The Lesson for Us from the Israelites’ Battle with the Amalekites

8 ¶ Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: (Exodus 17:8-14)

We usually make this story about the importance of sustaining our leaders. It’s a good lesson, since our good leaders have many demands on them and need help accomplishing the work they are inspired to do.

 

However, I noticed another lesson in this story today, a larger one for all of us, whether we’re leaders or not.

 

Remember, the children of Israel have already had one battle with the Amalekites and it isn’t over when the day is over. They’re going to have this battle the next day too. This is strenuous work, and they are not trained warriors. They do the best they can by choosing out men to go fight, but their chosen men were still not trained.

 

So on the second day, Moses holds up his hand—he was probably inspired to do this—and when he does it, he can see from his elevated position on top of the hill that Israel succeeds when he does that. So you do more of what works, right?  If holding up your hand brings success, then you keep doing that as long as it takes, until the job is done.

 

Think about how much endurance it takes to hold up your hand. Compare that to the amount of endurance it would take to swing a sword all day while fighting with an enemy. Those are very different kinds of activities, but they both take strength and endurance.

 

Side note story: I once was visiting with my little nieces and nephews and got two of them into a contest to see who could keep their arm up the longest while holding a 5 lb weight. It was fascinating how competitive they were and all the machinations they went through to relieve their weariness while still keeping their arms up. I think they got to 30 minutes before it was time for lunch and their mom forced a stop to the contest.

 

How long do you suppose that battle took? How long did Moses have to hold his arm up? We see in the text that he got tired after a while and that’s when his brother Aaron and this other fellow Hurr had him sit on a rock while they held his hands up.  They did this the whole day, “until the going down of the sun.”   That’s a super long time.

 

Now, here’s the two-million-dollar question: While we know who held up Moses’ hands, who held up the hands of the Israelites in the battle? 

 

It was the Lord. The Lord gave them the strength, the endurance, the energy, the determination, the perseverance, all of it, to keep swinging that sword and keep swinging that sword and dodging and darting and jabbing and running and pushing and on and on…

 

That was the miracle that we’re supposed to learn and remember from this story. While the prophet got tired and had two persons who held him up, the Lord upheld the people in battle. 

 

So when we need strength and endurance and perseverance and energy because we are just not cut out for the job in front of us, we know who we can turn to and ask for help.

Teancum’s great warriors

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But behold he [Amalickiah] met with a disappointment by being repulsed by Teancum and his men, for they were great warriors; for every man of Teancum did exceed the Lamanites in their strength and in their skill of war, insomuch that they did gain advantage over the Lamanites. (Alma 51:31)

It is neat that the men of Teancum were pointed out to us as great warriors. Their greatness is shown to consist of 1) strength and 2) skill of war.

This makes me ponder how these principles might be applied to us today in the battle against Satan. In what ways do we have strength and skill of war against the devil? And if we feel like we don’t have these qualities, how might we acquire them?

Strength starts, I think, with our desires to do what’s right, to please the Lord, to serve Him. Being converted by the Spirit and changed is a significant step, since it causes us to abhore evil. But at some point, strength also has to have an element of endurance too because if the enemy outlasts you, you end up giving in. 

I think on one hand, we are promised that God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we can bear, but we also can’t seek out temptation. Also, the grace of God is enabling power that we can access to push beyond our own limited powers.

So part of strength is from our desires and efforts, and part of it comes from the Lord. Part of it is what we muster in the moment to resist, but it has to have endurance if the struggle is prolonged.

What about skill of war? What skills do we have to have to resist temptation? How do we gain them?

I think these skills are one part knowledge and one part experience. We can learn in various places the different methods Satan uses to attack us. The scriptures help reveal to us Satan’s various designs and strategies before we encounter them so that we can recognize them and resist when they come. (Also, I think the war chapters of the Book of Mormon are very useful for pointing out a wide variety of these methods.)  Prophets point out things to look out for, and revelation can reveal to us what Satan is doing to us.  And this may sound odd, but I’ve noticed that sometimes cognitive-behavioral psychology books can reveal ways Satan might use our distorted thinking to enslave us (though they don’t necessarily take a spiritual angle. But they are great for pointing out faulty thinking patterns.)

