond with God’s plan for our
development, growth and work we have been sent here to do. If those desires
align with Gospel principles then we can be assured they are innate desires ‘trailing
clouds of glory coming from God’…..
If
our desires closely match with the values of the world, we can be assured they
will not lead us to God. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes warn about such desires
extensively:
Proverbs
21:25: The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Proverbs
21:26: He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and
spareth not.
Ecclesiastes
5:10: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that
loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ecclesiastes
11:9: acknowledges that people feel drawn to follow their ‘heart’ and ‘eyes’,
but adds accountability: ‘walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of
thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment. In other words, because what you wish for.
Proverbs
14:12 gives a stark warning that desires that feel right in the moment can lead
somewhere dark: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death”.
Proverbs
11:19 stands in contrast to the destination of death: “As righteousness tendeth
to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
This
is my testimony of the power of desire. For years and years I could only really
see the Saviour in my mind as I studied the scriptures and lived the Gospel.
Then only a few years ago all of a sudden the Saviour took the back seat and I
could see the Father and my longing for Him became uppermost in my mind. I
wanted to be with Him, remember Him as I knew Him from my premortal life, and
live by His side forever. On some days the desire to be in His presence was so
strong I would shed tears. This, of course, is the way it is meant to be. The
Saviour came to reveal the Father to us. I could write pages about this based
on scripture (see Jeffrey R. Holland’s conference talk “The Grandeur of God”
October 2003).
I
noticed something very significant after I came to desire the presence of the
Father. Obedience became a much easier road to be on. I was elevated in the
direction I should go that would lead me to where I wanted to be. I realised
desire is the great motivator. If the
desire is strong enough, we will do anything to fulfil it. The destination is
the focal point to remember.
Proverbs
10:24: The fear of
the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be
granted.
Like the rising sun that melts into the sea,
Like the night that kisses early dawn,
Like the river that meets the shore;
You bid me come to Thee
In sweet communion forever more.
-
Cathryne Allen
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Proverbs
2:6: For the Lord
giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs
4:7: Wisdom is the
principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all the getting get
understanding.
I
must admit reading Proverbs sometimes makes me feel like I am just reading nice
words…because of Solomon and his humanity which rejected the most important component
of wisdom, that of moral conduct. Wisdom is a conglomeration of pretty, useless
words if there is no moral conduct to support them. The conduct is the fruits
of wisdom.
Because
the word ‘wisdom’ is feminine in gender, it is allegorized as a woman in the
book of Proverbs. The adulterous woman in Proverbs is a metaphor for
foolishness as foolishness is opposite of wisdom. It is fascinating to me that Solomon’s
moral conduct was consumed by the ‘strange’ women he married out of the
covenant who turned his heart to idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-8)
The
scriptures use the metaphor of marriage to describe the Lord’s covenant with
His people. They portray the House of Israel as the bride and the Saviour as
the bridegroom. Among many references are these:
Isaiah
54:5-6: “Thy Maker is thine husband…the Lord hath called thee as a wife of
youth…”; Hosea 2:19-20: “I will betroth thee unto me for ever; Matthew 25:1,10:
the parable of the ten virgins going to meet the bridegroom; Revelation 19:7,9,
21:2,9: the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready…..prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband…the bride, the Lamb’s wife; D&C
109:73-74: that thy Church shine forth…and be adorned as a bride for the day of
the Lord’s coming.
In
Proverbs Chapter 7, Solomon admonishes his son to keep the commandments and
cling to wisdom as his ‘sister’ (v 4) that he may be protected against ‘the
strange woman’ (v 5) which would lead him into ‘whoredom’ or ‘adultery’ . The
mind boggles that he could not apply this to himself.
The
idolatry born out of foolishness as opposed to the moral conduct of wisdom, is considered
as adultery in the case of the marriage covenant between the Lamb and Israel,
His bride:
Exodus
34:14-15: the Lord warns Israel not to worship other gods, “lest they go a
whoring after their gods”; Jeremiah 3:8-9: Israel ‘committed adultery with
stones and with stocks’ meaning idols made of stone and wood; Hosea 2:2,5:
Israel is portrayed as an unfaithful spouse – “put away her whoredoms…and her
adulteries” as she says “I will go after my lovers” referring to false gods; Ezekiel
16:32: compares covenant unfaithfulness to a wife committing adultery ‘taking
strangers instead of her husband’.
My
hair stood on end when I read this about immorality in heathen worship:
“Among
the ancient nations of the East, with the exception of the Jews, prostitution
appears to have been connected with religious worship, and to have been not
merely tolerated but encouraged…in Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, Chaldea, Canaan
and Persia, the worship of Isis, Moloch, Baal, Astarte, Mylitta and other
deities consisted of the most extravagant sensual orgies and the temples were
merely centers of vice. In Babylon some degree of prostitution appeared to have
been even compulsory and imposed upon all women in honour of the goddess
Mylitta. In India the ancient connection between religion and prostitution
still survives.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, (1952 Edition) Volume 18, p
596)
Maybe
the God of Israel knew what He was doing when He gave Solomon all that wisdom
he desired…..because he knew that one day he would become a symbol of
foolishness…..oh the irony!
As
Israel, we have trodden worldly paths
That
have left us battered, scarred,
And
parched in search of love.
Our
lovers were many but
Our
hearts were empty.
At
long last
We
embrace the love that lasts,
We
prepare for the wedding feast
And
abandon our treacherous past.
When
You appear
in
the Millenial day
Those
who know Your grace
Will
gather like Your sheep
In
the blazing sun of glory
To
come to Your embrace.
-
Cathryne Allen
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
I will follow Thee my God and My All
When I can see no more;
I will trust in Thee
When all hope flees;
I will praise Thy name
When I am left without ease.
I will nurture the seeds of my faith
With tears of my affliction;
Yet will I look up to heaven
And believe in Thy throne;
I will trust in the strength of Thine arms
To lift me and carry me home.
- CATHRYNE
ALLEN
