My Soul Delighteth in the things of the Lord
2 Nephi 4:16
I thought that it would be a great idea to have my first blog post about the title of this Blog. It comes from 2 Nephi 4:16 "Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard." It is an amazing feeling when our soul is being enlightened, by being given courage, humbleness, and even a stupor of thought. I chose the title of this blog to show what The Lord has done, is now doing, and what he will do. If we are able to ponder what we have seen and heard, our testimonies will be strengthened. Our path will be a little brighter for us to follow.
How can we be enlighten?
After Christ's resurrection, He walked the path to Emmaus with two of his own. They did not recognize Him at the time. They were perplexed as to why He had to die, thinking like the Jews in that He was suppose to deliver them out of bondage. Christ exclaimed "...O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things..." He than expounded the scriptures to their understanding. As they arrived to the village, they asked Him to abide with them. They sat and Christ took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Then"their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures?"(excerpts from Luke 24:13-35) They finally realized that Christ was talking to them after He had left.
When you saw this question, you might have thought of the methods of being enlighten.
There are many ways that we are enlighted like the story we just read:
- Heart Burn
- Gain Pure Intelligence
- Small voice with a call to action
and more. But the 'how' is how can I get to a point to be enlightened?
Your Sunday school answers of reading, praying, going to church and going to the temple are correct. However, it is how we read, how we pray and even how we go to worship our Father in His Son's name.
Let's also look at the story above about how they were enlightened. They walked with Christ, read scriptures with Christ(He also expounded the scriptures), and broke bread with Him. How can you walk, read and break bread with Christ? By doing it, ask him to expound, to be by your side, and for you to follow him correctly.
How are we encourage?
When I think of being encourage I think of D&C 121. Joseph Smith was in the pit of despair. He had no idea where to turn, why everything was happening the way it was. The Lord responded by saying "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou will endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shall triumph all thy foes." (D&C 121:7-8) When have you felt encouragement through the Savior?
A long time ago, When I was a sophomore in high school, I have having a rough day. It was about friendship. I had to change my friends since they started to do things that I didn't really want to do, or it wasn't really following the way I knew was better. I was in my room, thinking will I be able to make it through high school. I even began to cry. That is when I felt the Savior's arm wrapped around me, and he whispered,"Don't worry, I am here." Bam! Instant encouragement. I was able to take on the world at this moment. What encouraged me even more, is that he cared. As simple as not having friends, or anyone to hang around school, He had my back. He was even there for the simplest things and all we need to do is turn to him. Like the people of Israel when they needed to turn to the brasen serpent to be healed, some did not. All we need to do is follow the Savior, look towards Him, and we will be saved.
How are we humbled?
Now we have been encouraged. How are we humbled but yet progressing? I think of the story of Moses in Moses chapter one. Here is a man who has seen God. One time when he walked and talked with our Father. "He was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth...it was for a space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which I have never supposed." (Moses 1:9-10)
He was humbled by remembering his "nothingness" (see Mosiah 4:11). Moses could have done two things. One, Why did God forsake me; Two, he could say I know that man is nothing. Luckily, he choose the second rather then the first. He took it as a learning point, rather than be offended. He is basically at that plateau that many of us hit. Things are going well, and than we start to worry because everything is going well. The Calm before the storm. Why am I not progressing? Why am I at a stand still? Sometimes we falter by saying I am comfortable where I am at, sometimes we become more vigilant to pass through the storm unscathed.
What did Moses do when Satan tried to tempt him? Satan tried to tempt Moses saying,"Moses, son of man, worship me." Moses coud have said,"Ok" and be tricked by Satan. Instead Moses went through a thought process of to whom he was talking. First, he said that he could see him by his natural eyes and not his spiritual eyes like when he saw God; Second, he asked where was Satan's glory; Third, he recognized the spirit and the truth. He said,"I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him; for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan." Moses in his modest and humble way said,"I have other things to inquire of" The Lord. When we hit that plateu, do we say,"I have other things to inquire of The Lord," or do we say,"I am good where I am." Choose to be humble rather than be humbled (see Alma 32:12-16).
Why should we delight in the things of the Lord?
I look at Paul as he was tortured, shipwrecked, put into prison, and placed before the king. Every time he testified of the Savior, he rejoiced in the truth that he had acquired. Paul, like many other apostles and prophets were told, "Just deny what you say and we will let you go." This was a constant theme for those who rejoiced in Christ, and delighted "in the things of the Lord."
You are still probably asking, why? Why did they do what they did? They were men of faith, love, charity, hope, and an eye single to the glory of God. They believed, thought of, and only served one master. Which is why they had their eye (view, sight) single to the glory of God. I am reminded of the quote from Plato,"You cannot conceive the many without the one." There is one concept out there that brings everything together. What did they have in common? What were they thinking? The one concept was that they loved the Lord above all, even to their deaths. They died because they loved, had faith in, and believed in their Savior. We look at the pioneers, what were they thinking? They sacrificed what they did because they loved, had faith in, and believed in their Savior. Why do we do it? We love, have faith in, and believe in our Savior.
Since we have seen others act, let us act, and delight "in the things of The Lord." Through their example and our actions, may we each enjoy the company of The Lord in our lives.
Your Brother in the Gospel
Tyler