That’s the knowledge part.

And then, we live life and we experience temptation of all sorts. Hopefully we pray for discernment and gain experience recognizing the devil’s attacks in the moment and resisting them. We also learn practical spiritual principles which dictate that in a particular situation, we should act a certain way, and living by those principles automatically builds our skills and resistance.  (For example, if we are committed to living the principle of forgiveness, then any time we are wronged, we have an immediate weapon to use against Satan’s temptation to hold a grudge and resentment against others.) I suppose many commandments we are given help build our skills for war against the devil.

The nice thing is that both strength and skill can be increased. They are increased by prayer when we notice we need help, by purposeful study, by learning new principles, by increasing our obedience. Part of it is from our own efforts and desires, but the other part comes from God by revelation and grace. And of course, when we give in, there is repentance, which gives us a chance to start over and fight some more.

Perhaps Teancum’s men are not as well-noticed as Helaman’s stripling warriors, but the fact is, without them and their strength and skill, Amalickiah’s invasion would have been even more successful than it was. They turned the tide of the Lamanite advance. They were just as serviceable to the Nephites as the stripling warriors.

The stronger and more skilled we are at resisting temptation, the more we can help those around us resist the rising tide of sin in our world.

Beginning today, let’s pray for the skills and strength we need to resist temptation.

Does more sin make grace abound?

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Romans 6:1-2)

Here Paul addresses a mistaken notion people seem to have fallen into in his day. The notion seems to have been that if grace was a good thing to have, then sinning more would allow them to experience more of God’s saving grace.

Paul explains that if we die to sin—and it requires grace of God to do that—then more sinning is repugnant to that condition and inconsistent with a grace-changed life.

The assumption behind the error is that grace is only accessed to be saved from sin and that grace goes away after changing a person from a life of sin. 

Instead, God’s grace continues to abound in the changed life. And it must, otherwise there will be a fall right back into sin. The flesh continues to rebel against the spirit, and grace is needed for the spirit to win that battle every day.  Grace abounds when we humble ourselves and seek God’s help with our failings and weaknesses, when we pray to resist temptation, when we ask for strength in our fatigue, when we need and pray for more spiritual gifts to deal with new challenges and so on.

I will have mercy and not sacrifice

10 ¶And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:10-13)

I knew that Jesus said he was sent to heal the spiritual sick, but I was a bit confused about that part in verse 13. I had this idea Jesus was saying the Pharisees should be merciful to the sinners, or else saying He as the Son of God wanted to have mercy for his disciples rather than their sacrifices.

This time when I read it, I noticed a footnote to Hosea 6:6, which I went and looked at, including its context. I got a different impression from the meaning than I had before.

4 ¶O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:4-6)

Hosea called attention to how transitory Israel’s righteousness was, and how quickly they wandered from God. The words of the prophets, since they spoke the Law of Moses, taught them the right way, but also revealed how lost and fallen they were.

Therefore, the proper attitude of worship when making sacrifices was to seek for God’s mercy with faith in the Messiah’s sacrifice, rather than exulting in one’s own obedience. If they approached their sacrifices with an attitude of, “Look at me; I’m so obedient to offer sacrifices,” then they totally missed the point. But if they approached it from the perspective of, “I need to be redeemed; I need the mercy from the Messiah’s atonement, which my sacrifice is meant to remind me of,” then they would be prepared for the Lord’s redeeming power to work on them.

So when Jesus told the Pharisees to learn what Hosea meant about wanting mercy more than sacrifice, He meant they needed to learn their need for His mercy.  They hadn’t realized that yet. They thought they were enough by themselves.

Every once in a while, you hear people spouting that affirming line, “You are enough,” in order to encourage people who feel inadequate.  No, we are not enough. We need the Lord’s mercy.  We are not enough, but His grace is sufficient.

