DAVID AND THE POWER OF REPENTANCE

 

There was not a king who loved the God of Israel more than King David. When he conquered Jerusalem he brought the ark of the covenant into the city ‘with gladness’ and led a procession of Israelites playing instruments, shouting, singing and dancing ‘before the Lord with all his might’ in praise of the God he worshipped (2 Samuel 6:12-15). No king of Israel was more free from idolatrous inclinations or practices than David. Because of this, he became the standard of excellence that all subsequent kings came to be measured by. 

 

David’s reign is known in the annals of history as ‘the golden age of Israel’. It is under his reign that Israel came to occupy the total of the land promised to the children of Israel through Abraham  nearly 1,000 years earlier (Genesis 15:18-21). He was truly an outstanding king who proved that even the greatest among us can fall and this is how it came about: the kingdom became a well-oiled machine and David, a man of war, entered his comfort zone……so much so that ‘when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab, his captain’ to fight the Ammonites while ‘he tarried at Jerusalem’ (2 Samuel 11:1). From there his life teaches us two things: 1. You should always be at the right place at the right time; and 2. In the words of C.S. Lewis: “The heart can and should obey the head”. 

 

Instead of being at the right place at the right time, David was idling on the roof of his house watching a woman of great beauty washing herself (2 Samuel 10:2). From the wrong place at the wrong time ensued an adulterous affair which led to murder. So a king who was destined for exaltation fell from God’s grace (D&C 132:38,39) and became a symbol of Christ’s gift of resurrection to all the human family including those who commit murder and inherit a much lesser kingdom of glory but which, nevertheless, surpasses all understanding (D&C 76:89). David’s gratefulness that the Saviour will not leave his soul in hell (Psalms 16:10; Acts 2:27) became known as ‘the sure mercies of David’ (Acts 2:25-28; 13:22-37; Isaiah 55:3).

 

Here is what I admire most about David: his sincere repentance of godly sorrow. The Psalms of David are heart wrenching evidence of his unfailing love and praise of Jehovah despite his fall from grace. May we follow suit when sin finds us and turn to Him who can forgive and yet rescue our souls from everlasting misery and may we harbour in our heart David’s testimony forever: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation….” (Psalms 18:2). 

 

He is the one and only giver of mercy and forgiveness and there is none else….not in heaven above, or earth beneath…..nothing, nobody, nowhere…..(Deuteronomy 4:35, 39)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Forgiven by Greg Olsen)

RUTH, A SYMBOL OF REDEMPTION

 

This is a story of the beautiful life of a simple woman from Moab called Ruth.

 

It is said by oral tradition that women in ancient Israel lived with a hope that the Messiah would come through their line. Ruth from Moab had no blood of Israel running through her veins.  She was a convert to the Lord, God of Israel ‘under whose wings she had come to trust’ (Ruth 2:12). When her Israelite husband died and left her with no children, Ruth became one of the lowliest of the earth, devoid of security or livelihood. When she returned to Bethlehem with her mother Naomi, she consented to a ‘levirate’  marriage with Naomi’s next of kin, as was the custom in Israel. Through a levirate marriage, the woman was provided with children and restored to security and society. Here is where things become interesting. The Hebrew word for a man who would step up to this responsibility was GO’EL. The King James Version of the Bible translates it as simply ‘kinsman’ but the proper and literal meaning of GO’EL is ‘redeemer’ (Rasmussen, “Introduction to the Old Testament”, 1:157)

 

This is how Ruth, a lowly woman of Moab became the symbol of Christ’s redemption: Her GO’EL was Boaz, an Israelite kinsman of Naomi. Boaz became Ruth’s redeemer and restorer of all she had lost. Boaz and Ruth had a son whose name was Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David, who was a progenitor of Mary, who was the mother of Christ…… Consider for a moment how Christ redeems us from our fallen state and restores us to the presence of the Father, AND grants us eternal posterity through His power of exaltation. The Saviour himself affirms His role as the GO’EL when He refers to himself as the bridegroom and us, Israel, as the bride (Matthew 25:1-13; D&C 33:17; 65:3; 88:92; 133:10). He is the greatest GO’EL of all….. the Redeemer, the Restorer, the Hope of Israel, the Rock of our Salvation. 

