Asking for the Lord's Help

"Where do I find the ore?"

That’s Nephi’s question after he is given the commandment to build a boat. He needed ore to make tools. He knew what to do with the ore to make them, but he didn’t know where to find the ore, so the Lord showed him. It’s a great example of working with the Lord. He expects us to do what we can do, while He provides the missing elements (knowledge or whatever) which we can’t do.

Then he had to build the boat, but he first needed the tools to both cut and work the wood.

That’s such a great lesson!

The Safe Way Forward

We live in a time of extraordinary civil unrest and turmoil. It’s unsettling. As responsible parents and individuals this uncertainty makes it hard to plan and live our lives. The questions on our minds are, “where do I find the honest answers to these questions?” “How can I know for sure what I should be doing in response to events of our day?”

Trying to figure out what the facts are is difficult. It’s a given social media is agenda driven. If you want to listen to an echo chamber, you need look no further. But if you want a more informed source of information where do you turn?

It used to be people could turn to the news to get information about people and events. But not today. People on both sides of the issues have little confidence in new agencies. Democrats (Liberals and Progressives) consider Fox News, most of talk radio, and a few newspapers to be shills for the President.

Republicans (Conservatives and Libertarians) view the “MSM,” the “Main Stream Media,” most cable news outlets and most newspapers as little more than propaganda organs for the DNC. Their credibility is so stained, even the President mocks them with the moniker “fake news.” 

Regardless of your political leanings, the reality is news organizations today have overt agendas. Having one is nothing new: the “voice” of a news organization has always been either the owner or publisher. If the publisher wanted something said, the news organization would say it. But, years ago, reputable news agencies enforced a discernible boundary between news and opinion. Today's advocacy journalism has blurred that boundary to the point of nonexistence. Advertising and agendas, not truth, drive the news cycle. As evidence for this, I offer Andrew Sullivan’s blistering departure letter from the New York Magazine. It’s also the root cause of the enormous libel settlements several formerly reputable news organizations are paying Nicolas Sandmann. Click bait headlines is more evidence that this behavior is pervasive in the industry.

So, in the midst of this war of ideas where a tumult of opinions masquerade as news, where can you find the truth about events of our day? There is only one answer. It’s the same one people of all generations have had: personal revelation. President Nelson urged members to develop a greater ability to receive personal revelation from God. The seminal scripture which started the Restoration, James 1:5 doesn’t limit what a person may ask of God. It states: “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.”

President Nelson also said, “good information leads to good revelation.” The Doctrine and Covenants, tells us to “study it out in your mind, then ask.” Moroni promises, “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” So the promise for an answer is there. But, you must ask in humility and with the understanding the Lord will tailor His answer, whatever it is, to your personal needs. 

Of the few instances where I’ve heard of people asking these very sort of questions, the answers were rarely, “this guy is right while that guy is wrong.” In one case, the answer was, “don’t worry about it. Let it go.” In another it was, “it’s not needful that you know.” For another, the answer was, “this is something you must be more involved in.” And another was insight into the concepts Heavenly Father thinks are relevant and correct for the situation, an insight incidentally which had little to do with the person’s original question.

The common theme through all the answers is the Lord saying: “have faith in Me. I will take care of you and deal with those things outside your sphere of influence.” The scriptures give clear examples of how different those answers can be. Alma the Younger’s answer was to preach the Gospel. For a time, both Mormon and Ether's was to stand as an idle witness: to do nothing. In contrast, Abinadi's was stand as a bold witness, even though it cost him his life doing so.

There will also be times your preconceptions and emotional state will obscure clear answers. Consider Lehi’s and Nephi’s understanding of the river of water in their respective visions of the Tree of Life. Lehi’s anxieties for his sons' welfare blinded him to the water’s filthiness which Nephi saw. 