New thoughts on the parable of the ten virgins

I was thinking about the parable of the ten virgins recently and realized some things about it that I hadn’t thought of before.

The main thing the parable seems to hinge upon is whether each virgin has enough oil ready to use to light her lamp and keep it lit.  At the beginning, they all think they have enough, but there comes a time that proves that half of the virgins really do not have enough, and the other half realize that they must draw on a reserve, but they do have enough. 

The question that haunts us is, “How can I tell if I have enough oil?” Because when we get to the dark midnight, it will be too late to buy oil; we must have enough.

In the past, the oil has been interpreted to mean testimony, good works, faith, and so on.  But how do you know if you have enough to get you through the dark times? 

I suspect that this story is actually about grace.  Because grace is that enabling power to do and maintain good works that we otherwise could not do on our own. It is the fuel we need beyond our own works.    The testimony, the good works, the faith—all of that might be compared to the light of the lamps, but Christ’s grace is the fuel that keeps our light burning.

The wise virgins who had the extra oil are those who knew how to access the grace of God.  They knew they weren’t enough on their own, so they accessed God’s grace through the atonement.  They had plenty of practice doing this, and they were prepared.   Counter-intuitively, those who know they are not enough on their own can turn to the Lord for grace and He becomes enough. His grace is sufficient.

The foolish women did not know how to access God’s grace, and when more was asked of them, they had nothing left to give.  They didn’t know how they could go on.  They would desperately ask others for strength, for something that could help them keep going.  But grace has to come from God, not from other people.  People can encourage and lighten burdens, but the power has to come from God.

So here’s where this parable can really help us today.  We have daily experiences that stretch us, and each one is an opportunity to buy oil for our lamps and gain experience accessing the grace of God.   Grace is the power we need, the fuel that keeps us going. Our testimony and our good works is the flame, the light we shine, but grace is the fuel.

Mormon’s hopes for Moroni in the wicked Nephite society

After Mormon tells Moroni the awful details of the wickedness among the Nephites and Lamanites, he ends his letter by blessing Moroni in an interesting way:

And may the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him, be, and abide with you forever. Amen. (Moroni 9:26)

This can be difficult to parse because of a gigantic dependent clause stuck between the subject and the verb in the sentence. What it essentially says is, “may the grace of God the Father… and our Lord Jesus Christ …be, and abide with you forever.”  Be strong in God and Christ.

So what is that middle stuff trying to say?  “God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him..” 

Again, Mormon has just finished telling Moroni a number of awful ways the Nephites are disobeying his [Mormon’s] authority as preacher, as general, as apostle, as testifier of Christ. The Nephites are without order and don’t listen to authority, so it is comforting to Mormon that God and Christ rule in the heavens, and even if Mormon can’t enforce his commands, God can enforce His. And even if all Mormon’s society and his enemies are determined to defy God, it can’t and won’t last because eventually Christ will subject all things to Him.

It’s a comfort for today as well.  Even if the world seems determined to tread Christ and the commandments under their feet, it can’t last because God and Christ do rule in the heavens, and someday every knee shall bow and every tongue confess their authority. The best we can do is subject ourselves to them as soon as possible.

How Ether 12:27 Blesses Us

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)

As I ran across this scripture recently and how it invites us to come to Christ in humility about our weaknesses to be made strong , it occurred to me that this may be a doctrine and invitation given nowhere else.  I thought it might be interesting to do a survey of the scriptures to see what we are told elsewhere about weakness and being made strong.

Here’s what I found.

Ether 12:28 -- God will show the Gentiles their weakness and that faith, hope, and charity will bring them to God.

Ether 12:37 -- God tells Moroni he will be made strong because he has seen his weakness. (This tells us noticing our weakness is the first step toward being made strong, but the next steps are not there because they were given in Ether 12:27.)

Alma 58:37 -- Helaman trusts the Lord will deliver his people notwithstanding the weakness of their armies.  (We can see Helaman is applying the principles of faith in Christ and humility in a military context, but we need to know it works in other contexts too.)

