THE VEIL

 

I stood at the veil

As You were about to leave

Sorrowing that not all would believe.

 

I prayed for the Father’s power

To protect Your gentle heart

From the blow that might tear You apart.

 

I knew my soul You would save

And all Your promises You would fulfil.

I stood at the veil, unable to leave,

Holding Your crown for You to receive.

 

I stood and waited that fateful day

In awe of what You did to pave the way.

I could scarcely comprehend

Your godly enduring might

I stood at the veil and gave You my heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

THE ONE TRUE KING

Perhaps one of the saddest events in the history of Israel was the time they requested the cessation of judges and asked Samuel to appoint a king over them (1 Samuel 8:5). Samuel warned them that kings will among other things, evoke heavy tax burdens on them; conscript their children into his service and seize private lands (vs 11-17). Ancient Israel would not listen because they had become weak and sinful and were envious of surrounding kingdoms, even though their governments were wicked and oppressive.

And here is another example, like the sons of Eli, of how we can cause people to sin. Samuel had two sons who he appointed as judges in Beersheba. They too did not walk in their father’s footsteps but exploited their position with bribes and perverted judgment (1 Samuel 8:3). This is all the elders needed to use as a reason why Israel should be ruled by a king like the other nations (v 4).

Samuel was not pleased to say the least since all the evils and misfortunes which Israel suffered always resulted from their apostasy from their God. Their request for a king therefore was an outright rejection of the sovereignty of Jehovah, who had always proclaimed himself as their God and King and the House of Israel as His special people, above all people upon the face of the earth (Det 7:6; Exodus 6:7; 19:5; 33:16; Leviticus 20:26; Jeremiah 10:4).

Perhaps the most heart breaking words that came out of the Saviour’s mouth was His response to Samuel who had prayed about the matter: “Hearken unto the voice of the people…for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). Imagine the heaviness of heart with which the Saviour would have uttered these words.

But as ancient Israel tragically sought to follow other nations, they became like other nations. We all know the ending to that. The downfall began with the very first king….Saul. Be careful what you want, for you will surely get it.

There was not among all Israel a goodlier person than Saul. He was honest, reliable, considerate of his parents and physically a potential hero and man of valour all Israel sought yet he too, like Samson became another tragedy. He was the lesson that Jehovan wanted to teach Israel about kings:

“Though Saul, had at first, a great regard for the law of Moses, and for God, yet ‘ the consciousness of his own power, coupled with the energy of his character, led him astray into an incautious disregard of the commands of God; his zeal in the prosecution of his plans hurried him on to reckless and violent measures; and success in his undertakings heightened his ambition into a haughty rebellion against the Lord, the God-king of Israel.” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 2:2:79; see also The Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 272)

Samuel anointed Saul to be ‘captain’ and not a king, even though he was later called such (1 Samuel 10:1). This should have served as a reminder that the Lord was still king…..only it didn’t.

The Lord knows us intensely and intimately. He has known us from the beginning and He knows who will fail him and who will serve Him to the end. Make no mistake about that. It should motivate us to follow closely our life’s plan so that in the end we won’t hear Him say: “You chose your own importance over Me, your God and your King”

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: King of Kings by Danny Hahlbohm)

 

WORTH OF A SOUL

 

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”  (Luke 15:7)

“There is no justification for the inference that a repentant sinner is to be given precedence over a righteous soul who had resisted sin; were such the way of God, then Christ, the one sinless Man, would be surpassed in the Father’s esteem by regenerate offenders.

“Unqualifiedly offensive as is sin, the sinner is yet precious in the Father’s eyes, because of the possibility of his repentance and return to righteousness. The loss of a soul is very real and a very great loss to God. He is pained and grieved thereby, for it is His will that not one should perish (Matthew 18:14; Moses 1:39)”

-          James Talmage, Jesus The Christ, p 461

 

I stand all amazed

That You would offer Your sinless heart

For every sinful soul.

That You would deem us worthy

And suffer for us so.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Ivan Guaderrama)

CORROSIVE FRUITS OF IMMORALITY

 

I was horrified the year I learnt how Eli’s sons seduced women by misusing their office of priest and engaged in adulterous acts at the very door of the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:22). It reminds one of fertility rites and the groves of idolatry, does it not?

Eli paid a high price for not correcting this abomination as a parent and as the high priest. An unnamed ‘man of God’ came to him and pronounced the Lord’s curse upon Eli’s house because he honoured his sons above Him (vv 27,29). The inference was that Eli didn’t want to rock the boat with his sons but apparently he didn’t mind rocking God’s…..

When Alma of the Book of Mormon called his son Corianton to repentance for his sexual misconduct during his mission to the Zoramites, he pointed out that sexual sin is so serious, it is a sin next to murder (Alma 39:5). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explains this is so because of the connection between the worth of a soul and the Atonement:

“In exploiting the body of another – which means exploiting his or her soul – one desecrates the Atonement of Christ, which saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal life. And when one mocks the Son of Righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned.

