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
Tuesday, 1 September 2026
IN COMMUNION
THE ESSENTIAL WISDOM
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(Art: The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (1886) by Russian artist Ernest Karlovich Lipgart)
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.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Monday, 31 August 2026
MILLENIAL DAY
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
PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES
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
Sunday, 30 August 2026
I WILL FOLLOW THEE
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
WORTHY OF PRAISE
(Art designed by Digital Portrait Shop)
PSALM
150:1,2,6: Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in
his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his
mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
One
of the dominant themes of the Book of Psalms is praise. The entire book ends with
it. Ancient scripture shows us plainly that praising God was very much a part
of religious worship.
The
various heavenly beings that John the Beloved saw on the isle of Patmos in his
Revelation, were all worshipping the Father (Revelation 4:8-11). John also
taught that exalted beings will continue to worship Heavenly Father in the
eternities to come because He will always be our God (D&C 76:21; 92-93). In
response to John’s vision, Elder Neal A. Maxwell affirmed that “we will go on
praising the Lord for ever and ever”. (From
Whom All Blessings Flow, Ensign, May 1997, 12).
The
practice of praising God seems to be a foreign one in our day and age. All our
prayers consist of is thanksgiving and requests. Rarely in our prayers do we
praise God for who He is and what He does.
One
of my favourite scriptures of all is what I call a modern-day psalm recorded by
Joseph Smith:
“Let
the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and
dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and
rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field
praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and
the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And
let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say,
how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory
and salvation, and honour, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms,
principalities and powers!” (D&C
128:23)
Whenever
I read this scripture my heart swells with admiration of our God and His
immense power. So well did Joseph understand this power that he felt the very
nature should shout praise to Him who created all things, the greatest of which
is God’s work and His glory to bring about eternal life and immortality of man
(Moses 1:39). This is thanksgiving veiled in praise.
Something
important to remember. We have to know what we praise in God: who He is, what
He does, His involvement in our lives, His love, His constant care, His
greatness. We have to know God. If we do not glean this from our own lives, we
need to do so from the scriptures. Our knowledge of His greatness needs to be
so great that we struggle to find mortal words to express it. This knowledge
needs to be so ingrained in our hearts that
no amount of adversity can take it away from us.
Until
we find utterance for the deserving praise of Him who lives our souls to save,
may we allow our desire to grow until such words flow from the very depths of
our hearts:
I long to praise Thee
With magnitude of words I cannot find
That tell the glory that is Thine.
As I can do so little this desire to
meet,
I place my loyal love at Thy holy
feet.
Saturday, 29 August 2026
RETURN UNTO ME
Return unto me you heavy laden
And I will give you rest.
Return unto me you who are oppressed
And I will give you peace.
Return unto me you who are scarred by sin
And I will make you free.
Return unto me you who are dejected
And I will gather you
Under the shadow of my wings.
Return unto me you who sorrow
And I will give you a brighter tomorrow.
Return unto me you who have forsaken me
And my sons and daughters you shall be.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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