How Exquisite!

In explaining his conversion to his son Helaman, Alma says "the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror" (Alma 36:14). Clearly Alma had committed some pretty grievous sins as he went about openly trying to destroy the church of God. But I would suggest that the same torment should rack each one of us for so-called "minor" sins. Alma's father once asked the question, "can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?" (Alma 5:19). Here Alma is speaking of the judgment day, but it is so important to remember "that day" is not after we die, it is TODAY! If we are not clean and pure today, then we are missing out on the blessings of the gospel. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith, "every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am" (D&C 93:1). Why would any of us want to deny ourselves the blessing of being in the presence of the Lord. Again, this is not a blessing that will only come to us in the hereafter. If we are living pure and clean, then we can be given that privilege. In the Priesthood Session of the October 2008 General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott said the following:

 "For a few minutes I ask you to consider that you and I are alone in a quiet place where the atmosphere permits direction by the Holy Spirit. Some of you receive periodic personal worthiness interviews, while others have callings where that seldom occurs. Will you consider that in the next few minutes you and I will have a private priesthood interview?

As we share these moments together, I ask you to ponder your personal worthiness to use the sacred authority you hold. I will also ask you to consider how consistently you use your priesthood to bless others. My intent is not to criticize but to help increase the benefits that flow from your use of the priesthood.

Are your private, personal thoughts conducive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or would they benefit from a thorough housecleaning? Do you nourish your mind with elevating material, or have you succumbed to the enticement of pornographic literature or Web sites? Do you scrupulously avoid the use of stimulants and substances that conflict with the intent of the Word of Wisdom, or have you made some personally rationalized exceptions? Are you most careful to control what enters your mind through your eyes and ears to ensure that it is wholesome and elevating?

If you are divorced, do you provide for the real financial need of the children you have fathered, not just the minimum legal requirement?

If you are married, are you faithful to your wife mentally as well as physically? Are you loyal to your marriage covenants by never engaging in conversation with another woman that you wouldn’t want your wife to overhear? Are you kind and supportive of your own wife and children? Do you assist your wife by doing some of the household chores? Do you lead out in family activities such as scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening, or does your wife fill in the gap your lack of attention leaves in the home? Do you tell her you love her?

If any of you feel uncomfortable with any of the answers you have mentally given to the questions I have asked, take corrective action now."

 These are deep, penetrating questions which depending on the answers could lead us to feel as Alma, racked with torment. If the answers to those questions make us feel uncomfortable, then we probably should feel like Alma.

However, the pain and torment that he described is only part of the story. Although necessary for the repentance process, we do not have to go on living our lives with the heavy burdens. We can repent and go on with our lives, ready to receive the blessings that the Lord has prepared for us; to enjoy his presence.

In the words of Alma, "there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains...on the other hand there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy" (Alma 36:21). This joy came only after Alma turned his heart to the Savior. The pain is necessary to humble us and pay the price for the wrong that we do, but it is just as important to remember that the pain of sin can be taken away when we learn to truly repent though the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Oblivion to Sin

After Nephi and his brothers completed building the ship, they set out into the sea. The ship was guided without incident at the beginning of the journey. However, as Laman, Lemuel and the Ishmael's sons began to "make themselves merry....[and] forget by what power they had been brought thither" (1 Nephi 18:9), Nephi "began to speak to them with much soberness" lest the Lord should smite them and they be swallowed up in the sea (1 Nephi 18:10). To this, Nephi's brothers responded by tying him up. Upon doing this the Liahona stopped working and a great storm arose. For three days the storm drove them backwards. On the fourth day the storm became "exceedingly fierce" (1 Nephi 18:11-14). This whole time Lehi and tried to persuade them to free Nephi, but to no avail. In fact Laman, Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael "did breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for [Nephi]" (1 Nephi 18:17). 

I found it interesting that even in the midst of this great storm, Laman and Lemuel failed to see the consequences of their actions. Even though others told them so, they failed to see that they were doing anything wrong because of a weakened conscience. Had they not began rebelling against God with their merrymaking, their consiences would not have ever allowed them to get to the point where they would assault their brother and place their entire family in harm's way. I believe that most people suffer from a similar problem although it may be on a much smaller scale. When we knowingly disobey God's will we are desensitized to the promptings of the Spirit and become apathetic to the needs of those around us. This is why it is so important to repent on a daily basis. We need the full companionship of the Spirit to be able to effectively teach and lead our families as well as fulfill any other callings that the Lord may have given us. When we do not repent, we begin walking down a path such that we get further and further from where we want to be without realizing it.

Week-long vs. Weekly Renewal

In 1 Nephi 17:40, Nephi says "[The Lord]" loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold he loved our fathers and he conveanted with them, yeah even Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and he remembered the convenants which he had made." This verse reminded me that covnenants are a two-way promise. We promise to keep the commandments and as we do so the Lord blesses us abundantly. There are so many opportunities that we have to covenant with the Lord, the most frequent of which is the Sacrament. In a testimony meeting I once heard someone talk about how clean and pure they felt when they were baptized. They went on to talk about how they wish that they could feel like that again. I wanted to shout out from my seat, "but you can! The Sacrament allows us all to feel that." I continued to reflect on this and realized that I am greatly under-utilizing the power of that holy ordinance. The sacrament is more than an ordinance that lasts a few moments on Sunday morning. The sacrament should be a way of life. Everything that we do during the week should culminate to those few quiet moments as we partake of the bread and water. How pure would we be if we knelt in prayer each evening, keeping the Sacrament at the forefront of our minds! We could feel just as pure as the day we are baptized!

A Slice of Cake and a "Mean daddy"

In 1 Nephi Chapter 17 verse 1, Nephi write, "we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness." In the very next verse he writes, "so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us." But what exactly is a blessing? 