 

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

(Artist Unknown)

A GOD OF INTEGRITY

 

I wanted to weep as I finished studying the book of Judges. The closing chapters moved away from accounts of Israel’s heroes to demonstrate the low state of religion and morality as Israel forsook her covenant with Jehovah and ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ (Judges 17:6; 21:25). As I studied this book, I lost count of how many times I came across this heartbreaking sentence: ‘and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord’ indicating their return to idolatry at the end of the reign of each military leader and hero that they called ‘judge’. 

 

The saddest lesson that Israelites missed is repeated in this sentence: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel’ (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 21:25).  But there was…..the one and only true King who they kept rejecting through their broken covenant. I have often asked myself why Jehovah did not just annihilate the whole House of Israel because of their continual backsliding. I was overcome today as I was reminded of the answer I already knew: He  would NEVER break His covenant with US (Deuteronomy 4:31; Leviticus 26:44,46; Isaiah 49:15,16). We knew this truth as we stood in the councils of heaven and sustained Him as one who would never break His promise to save our pitiful souls.  Tears overcame me as I saw the integrity of His heart and understood the longsuffering, the mercy and the grace of our Saviour, Our God, our King, our all…..

 

We are noble men and women of the covenant. We are the strong ones whom He has sent in these the last days to preserve the House of Israel. We are:

 

·      His people (Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 10:4)

·      His favoured people above all (Isaiah 43:1-7; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7-8; 21:2,9; Deuteronomy 7:6)

·      His servant (1 Nephi 21:3)

·      His light unto the world (D&C 103:9)

·      His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9)

·      His jewels (Exodus 28:17-21; Malachi 3:17; D&C 60:4; 101:3)

·      The apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8)

 

Hurrah, hurrah for Israel and her eternal King!

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Faith Has Saved You by Randy Friemel)

A BOOK OF LOVE

 

 

I want to tell you about a book of love. This book is reluctantly read and studied and largely unappreciated yet this book is one of the most important amongst holy writ. This book is The Book of Revelation and this is why it is a book of love:

 

Some two thousand years ago, during the bleakest period of Church history, there was on the island of Patmos an exile, a prophet and an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, the last apostle alive;  Peter having been crucified, Paul beheaded, Bartholemew skinned alive, Thomas and Matthew run through with spears. By the time of Patmos, the history of the Church included the lining of Nero's colonnade with crucified Christians and the savagery of the mobs screaming for blood in the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus." (The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p 449). The Apostle that survived it all and would never taste of death was called by Jesus a ‘son of thunder’ (Mark 3:17); in his own writings he referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved and as the ‘other disciple’ (John 13:23; 21:20; 20:2-8). We know him as John The Beloved…..he who lives as ‘a flaming fire and a ministering angel’ and sorrows for the sins of the world….(D&C 7:5,6)

 

More than six centuries before John was even born, the Lord revealed to Nephi many of the things we now have in the Book of Revelation but forbade him to write them down because they were reserved for John (1 Nephi 14:19-28). And so to that rocky island prison, on a particular Sunday came the glorified, exalted Christ to the apostle whom He called 'The Beloved'.  Some fifty or sixty years before He had hung in agony on the cross and had been laid in the dark recesses of a borrowed tomb. Now he stood in blinding, blazing glory before John saying: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore" (Revelation 1:18). 

 

In the revelation John was given on that auspicious occasion, all the sins and evils of this earth for thousands of years were revealed to him but completed with the glorious hope of Christ's return who would reign in peace, harmony and love for a thousand years. What comfort that must have been to John who, like the 3 Nephites, would sorrow for the sins of the world during his sojourn in this dismal telestial world (3 Nephi 28:9). This is a story of love...love for one cherished disciple and love for all those who accept and follow Christ and have a hope of eternal life through the virtue of his atoning blood. While the Book of Revelation briefly covers the entire history of the earth, its' main focus is on the last days and Christ's triumphant return. This makes The Book of Revelation a book of love through the medium of hope. It's main purpose is not history but prophecy. This is evident in the fact that the Book covers the history of the earth's 6 thousand years only briefly whereas it expounds on the period of the Millenium in lengthy detail. This is of great value to us because it assures us that the forces of great evil which are gaining momentum in our day will one day be destroyed and come to an end. 