The lesson of the perfecting of the Olive vineyard in Zenos’ vision in Jacob chapter five is also instructive. In that vision, the perfection of the vineyard was an iterative process. The Lord removed the most wicked first. As righteousness increased, He removed the worst remaining fruit. The Lord repeated this process  until He finished. Your answers will change over time too, depending on where you are on your personal path of discipleship.

So, ask the Lord to learn what you should do. But do so with humility for He may answer your question with “No,” or with an answer you are not expecting. The thing to remember is to ask in faith then hearken to the answer you get. That is the safe way through these days.

A Personal God... A Personal Savior

When the Savior blessed the children of the people of Bountiful, He also prayed for their parents. This passage underscores what I’ve written about before: with God, everything is personal. The written account speaks of how the people marveled when they heard the Savior pray for them. If you ever wondered what He says when He pleads our case to the Father, this passage in 3 Nephi 17:15-17 gives us a clue as to what it must be.

This fact is also shown when He blessed the children and the people went forth to touch his feet and hands. It was all one on one. How would you like some time like that with the Savior? The beauty of the Gospel is you can.

The personal nature of the Gospel is also manifest in the temple. There are no group ordinances — everything is done for the individual. When I go there, I represent just one person at a time. Implicit in all the church does and the doctrine of Christ is the importance of the individual.

I can’t comprehend how Heavenly Father is mindful of all His children everywhere across the cosmos, but He does. It’s enough for me to know that of all His children everywhere, He still knows me. Along beside Him, the Savior likewise knows us personally. That is comforting. That is one of the greatest truths of the Gospel: we are children of a personal, loving God. And representing our needs to Him is Jesus Christ, the Great Mediator. The Mediator who’s prayer for the people filled them with indescribable joy.

Alma 32-35 - Sermons to the Zoramites

I’ve lived with the nagging fear the tale of the Zoramites is in the Book of Mormon because it’s so easy for me to slip into behaving like them. After Alma shows us how they “worship,” he records three different sermons. Each one used to reclaim these people. Each one touches a different fundamental aspect of discipleship, which if used, will help us become better disciples.

So, what topics are taught? We have Alma’s visually evocative lecture on faith. Will you ever look at a seed again the same way? He promises the test of the seed will work even if all you have is a desire to believe.

Then there’s the admonition to pray for everything: your crops (work), family, enemies and friends. That not only do you pray for them, but that you should pray often for them. I tend to forget the flip side of this in that we also need to help the needy. In effect, it’s acts of charity which give power to our prayers. Or, put another way: if you want God to answer your prayers, serve His children.

There’s a powerful lesson on the Atonement and lastly, (at least for this post) there’s the dire warning that now is the time to repent. Now is the time to improve ourselves. Those who think they’ll wait to the next life to repent will discover the spirit (God or Satan) they choose to listen to in this life won’t change at death. I learned this when I first became a missionary. Back then I thought, “when I become a missionary, I will become a mighty servant of the Lord.” Wrong. To my horror and shock, after arriving in the Language Training Mission, I found out I was still me. The only way I became a servant was by a lot of hard work, prayer, scripture study and fasting. Change came because I worked for it, not because my circumstances had.

Enos

One of the things which amaze me about Enos is how much time passes and how few men it takes to witness it all. When Enos finishes his record, 179 years have passed from the time Lehi left Jerusalem. That’s a lot of years covered by two and a half generations. I say two and a half because Nephi and Jacob though brothers have a few years between them. Nephi was an adult when Jacob was born. I wonder if Nephi knew Enos. Would I know my younger brother’s son?

What it does say is they lived long lives! It’s something to wonder about.

But the heart of Enos’ record are the four stages of his life journey. The first is what I’d say is normal: he goes about his life, but his guilt over weaknesses and his desire to know the things his father knew concern him. Eventually, it becomes an earnest desire which compels him to spend hours in prayer.