D&C 1:24 -- Commandments are given to God’s servants in their weakness so they can come to understanding. (And probably trying to follow commandments shows us our weakness pretty quick..)

Jacob 4:7 – God shows men their weaknesses so they know only by His power and condescension can they do miracles.

D&C 62:1  -- Christ knows the weaknesses of men and how to succor those who are tempted.

Hebrews 4:15-16 -- Christ can be touched with our infirmities, so we can boldly come to Him and obtain grace to help at time of need.  (This gets pretty close to Ether 12:27, but the humility and faith in Christ are implied rather than explicitly stated.)

Hebrews 3:21-- Prophets and great men were made strong out of their weakness.  (This tells us others enjoyed the blessing of being made strong in their weakness, but it doesn’t tell us about how.)

2 Nephi 3:21 -- God will make the weakness of the Nephites’ words to their brethren strong in their faith. (This shows us the principles of faith in Christ and humility can be applied in the context of writing about the gospel for others.  But it isn’t explicit about the humility needed.)

2 Nephi 33:44 -- Nephi has faith that the words he has written in weakness will be made strong to his people.

D&C 38:14 -- The Lord will be merciful to our weakness. 

So it seems that other scriptures have pieces of this doctrine and invitation, Ether 12:27 shares it most clearly.  It gives us confidence that humility in our weaknesses and taking them to the Lord in faith will allow the Lord to strengthen us. 

I also notice, that the other scriptures expand on the doctrine and give examples of different ways prophets have been made strong.  Nephi and Moroni both had their words made strong. Helaman had his armies made strong.  Jacob was able to do miracles.

Today when we notice our weaknesses, let’s take them straight to the Lord for His help. Let’s find out how the Lord can strengthen us.

Ordinations to help us look to Christ

In these verses Alma the younger explains the priesthood or the need for the priesthood to the people of Ammonihah, who have denied he (as high priest) has authority over them, on the grounds they are not of his faith.

1 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.

2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. (Alma 13:1-2)

That bit about ordination as way for the people to know how to look forward to the Son for redemption has always made me wonder.  How is ordination to the priesthood supposed to help build my faith in Christ?  It must be that there is a type of Christ in it that we haven’t recognized, but Alma did.

The only think I can think of is this—ordination takes one of the men among us in the church and gives him a holy office by which he is to serve the people, teach them, and bestow ordinances.  That process must be similar to how Christ was to be raised up among Israel.  The grace of God that attends the ordinances done by the priests we know is to help people believe that Christ could save them, once He was raised up.

What do you think?  Do you think that’s it, or do you have additional ideas?

Nephites fight across the river to stop the Amlicites

27 And behold, as they were crossing the river Sidon, the Lamanites and the Amlicites, being as numerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them.

28 Nevertheless, the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them.

29 And it came to pass that Alma fought with Amlici with the sword, face to face; and they did contend mightily, one with another.

30 And it came to pass that Alma, being a man of God, being exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy and spare my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands to save and preserve this people.

31 Now when Alma had said these words he contended again with Amlici; and he was strengthened, insomuch that he slew Amlici with the sword.

32 And he also contended with the king of the Lamanites; but the king of the Lamanites fled back from before Alma and sent his guards to contend with Alma.

33 But Alma, with his guards, contended with the guards of the king of the Lamanites until he slew and drove them back.

34 And thus he cleared the ground, or rather the bank, which was on the west of the river Sidon, throwing the bodies of the Lamanites who had been slain into the waters of Sidon, that thereby his people might have room to cross and contend with the Lamanites and the Amlicites on the west side of the river Sidon.

35 And it came to pass that when they had all crossed the river Sidon that the Lamanites and the Amlicites began to flee before them, notwithstanding they were so numerous that they could not be numbered. (Alma 2:27-35)

In this story of when the Nephites fight the combined Amlicite and Lamanite armies, I knew there was a river involved, but I didn’t realize how it played into the Nephite difficulties in such a way as to heighten the miracle of their victory.