 

When the Saviour appeared to John, it was as if He was saying to him: "You will be here a long time and you need to know everything that will happen while you are here but  be comforted John, my beloved, because I am coming back and when I come I will 'wipe away all tears....and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain...." (Revelation 21:4). Is this not love?

 

 

I have had experiences in my life that have left me bleeding and convinced that love means pain. These experiences have come from different people and different periods of my life: from childhood abandonment, to divorce, to bitter disappointments from a wayward child.  One thing though I know for sure. The Saviour of the world will never break my heart. His love is constant and pure and if I am here when He comes again, He will dry all my tears and encircle me in the arms of His love. 

 

 

I long to see the paths he wanders

To and fro the length of the earth;

I wish to wipe his brow

At the end of the day

To uphold the magnitude of his holy work.

Let me hold him close

And soothe his heavy heart

As the time for final gathering nears,

And let me gather in my cupped hands

The hallowed drops of The Beloved’s tears.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Parting the Veil (The Second Coming) by Jon McNaughton)

ISRAEL'S TRUE KING

 

When ancient Israel so tragically rejected Jehovah as their king, the Saviour, out of His ever abiding long suffering and mercy, provided a goodly man of imposing stature: a potential hero, and man of valour that Israel sought for a king (1 Samuel 9:1,2). Saul was very impressive but Saul, as the very first king to Israel became a very poignant lesson that was unfortunately missed. And this is the lesson: even the very best among them could never measure up to the one and only true King of Israel. It took Saul just two years of reign to start sinking into a sense of self-importance and exaggerated opinion of his power (1 Samuel 13:1).

 

Despite the warnings of dangers of earthly kings (1 Samuel 8:11-19) and reiteration of rejection of Heavenly King (1 Samuel 10:18,19) Israel was given another chance to recognise who their true King was. When Samuel anointed Saul, he anointed him to be ‘the captain’ of God’s people, to deliver them from the hands of Philistines, and not a king (1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1). This reminder was missed too as Saul is later referred to as a king. The disorder, havoc and destruction of Israel’s spiritual state caused by Israel’s ensuing kings is devastating.

 

When the Saviour comes again, He will appear in all His power wearing a red garment signifying the winepress that He has trod alone (Isaiah 63:3; D&C 133:50) symbolising the Atonement, and He will come as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:15,16).  He will come to subdue all governments and assume His position as our rightful King. He will rule with righteousness and peace through the system of theocracy. And then every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is the Son of God, the ‘Redeemer and Deliverer from death and hell’ (Mosiah 27:31; D&C 88:104; 138:23). But we need not and SHOULD NOT wait until that day to confess the Christ. In the words of Neal A. Maxwell: “And if you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, why not do so now? For in the coming of that collective confession, it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up!” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?”, Ensign April 1975)

 

When the Saviour comes, He will come to save, magnify and exalt all those who believe in Him and accept Him as the King of Kings. He alone is the true King, the only King, our King…

 

Thou art our everlasting God

Jehovah, our King,

Who has loved us and chosen us as Thine own;

We bow before Thee and bend the knee,

In solemnity we offer our hearts to Thee.

Keep us as the apple of Thine eye,

Hide us under the shadow of Thy wings

That we might never stray again

And cause Thee sorrow;

And help us wait for Thee

In the dawning of tomorrow. 

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Second Coming of Christ  by Jon McNaughton)

A BEACON OF THE WORLD

 

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. Samuel pointed out to them that kings will evoke heavy tax burdens on them; conscript their children into his service and seize private lands. Ancient Israel would not listen and persisted in their request which evoked Jehovah’s heart rendering response to Samuel: “…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 the Saviour would have uttered these words. 

 

This is the travesty of Israel’s request: they wanted to be like other nations (1 Samuel 8:20). Why the travesty? Because the House of Israel was chosen to be a special people, above all people upon the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6); a peculiar treasure, a separate people of God on the face of the earth (Exodus 33:16; Leviticus 20:26). But as ancient Israel tragically sought to follow other nations, they became like other nations. We all know the ending to that.