He receives an answer, which begins the second phase of his life: his concern for his family. At some time, he gets an answer about them which starts the third and a long phase of his life: his concern for his distant relatives, the Lamanites. After many years of praying and participating in missionary efforts to reclaim them, the Lord answers his prayers saying the record he is keeping will be preserved for a future time.

This begins the final phase of his life: his soul at rest, he spends the rest of his days preaching and prophesying to whoever will listen of the many things he’s learned, seen and heard. He makes the observation there are many prophets among the people. I wonder what happened to their records?

Jacob 4 - You get what you ask for

Jacob’s insights into revelation and God's relationship with Man is  thought provoking. It shows more than anything else God respects man’s will. He knows what is best for us, but He respects our right to choose and do less beneficial things.

The testimony of His great wisdom is in verse 10: “Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.”

When you contrast this, with what the Jews did, it should give us pause. We ought to consider what it is we are asking of God when we pray to Him. See verse 14: “But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness ... and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore ... God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.”

In verse 13, Jacob testifies God speaks the truth of things as they are and will be. He doesn’t lie. It takes humility to accept this truth and to follow His counsel. As I think about this, I realize, I need to be more humble and follow the counsel to in D&C 50:30, where the Lord promises it shall be given to us what we shall ask. I used to think that meant if we asked for something God would give it to us, which is true. But a former mission president made this observation that has forever stuck with me. It also means God will give you, or tell you, what you should ask for.

Isn’t that interesting?

Ether 2 -3 - More on Prayer

The powerful lesson on prayer begun in Ether 1 sees its profound conclusion in Ether 2 and 3. While I’m saving the crux of the answer in Ether 3 for my next post, there are still some amazing answers to questions we have about prayer to be had in what leads up to it. Answers to questions like: What does God expect of us about prayer? What does He expect of us when dealing with questions and matters we bring to Him for help? These are answered.

There’s also a profound promise about this continent, this Land of Promise. But with any blessing from God, there is also a penalty affixed (see Lehi’s sermon to his sons on opposition in all things ) equal to the blessing. In the case of this land, since it’s a land of promise it’s also a cursed land. If you obey God and turn to Him then the bounties of this land are yours and it will be a land of liberty. Turn away from God and in the fulness of your wickedness, you’ll be swept off.  We’ve just seen that with the Nephites, the American Indians likewise were driven off of their lands into reservations, we’ll read about it at the end of this book. God not only keeps His promises to our detriment or blessing.

Regarding prayer, we have the chastisement of Jared’s brother… three hours worth from the Lord for not praying. In contrast we have the amazing prayer where the Lord reasons with him about the air and light situation on the boats he built. In effect, the Lord leaves the question of the lights to him by saying, “You can’t have windows because they’ll get broken by the waves. You can’t have fire because I won’t allow it.” (Not to mention fire would burn all the oxygen out of these enclosed spaces.) So what was left? He puts the matter in the Brother of Jared’s hands…

Have you ever struggled with challenges? Or faced perplexing dilemmas and turn to God for help only to be told, “go figure it out.” If you have ever felt that way, you’re in good company. The lesson is this: God knows the answer to the problem, just as He did with the air, but He needed to teach a lesson and so that’s what happened. As it was for Jared’s brother, it is likely so for us. Heavenly Father always knows the answer, but this life isn’t a test for Him. It’s our test and as we see here, often times, the only answer is to choose, ask God and go.

Ether 1 - The Power of Prayer: God

With the end of the Nephites' story, Moroni still had room on the plates, so he gave us the story of the Jaredites. I'm grateful for what he wrote, but I wish he'd thought differently about including the creation story. While we have an account in the Bible and two in the Pearl of Great Price, I would love to have read Ether's version. Sigh.

The standout message in this chapter though is the powerful story about prayer. I wonder though, why Jared didn't pray? Why did he feel the need to go to his brother instead? Yet he did and that's what we have. But here is the lesson...