Verse 27 notes that as the Nephites were crossing the river, the Lamanites came upon them (most likely from the opposite side). We don’t know how deep the river was, but it would have become a significant obstacle. It is much harder to move quickly through water than air.  It sounds like the Amlicite-Lamanite army tried to keep the Nephites from getting out of the river.

So there is this battle between Alma and Amlici, and Alma finally wins after having been strengthened by God.  Then he has to fight the Lamanite king.. and then the king’s guards.  Eventually Alma and his guards are able to clear the bank at the river side so that his people could get out of the water and have an easier fight on dry ground.  So Alma and his guards seem to have been part of a preliminary thrust that was able to push the enemy back from the water’s edge.

Having to cross the river to fight was a significant obstacle the Nephites faced. And with the larger numbers of the enemy, they had no guarantee that they would succeed. But the Lord helped Alma and his guards to break down the strategic advantage the enemy had over them, and once that was done, the fight became easier, and the enemy cut and ran.

Why did the enemy run?  I think it was because seeing the Nephites overcome their strategic disadvantage made the Amlicite-Lamanite army feel like the Nephites were extra strong and that overwhelming numbers would not be enough to stop them.  So for the Nephites, overcoming a strategic disadvantage effectively demoralized their enemy.

What does this teach us?  How can we use this in our lives?

I can think of several ways it can help. 

We all have battles we have to fight, and there is always some way that we come to particular battles with a disadvantage.  It might be physical. It might be emotional.  It might be mental.  We might be at a disadvantage in forming a family because of growing up in a broken home.  We might fight addictions that others are not predisposed to suffer.  We might come from an uneducated family and be trying to rise to a more educated level. We might be a lone voice against the crowd.

Heavenly Father knows our disadvantages and He can give us the strength to overcome them.  And sometimes overcoming those disadvantages is THE battle.  After we’ve done that, the opposition cuts and runs and it’s over.

20 Reasons why Latter-day Saint Women are the Toughest and Sweetest Women on the Planet

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About 8 months ago, I ran across a Buzzfeed post called “25 reasons why Mormon Men are the Toughest SOBs on the Planet.”  

In honor of the upcoming Mother's Day, I felt like Latter-day Saint Women deserve some props too, so I decided I’d write a version for them. 

20 Reasons why Latter-day Saint Women Are the Toughest and Sweetest Women on the Planet

1. Get your Young Women’s Medallion by age 18. It’s like Eagle Scout rank, but for girls.

2. Don’t swear when you’re mad.  And passive aggressiveness isn’t considered Christ-like.

3. Survive girl-gossip brutality without giving any.

4. Get revelation from God as to whether it is necessary to take an 18-month break from education to preach the gospel 24/7 without pay.

5. Earn the money to pay for that 18-month break.

6. Go to Chile for 18 months, learn Spanish in 6 weeks, and convince strangers to believe in Jesus.   Get rejected a thousand times a day.

Return home and be completely normal.

7. Keep the gorgeous guy interested without using sex or body-revealing attire until he’s desperate to put a ring on your finger.

8. Have 7 children under the ages of 12 and teach a church class full of other people’s teenage girls.

Teach lessons about why celestial marriage and being a mother is the Best. Thing.  Evarrrrrrrrrrr.

9. Be an on-call, stay-at-home mom 133 hours a week and then work 15 hours on a church calling.

10. Teach each of those 7 children the gospel before they can even talk.  Get them interested in ancient scriptural texts before they can even read.

11. Shop for and feed those 7 kids with a 10% lower budget than the Joneses. 

12. Drive a Mormon assault vehicle (van). Parallel-park that thing like a boss.

13. Whip up an extra full-course meal to donate to a needy family with only eight hours notice.

14. Cook that food storage like a Thanksgiving dinner.

15. Drown your sorrows with nothing more intoxicating than chocolate.

16. Making sure teenage sons earn eagle rank = Latter-day Saint mother earning eagle. 

17. Your great-great-grandmother gave birth to her babies under a wagon. In the snow.  And helped hitch the oxen the next day.

18. Your great-great-grandmother also had to share her husband with four other wives, all while the rest of the nation thought she was a slave and a whore.