 

I often see the persuasions of the world creeping in amongst us in the Church and it saddens me to the core.  Now more than ever before we need to remember who we are and our charge to be ‘a light unto the world and to be saviours of men’ (D&C 103:9). In the words of President Nelson: “When we know who we are and what God expects of us, we are filled with hope and made aware of our significant role in His great plan of happiness. The day in which we now live was foreseen even before Jesus Christ was born….These are the latter days. We are the ones foredetermined and foreordained to fulfill that promise. We are the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are, in fact, the hope of Israel. We are God’s treasure, reserved for our particular place and time” (“A More Excellent Hope”, address delivered on 8 January 1995 at the BYU Marriott Center).

 

May we never forget Him who hung on the cross for us….we, who have been bought with a price stand as an ensign of Him to whom we belong. We cannot afford to ‘join’ other nations. We have a charge to be ‘separate and touch not their unclean things’ (Alma 5:57). And as we do so “the mountains and hills shall break forth before us into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands for joy” (Isaiah 55:12).

 

We are Israel, Thy chosen seed

Who in times past disregarded Thee

But now Thine angels rejoice over us

And Thou art as promised dew unto us;

To bring us to life and nurture our growth

To make us mighty in this earthly abode.

In Thine mercy Thou has sought to gather us

In Thine heart Thou hast chosen to cherish us;

In Thee is deliverance from our barren years

In Thee is mercy for our penitent tears.

  

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Love Everlasting by Yongsung Kim)

BE STRONG AND OF GOOD COURAGE

 

This is what I learnt from righteous Joshua, the son of Nun. At the onset of conquest of the promised land, the mighty Jehovah spoke to him and told him he is to conquer all the land from Lebanon to the river Euphrates (Joshua 1:4). In actuality, this meant the region south and southwest of the Lebanon mountains, north and east of Egypt, east of the Mediterranean coastal plain and west of the Arabian desert (OT Student Manual 1, p 236). In other words, the land that lay before Joshua was massive. Overwhelming, isn’t it? But Jehovah issued an admonition to Joshua to ‘be strong and of good courage’ three times (Joshua 1:6,7,9) assuring him: ‘I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee….be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest’ (vs 5,9). And then the promise: Joshua was told that he must adhere strictly to the law of Moses and he shall have success (v 8) but not just any success, he was promised that his success would be so great that there shall not any man be able to stand before him all the days of his life (v 5). This Joshua did, obeying all of the Lord’s instructions with exactness (fascinating examples of this to look out for in his story). The result of his meticulous obedience?  A success unsurpassed:  ‘the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country’ (Joshua 6:27). 

 

Joshua’s story made me reflect on how each of us has a ‘promised land’ to conquer in the form of the lives we were assigned to live and challenges we were told we would have to tackle in our second estate. Some of us have mighty mountains to climb and we are wondering if we can possibly ever reach the top. But I imagine the Saviour say: ‘be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for I have climbed the highest mountain of all and I will always be with you to climb yours to the top’. All we have to do to have His assistance to conquer our promised land is to be obedient to His laws and His instructions, with exactness, not deviating to the right or to the left. Then we shall become beacons of righteousness and have unsurpassed success in this life and glory in the next. 

 

You warned me there would be mountains to climb

But promised there would be resting spots along the way;

You warned me of the subtle pitfalls

And how deep and wide the waters I would wade.

But you promised me Your hand in mine

Every minute of the day

And that You would meet me at the finish line

When I had conquered all there was to pay.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art by Brent Borup)

LOVE OF GOD IN OUR COUNTENANCE

 

When I study the scriptures I become enthralled by people enshrined in holy writ. I am amazed at their capabilities, their sufferings, their level of endurance, their skills at handling life, their talents and their very beings. What evokes my utmost admiration, however, are the people whose lives reflect their devotion to and love of God. My scriptures are littered with my pencilled hearts where passages of such evidence have touched me to the core. I am presently captivated by Joshua, the son of Nun, who led the host of Israel into the promised land. Like Moses before him, he constantly gave credit for ALL to Jehovah and never lost sight of the one true and living God. When I read of all he did, I feel that I know Joshua because his heart is laid bare on the pages of my scriptures. 