Three times Jared asks his brother to cry to the Lord for help. Each time he does and every time, God answered. The first is to ask the Lord to not confound them and their families so they could still understand one another. Which makes me wonder, did they know it was going to happen by revelation? Or, was the process such, they could see it happening in real-time and wanted to avoid it? I don't know, but either scenario is plausible.

The second time was to extend that blessing not only to their families and kin but to their friends as well. Again the Lord granted their request.

The third time was to ask... "if you're going to drive us out of the land, where do you want us to go? And if so, could we go some place nice?"

In reply, God says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "You are going to be scattered, but since you asked, I will lead you to a choice land and there I will make you into a great people." And we'll see, that's exactly what happened.

My take away is this, it never hurts to ask God. You just have to be willing to do what He says when He answers, if you want His answers to continue coming.

3 Nephi 19 - Prayer

Prayer is the theme of this chapter. It starts with people coming to listen to the Savior from the surrounding country. Can’t you just imagine those who saw Him the first day would be traveling all night long trying to reach as many people as possible? Then all these people would be joining them the following morning. The crowd would be enormous. It was so large in fact, they broke into twelve different groups. By so doing, their adventure in prayer begins.

The twelve disciples Jesus called the day before, start with prayer and exhort the people to pray. They preach, then pray again. Then they are baptized and the heavens open, angels appear then Jesus Himself comes to minister to them.

What does He do? He commands them all to pray and then prays Himself. Though a miracle occurs, the disciples continue to pray and Jesus goes to pray some more. Another miracle occurs and the Savior goes again to pray and… provided I’ve counted correctly… He offers yet another prayer, but this one is so moving, so powerful, so sacred that those who hear it are not able to record it. All the while, the disciples continue to pray.
Finally, at the end of the chapter, the disciples finish, setting the stage for the next phase of the second day…

It’s insightful that through all of the disciples’ prayers, the record states they did not use a lot of words, but they were filled with intense, sincere desire. While we read and marvel as we contemplate this experience from our vantage in time, it’s well to remember that simple, sincere prayer is as effective now as then. Try it and see…

3 Nephi 17 - A Personal Savior

Surely one of the most heart warming events recorded in scripture, the Savior blessing the children as recounted in 3 Nephi 17 is the apex of the Book of Mormon. We see the Savior’s personality more clearly here than anywhere else… He is a personal Savior. While He did pray for the children using words to holy and sacred to retell, He also blessed them one by one. Not only did He bless the children (verse 21), He blessed the sick, the maimed… any who were hurt in a very personal, intimate way (verse 9).

This is who Atoned for us. This is who loves us. This is what He desires to do for us… to be our personal Savior, our personal friend. Pondering this leaves me moist in the eye and in awe. For as He loved them, I know in my heart, He loves me. This is the great message of this book… the Savior is waiting for us to approach Him. You’ll recall, as the people had to be brought to him, even the children, likewise we must approach him. And NONE were turned away. It makes me want to pray again just to feel that closeness.

3 Nephi 13 - A Personal God

As I’ve been reading in the scriptures this morning, the personal nature of our relationship with God rings through this and the preceding chapter. Christ’s counsel to us is to do the right things, for the right reasons. He doesn’t discount the good we do, even if we do it to be seen of men… to earn the praise of the world. But if that’s why we do it, don’t expect any blessing from Heavenly Father for having done it. “Verily, they have their reward.”

If you want your actions noticed by God, do your acts of service in secret! Doing things for the praise of the world, plays to our pride and insecurities. Doing things to please God, flows from our faith in Him. Which builds the better character? Which makes us a better person, feeding our pride or our faith?

The other point that strikes me is the real, intensely personal, relationship God desires to have with each of us. He wants to participate in a dialog not a monolog when we pray. If you’re hurting… tell him. If you’re happy or embarrassed, whatever your feelings are… tell Him. He knows better than you what you’re feeling… so be honest with Him about yourself. It’s liberating. It’s cathartic. And when you see His answers, affirming and healing.