19. Handle questions about your religion like a champ.

20. Marry off your oldest child while pregnant with your youngest child.

Conclusion?    Latter-day Saint Woman = Grace under fire

Paul’s Pleasure in Distress: Not a Masochistic Doctrine

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (1 Cor. 12:9-10)

Pau doesn’t naturally like infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses, but he has learned how to immediately take refuge in Christ’s grace by calling on God for help. 

He could only say he takes pleasure in those unpleasant situations if he had learned he could always depend on God.  He had gotten to the point when he considered those times he’d been helped as something to enjoy, rather than dreading the hard times as something too much for his natural powers and resources.  Instead, he saw those times as opportunities.

Before we learn to depend on God, we go through life dreading what might happen because we fear running into a situation that would be too much for us, whether temptation or need or persecution or stress or demands from others dependent upon us.

Paul’s statement here, counterintuitive and disturbing as it is, gives us a vision of the kind of trust in God’s enabling power that we can attain in this life, if only we can learn to turn to God.  It is possible we may come to see those times of grace as better than the times we were enough on our own.

How Jesus’s Water-to-Wine Miracle can Help Us Today

I was reading in James E. Talmage’s book Jesus the Christ recently and ran across his commentary on the miracle when Jesus turned water into wine. 

If you remember Jesus was asked by his mother to do something about the problem at a wedding in Cana when it was found that the wine had run out.  Jesus miraculously turned water into wine that tasted so good that it was considered better than the stuff that was served first.

 I was struck by a verse that was quoted at the end of the story that kind of sums it all up.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:11)

This brought me to wonder, “In what way did this miracle manifest Jesus’ glory such that his disciples believed in Him?”   And what kind of belief was it?  Was this a belief that whenever I need a miracle I can call Jesus and have him do it?  An even better question might be, “How did John (who recorded the story) hope that the story would help people to believe in Jesus’ atonement?”

At its foundation, this miracle was about how Jesus could make up for deficiencies in a miraculous way.  In short, it is about grace and Christ’s power to enable us.  It means when we see we are not enough to do something, we can call on Him.  It is the companion message to the call to repent and have our sins covered by Christ.  Faith in Christ is not just for sinners, but also for those Saints pressing forward, who can’t continue day after day without trusting God’s grace will uphold them.

Last Monday I had a humanitarian sewing project that I needed to work on and finish.  It was a little girl’s dress in pieces and it came with directions.  I hadn’t sewn in so long, and my head was just not there in Sewing Land.  I dreaded working on it, but I knew in my heart it would be good for me and it would give me confidence to work on another project that I wanted to do but had been afraid to try.  I was not enough.

So I prayed about it and told the Lord all about how I felt and how I wanted to want to do it and I wanted to do a good job.

And then I went to work on it.  Usually I’m pretty impatient about sewing, but this time I turned on some music and told myself I was going to take it slow and steady and (gasp) even iron the pieces. 

And I worked hard.

And everything went smoothly until I got to the point of sewing elastic to the inside of the sleeves.  My sewing machine acted up and I didn’t know why.  I think I must have tried at least three times to do one sleeve and each time I got wads and wads of thread tangled in the fabric and had to pick it all out.  (I’m sure those of you who are excellent sewers are probably shaking your heads right now.) 

Ordinarily I would have gotten frustrated and quit, or even just taken an extended break, but for some reason, this time my determination did not falter.  I remained absolutely undaunted.  I was about to try again for a fourth time and then happened to notice the thread in my sewing machine wasn’t threaded through correctly.   (I have no idea at what point it went wrong, since I know I threaded it right at the beginning.. but there you go.)

So I fixed that, and everything went much better.  The dress turned out So. Cute.

I can look at that experience and say I can see God’s grace helped me where on my own I would have quit. 

Grace makes up for our deficiencies so that we can meet our challenges.

Have you seen God’s grace in your life recently?

Meekness in analyzing sacred texts

Recently I noticed Moroni’s worries to the Lord about the efficacy of his writing, and I found the Lord’s response interesting.  Moroni writes:

25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.