 

We are an amazing assortment of humanity. I marvel at our uniqueness, our creativity, our intelligence, our very essence and all that we are and are yet to become. I imagine if there were no mortal days of probation I might never have heard of Joshua, son of Nun, or a man called Abraham Lincoln in the vastness of the Universe or been moved by music written by Mozart or heard Renee Fleming sing Casta Diva. What an amazing gift it is to be a witness of someone's unique expression of self and of the mark they leave on this world. Most of us will not earn a page in the annals of history. Most of us will never become another Abraham Lincoln or Mozart or Helaman or Isaiah but all of us have it within us to excel as children of God and thereby become a shining beacon of righteousness.

 

Alma spoke of having the image of God in our countenance (Alma 5:14). Imagine our unique talents, gifts, capacities and personalities, our very soul, enhanced by an image of an exalted God. Imagine the beauty that would exude from us if we truly loved God and possessed the Saviour’s attributes. Moroni thought it was possible. He admonished us to pray for the pure love of Christ so that when He appears we shall be like Him and thereby know Him (Moroni 7:48). Imagine the hearts we could reach if they saw the Saviour in us. Imagine how many souls we could influence and bring home with us if we bore the image of Christ in our countenance. I long to bring my children and grandchildren to the foot of God’s throne. I imagine you are the same.

 

In the realms of heaven when your glorious destiny hung in the balance, the Saviour saw you and your worth and your potential. Besides His overriding desire to bring glory to the Father, this is what propelled Him to the cross. In the words of Dr. Seuss: "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You". How truly magnificent are you!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

 

A DIFFICULT LIFE

 

My heart broke as I listened to someone dear to me sobbing with this question on her lips: “Why is this my life? I did not deserve this.” I could empathise. I have asked this question more than once myself. My life does not reflect in the least the picture I had of it in my mind when I joined the Church in my youth. I expected to have the ideal. We all yearn for the ideal. When we get married, we don’t expect to one day get divorced; when we have children, we don’t envisage their disobedience; when we commit to live the word of wisdom, we don’t expect to one day be undergoing chemotherapy. Sometimes the suffering of our reality becomes intensified because our expectations of this life are based on something that this life cannot deliver and that is perfection. In a fallen world where opposition in all things is a certainty, perfection cannot be found. Sometimes we suffer from the choices we make and sometimes we suffer because of the choices of others. One thing I know for sure is that the Saviour has atoned for them all and if we remain faithful He will in the end make all our suffering work for our highest good. 

 

This is how I know that all our sorrows will be turned into joys. I will share with you something highly personal but which proves this point so perfectly that I cannot refrain. I was privileged to have a memory from my pre-existence some time ago in which I saw myself sitting with the Saviour and heard Him say to me: “I will save you and make up for everything”. Some years previously to this experience, I was given a priesthood blessing by my Bishop which told me that my life was planned for me in my pre-existence and that I agreed to that plan because of my great faith in Jesus Christ. No doubt my agreement was based on His assurance that He personally gave to me. I testify that I know now even as I knew then that He would atone for every tear, for every pain, for every injustice, for every sorrow, for every sin, for every difficulty, for every mortal imperfection. 

 

Whatever your burdens in life, I wish you strength through the Atonement of our beloved Christ, to bear them upon your shoulders, even as He bore His cross, and to look with eagerness to the time when He shall come to ‘wipe away all tears’ (Revelation 21:4) and in the end bring us home rejoicing to be crowned with glory and be welcomed into His arms forever. 

 

My mortality spreads before me day and night,

I wince at bearing this heavy load.

I stumble and I fall,

The darkness seeking to swallow me whole.

I know He waits at heaven’s gate

Till I have learnt to walk the rough domain;

I will hurry, I will run

I will grasp the heaven’s hand

That will lift me to His arms

Forever there to remain.

 

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: He Lifts me Up by Danny Hahlbohm)