“Please, never say: ‘Who does it hurt? Why not a little freedom? I can transgress now and repent later.’  Please don’t be so foolish and so cruel. You cannot with impunity ‘crucify Christ afresh’ (see Hebrews 6:6). ‘Flee fornication’ (1 Corinthians 6:18), Paul cries, and flee ‘anything like unto it’ (D&C 59:6), adds the Doctrine and Covenants. Why? Well, for one reason, because of the incalculable suffering in both body and spirit endured by the Saviour of the world so that we could flee. We owe Him something for that, we owe Him everything for that.

‘Ye are not your own’ Paul says, ‘Ye have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor 6:19-20). In sexual transgression the soul is at stake – the body and the spirit.”  (in Conference Report, Oct 1998, 99-100; or Ensign Nov 1998, 76)

Very often we think we have the principle of repentance up our sleeve so not all will be lost if we deviate from the path, thinking we can always repent later. Many people have ‘sowed their wild oats’ in their youth and later returned to God’. Elder Holland goes on to clarify the foolishness and unfairness of such attitude:

“There is peril in playing the prodigal son knowingly, expecting God to forgive us, expecting Christ to bleed for us, expecting mercy to cover us. Among the most grievous sins a mortal can commit is to crucify Christ ‘afresh’ to knowingly ask Him to suffer on the cross a little longer – or again and again and again – while such an one commits knowingly, with planning and premeditation, his or her ‘presumptuous sins’.” 

Will the sinner for whom you suffered,

Who rejected and reviled Thee

Weep in the end for Thy pain and Thy sorrow?

Will his heart understand

When he kneels before Thee

The debt he owes for the existence

Of his merciful tomorrow?

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Cross by Ron DiCianni)

ODE TO FAIR DAUGHTERS OF GOD

 

Among valiant sons of God

Who were chosen rulers to be

Stood the daughters so fair

They echoed through eternity.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Devotion of the Heart by Greg Collins)

A WOMAN OF DEVOTION

 

 

One of the great women of the Old Testament who stands out for her devotion to God is Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel.

 

Not being able to bear children is a difficult cross to bear for many women in any age but it was especially so for Hannah. She was barren in a time when ‘it was a great reproach to a woman among the Jews’(Clarke, Bible Commentary, 2:207). So many women must have suffered a sense of worthlessness at such a time because of this trial. No fertility treatments, no IVF….

 

It was considered a woman brought great honour to her husband by giving him children, especially sons. At an age when women had little else by which to distinguish themselves, child bearing was of utmost importance. Hannah's suffering from her condition was made even more difficult by the second wife of her husband, Peninnah, who tormented her and made her miserable by 'ostentatious exhibition of her children' because Hannah was favoured by their husband (Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 267). So many questions about this situation but we won’t go there…..

 

As the family went up to Shiloh to the annual festival to offer sacrifices at the tabernacle, Hannah took matters into her own hands. She knew there was only one place to go and only one God who could possibly know the state of her heart and who could alleviate her suffering. In her unwavering faith she made a covenant with the Lord that if He would give her a son she would bring him up as a Nazarite and dedicate the child to God’s service for the duration of his life (1 Sam 1:11).

 

This was an amazing act of selflessness. That she was a woman with great faith and love for God is clearly seen by her praise of Him following Samuel’s birth (1 Sam 2:1-10).

 

Hannah did bear a son and she called his name Samuel, meaning in Hebrew 'heard of God' (Keil and Delitzch, Commentary, 2:2:25). This name served as a reminder to both Hannah and Samuel of the special circumstances and commitments relating to his birth (Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p. 268).

 

When Samuel was weaned at 3 years of age as was the custom, Hannah honoured her promise to God and brought him to the priest Eli to live and serve in the sanctuary for the remainder of his life. One cannot imagine how Hannah, who longed for a child, had the fortitude to hand him over to live with an old man and replace the carefree days of his childhood with service in the tabernacle, seeing him only once a year (1 Sam 2:20). But she had cause for another concern. Eli was not only an old man but he had failed in his parental responsibilities with his two sons who caused all of Israel to sin because of their immorality and bad example as priests (1 Sam 2:13-36).

 

So bad was the situation that ‘a man of God’ was sent to Eli to pronounce the Lord’s curse upon his house because he took no action to correct the abomination in his family and the tabernacle. It seemed by this failure that Eli honoured his sons above the Lord (2:27,29). This is in stark contrast to Hannah who had only 3 years with Samuel and trained him to honour and serve God as a child better than the adults around him (1 Sam 2:18).

 

The God of Israel knew how Hannah would feel giving up her son into someone else’s care and He did not leave her heart empty. He filled it to the brim and rewarded her for keeping her word. Hannah went on to bear three more sons and two daughters. What does this tell us about the God we worship? No sacrifice we offer is overlooked by Him….

 

I had a memory from my pre-earth life once. I was sitting with the Saviour and He was saying to me: “I will save you and I will make up for everything.”  Indeed……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Hannah and Samuel by Elspeth C. Young)

TO BE LIKE THEE

 

Had I the choice

To rest in Paradise,

Or live in this dismal world

And sacrifice all that is in me;

I would choose the latter always

Dear Saviour

So I could be like Thee.

- Cathryne Allen 

(Art: Light of Glory by Christ Brazelton)