26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; (Ether 12:25-26)

Moroni was pondering the problem that just about every writer of the sacred has discovered at some point—that words are simply inadequate to capture the power and glories of spiritual experience.   He also had more problems with writing on plates – very little opportunity for editing what was already engraved, except with an added “or rather” or “I would speak in other words.”  (If he was a perfectionist at all, this writing the sacred on gold plates would have been very hard.)  Moroni was very concerned the final product would cut a poor figure in the world, and only be made fun of by Gentile readers.

When the Lord answers, “Fools mock, but they shall mourn,” we see an implicit acknowledgement that some Gentiles would mock what Moroni and his father had written.  But it also contains a reassurance that reader mockery reflects badly on the reader, not the writer.  Fools mock the sacred because they are too foolish to value the sacred as they ought.  If they mock the admonition to repent and come to Christ, then they will remain in their sins, and in the end their judgment will come upon them.  They will mourn for their sins that might have been swept away if they had been more wise to listen and obey.

The Lord also adds, “my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness,” which is an acknowledgement that at a certain level, the Lord saw that Moroni’s writing did have a certain weakness to it.  (Part of me suspects that Moroni was actually an excellent writer and that the Lord knew that writing style standards don’t translate well, so even Moroni’s skill would sound odd to us.)  Yet, meek people read the book, and the power of God they feel from it makes up for the weakness, just as the Lord promised. 

The Lord’s answer shows us that how sacred texts are received is more a measure of the reader than the writer.

KJV versus JST: Faith Counted for Righteousness, Romans 4:2-5

 Welcome to another episode of KJV versus JST!  Today we're looking at a block of verses in Romans about how faith is counted for righteousness.

KJV:  Romans 4:2-5	JST:  Romans 4:2-5
2 For if Abraham were justified by works,  he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.	2 For if Abraham were justified by the law of works, he hath to glory in himself; but not of God.
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.	3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.	4 Now to him who is justified by the law of works, is the reward reckoned, not of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.	5 But to him that seeketh not to be justified by the law of works, but believeth on him who justifieth not the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

One of the things the JST makes clear here in v4-5 is the issue is not between doing works and not doing works like the KJV makes it seem like it is.  The issue is what we believe about the role works have in our salvation.   It says that if we think we are justified by works (whether the law of Moses or the ordinances of the gospel or good works done to our fellowmen), we are going to think (even if only subconsciously) that God owes us for what we have done, that we have put God in our debt thereby.  There is no room for Christ in this way of thinking, which is why it is mistaken.

What is the alternative?  We have to start with the realization that we have sinned and Christ has paid for our sins, putting us in deep debt to Him.  Believing in the salvation He offers us, we repent of our sins.  Knowing that He will not justify the ungodly (those who continue to sin), we forsake sin, receive the ordinances, keep His commandments, and do good.  These works can never be enough to repay our debt to Christ, but we do them anyway because they are what He asks of us in return.

So “seeking not to be justified by the law of works” (v5) is not referring to stopping works.  It means that you know your works are not enough to pay the debt of your sins or the debt you owe to Christ who paid for those sins.  It means you’re just doing your best to serve Christ because you love Him for what He did and want to follow Him.

This is a really hard thing for us to grasp.  Somehow we are so used to thinking of debts as something we must try to pay off.  The problem in the case of our salvation debt is, the very moment we think of trying to pay it off, that’s the moment we have stopped trusting Christ and started trusting ourselves instead.  We must be content to be His debt slaves and do His bidding forever.  Serving with that attitude—that we are forever in His debt because of His atonement—is how our faith is counted for righteousness. 

He’s the best Master because the things He asks of us are calculated to make us more like Him, but not because we are able to do it on our own, but because as we do our best, He gives us the power (grace) to do those things.  Yes, the better we become, the more we are in His debt because of His enabling power of grace.