As the church was growing in Kirtland, the Lord revealed that "[He] delights to bless with the greatest of all blessings" (D&C41:1). From this it can be inferred that a blessing is that which the Lord "delights" to give unto us. However, the things that He delights in may not always give us immediate pleasure or make our lives easier.

Here is an example that I think illustrates how Nephi could praise the Lord's blessings at the very time when his family was suffering from many afflictions. Imagine a young child who sees a delicious cake sitting on the kitchen counter. This child asks his father for a slice and is given a piece of the cake. The childis delighted and gobbles up the cake, not leaving so much as a crumb on his plate, then asks his father for another piece. The wise father tells the child that he cannot have any more cake for that day. At this point the child spontaneously breaks into tears and calls his father a "mean daddy" because of this affliction to him, not realizing that another piece of cake may make him sick. The father  stays firm in his decision that the child can only have one piece of cake. That night the child does not get sick, but does not associate this with his father's decision and is thus still upset that his father would not let him have a second piece.

Now take a step back and put this in the context of Nephi's family (and indeed in our own personal lives). Nephi's family has been wandering in the wilderness for a long period of time now, probably several years. Their father Lehi, through the guidance of their Heavenly Father has instructed them that they must continue to wander in the wilderness. As with the child in my analogy they kick and scream the whole way, never associating their father's decision to leave with the safety that they would have forfeited had they stayed in Jerusalem. 

In short, the Lord deligthed in the trials of Lehi and his family, not because He is a "mean daddy," but because he can separate the things which provide us with instant gratification, pleasure and general ease of living from those that will provide us with long-term happiness. He delights in the latter.

Cheerfully Do All

As Lehi and his family journeyed in the wilderness, like all of us they tended to begin murmuring about the trials that they were called to go through. The trial of Nephi breaking his bow, leaving his family unable to obtain the necessary food is no exception to this pattern. This trial, however, must have been even more trying than the others because even Lehi began to murmur. Nephi's record relates the following to describe Lehi's experience, "the voice of the Lord came unto my father; and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of humility" (1 Nephi 16:25)

Because of this murmuring, the Liahona stopped working and Lehi's family did not have access to the ever critical line of communication to the Lord. As a commentary to this, Nephi says of the pointers of the Liahona, "they did work according to the faith and dilligence and heed which we did give unto them" (1 Nephi 16:28). Murmuring is not faith. It does not show forth dilligence and it definitely does not demonstrate to the Lord that we are heeding his counsel because it is telling him that we do not want to aline our wills with His.  Murmuring, as shown in this example from the Book of Mormon, will cause our personal Liahona (e.g. revelation through the Spirit) to cease flowing. Why would the Lord want to reveal more to us if we complain about the knowledge and counsel that he gives us. The main purpose of the Lord giving us commandments is to bless our lives and bring us closer to him. Complaining about those commandments tells Him that we do not want those blessings. Whether the commandment is to keep the Sabbath Day Holy or to fulfill a priesthood assignment (e.g. cleaning the church, going to the cannery, helping someone move, etc...) given by the Bishop or quorum/group leader, the Lord's principle that "when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" (D&C 130:221) surely applies. 

A large part of obedience is taught through a revelation given to Joseph Smith when he was in Liberty Jail. After enduring the worst of circumstances in that jail, the Lord told him, "let us cheerfully  do all things that lie in our power" (D&C 123:17). As we learn to do so, the Lord's blessings will surely come to us in fuller measure and our personal Liahonas will guide us back to the promised land prepared for us in our Father's kingdom above. 

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Fulfilled All

After Nephi and his brothers married the daughters of Ishmael, Nephi states "And thus my father had fullfilled ALL  the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him" (1 Nephi16:8). What a great example of obedience. In summary here are the key commandments that Lehi had followed up to this point.

• Called the people to repentance according to his Vision, even in the face of their mocking and anger. (1 Nephi 1:18-20)
• Lehi packed up his family and left Jerusalem immediately after the Lord commanded him to so. Leaving everything behind. (1 Nephi 2: 2-4)
  
• Sent his sons back to Jerusalem to get the plates of brass from Laban. (1Nephi 3:2-4)It does not explicitly say so, but you can read between the lines and assume that there was a good chance they could have been killed in doing so. (see 1 Nephi 5: 1-2)
• Sent his sons back to Jersusalem to have Ishmaels family join his famil so that his sons could marry. (1 Nephi 7:1-3)

A common theme in each of these examples is that Lehi received the commandment after he was prophesying of the Savior. Each of these commandments brought great blessings into the lives of Lehi's family members. When we focus on the Savior the Lord gives us opportunities receive the great blessings that he has prepared for us. 

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He Beheld Not the Filthiness

After Nephi's vision, his brothers asked him questions about the symbols in that dream. One of the symbols they asked about was the river of water. Nephi replied that it represented "filthiness...which separated the wicked from the tree of life." Then he goes on to say, "so much was [Lehi's] mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water" (1 Nephi 15:27-28). I love this verse. What a great blessing it must have been for Lehi to be so focused on the good, that he didn't even notice the filthiness. Mormon taught that "god inviteth and enticeth to do good continually" (Moroni 7:13). If we are continually seeking that which is good like Lehi, then all that is not good will simply drop out of our lives. 

In general it is pretty cut and dry what is good and what is not. However, it is much more difficult to discern between what is good and what is best. Mormon continues later by providing some great counsel on how distinguish between these two. he says, "ye should search diligently in the light of Christ" (Moroni 7:19). For example, when we are faced with the decision of whether we should spend time with our families or do something related to our church callings, we must search dilligently in that light. The Lord has promised that any who "dilligently seeketh shall find" (1 Nephi 10:19).