Strong as to the strength of men

Here’s a few verses I’ve been pondering:

11 Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.
12 They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people…(Mosiah 10:11-12)

As I was reading this, I found myself puzzled as to how the Lamanites could be a strong people without knowing anything about the Lord or the strength of the Lord. When you have a testimony of the strength that comes from the Lord, it is hard to see how someone can be strong any other way.

But it becomes easier to see when you examine the implications of not knowing anything about the Lord. If you think there is no higher power to depend on, then everything depends on you, how strong you are, how smart you are, how rich you are, how capable you are, how much you know… If you can only depend on yourself, then the only way you can get anywhere in this world is by being stronger, faster, smarter, richer, more knowledgeable, and more ruthless than the next guy. Why? So you can gain control over your life and what happens to you. So you can get what you want. (It’s easy to see this attitude today, isn’t it?)

And what is the result in a society in which everyone is jockeying to be the strongest, fastest, smartest, richest, most ruthless, most dangerous, and most in control? Things get taken to incredible extremes. “They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people.”

The trouble with this way of thinking is life has a way of showing us all that we aren’t totally in control, that we don’t have everything figured out, that we arent’ the richest, that our plans can come to naught, and we aren’t strong enough to do everything on our own. There are times when life just plain kicks our tail, kicks it good and hard, and kicks it for months at a time. Or maybe years. NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO IT, NOT EVEN THE STRONGEST.

What does a Lamanite do when everything depends on their own strength and life’s yogurt suddenly hits the hurricane fan? Lamanites dealt with it by getting angry and blaming. They fed off their anger.

…believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
13 And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord (Mosiah 10:12-13, emphasis added)

Notice how many times “wronged” was used in those verses. Anger was the only way they could deal with disappointments and setbacks and tragedies because everything depended on them and everything depended on being strong. Any kind of weakness was dangerous; if they showed weakness or admitted weakness to anyone then everyone would take advantage of them. They couldn’t even develop the virtues of patience, long-suffering, meekness, kindness, humility, or forgiveness, lest they be mistaken for weakness and invite oppression. (I have it on good authority that it is like this in prison.) They couldn’t help others, lest it give someone an advantage and create a dangerous rival later.

So they were forced to be wild, ferocious, and bloodthirsty. No other behavior or attitude would survive. And no other way would even seem possible.

But what happens when you know that you can depend on the Lord? If you know that, it is to your advantage to realize and admit your weakness as soon as possible and ask for help. Admitting weakness isn’t dangerous; it is part of showing that you know the Lord’s strength and trust in Him. It shows that you are ready for help, whether it comes from God directly or from other people. It doesn’t mean you’re not trying, it just means you know when you’ve hit your limits, and you realize your needs are greater than your strength. Also, when you trust in God, you are excited to help others because it means you get to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands and partake of the Lord’s strength in so doing. You realize that your talents and strengths are gifts and blessings from God. (Even frequent opportunities to practice a skill to develop a talent is a gift from God.)

To someone who knows nothing of the Lord or the strength of the Lord, people who depend on the Lord’s strength seem very weak because of how much they admit weakness. Belief and trust in God seem like a crutch. But it’s not. It is the key to obtain greater strength.

There are people who cope with tragedies, setbacks, and chronic problems by saying everything is fine and nothing is wrong. "I don't have an addiction." "My marriage is fine." "Nothing is wrong with my health/my child's health/my spouse's health/my parents' health." "I've done nothing wrong." "My financial affairs are just fine." "I get along with people just fine." Yet denying one's weaknesses doesn’t mean they go away; if anything it hides them. Like a tree with a wedge buried deeper and deeper in the wood, hiding weaknesses from yourself makes you even weaker. When the storm comes, trees with wedges deep in them break.

When you trust in the Lord as the one with the power, it doesn’t mean the storms never come or that pain is avoided. But it frees you from feeling there is something terribly wrong with you for feeling weak, inadequate, and devastated by life’s tragedies and troubles. You are free to admit that you can only do so much. You are free to admit your weaknesses, sins, and mistakes for them to be healed. You are free to develop the more refined virtues. You are free to ask for help.

Really. Trusting God is just a better way.