When Nephi is tied up on the ship

In my last blog entry I observed how Nephi prayed for deliverance and to burst the bands he was bound by. It is natural for us to think that after such a miraculous escape, he could be sure of achieving escape in the same way if ever he was tied up again. However, some chapters later, while on the ship, Nephi’s brothers tie him up again and this time Nephi is stuck.

And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness; nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked. (1 Nephi 18:11)

I like that Nephi observes that the Lord suffered it to happen, because it shows Nephi’s faith was not shaken even when he wasn’t immediately delivered. He says that the Lord suffered it “that he might show forth his power”. How interesting! When the Lord delivered Nephi before, He showed His power, and when He suffered Nephi to be tied again and not immediately delivered it was to show His power.

Perhaps it is not so urgent this time that Nephi get free. In the desert they were going to leave him behind, but here he is still with them. They haven’t tossed him overboard.

No doubt Nephi was praying like crazy for deliverance and for his brothers to soften their hearts. When it didn’t happen immediately as it did before, notice how he bore up:

Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions. (1 Nephi 18:16)

In the previous incident, Laman and Lemuel were softened when one of the daughters of Ishmael and her mother and one of Ishmael’s sons pleaded with them on Nephi’s behalf. Evidently they remembered this from last time, because this time they were determined not to listen to anyone else again.

17 Now my father, Lehi, had said many things unto them, and also unto the sons of Ishmael; but, behold, they did breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for me and my parents being stricken in years, and having suffered much grief because of their children, they were brought down, yea, even upon their sick-beds.
18 Because of their grief and much sorrow, and the iniquity of my brethren, they were brought near even to be carried out of this time to meet their God; yea, their grey hairs were about to be brought down to lie low in the dust; yea, even they were near to be cast with sorrow into a watery grave.
19 And Jacob and Joseph also, being young, having need of much nourishment, were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother; and also my wife with her tears and prayers, and also my children, did not soften the hearts of my brethren that they would loose me.
20 And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me. (1 Nephi 18:17-20, emphasis added)

It certainly looks like most of the people on the boat were absolutely miserable (though it says nothing about Laman and Lemuel’s wives and children..) and none of the lectures or tears or prayers had any effect.

I think that is a very scary thing—to be so hardened that a person is beyond influence from any other person. When the Lord can’t influence a person through other people, that’s when He has to get tough by threatening with destruction.

The Lord started by causing the Liahona to stop working to show them that they were without guidance and He wasn’t helping them. That didn’t work. Then the Lord caused the storm to come up and drive them backwards to show them that He was against them. That didn’t work. So the Lord had to make the storm so violent and extreme with waves so tall that when they were in the trough of the waves and looking up at each wave crest as it came towards them, it looked like they would be buried in the depths of the sea. This was to show them how near death was to them. (Did you know that a wind speed of 60 knots can raise waves 78 feet high?* That’s about as tall as two school buses turned on their end and stacked on each other!) Finally they got the message. “when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done” (1 Nephi 18:20)

One question I found I had in this incident is that Nephi said that the word of the Lord would be fulfilled “which he had spoken concerning the wicked” (1 Nephi 18:11). There was no hint of what that word would be, except for some footnotes that among other places steered me to Alma 14:11 where Alma is telling why the Lord is keeping him from saving the martyrs in Ammonihah:

But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day. (Alma 14:11)

This is enlightening, but because Alma came AFTER Nephi, Nephi didn’t have those particular words to remember. It is my guess that just as Nephi often used the story of the Israelites being led out of Egypt by Moses for inspiration and encouragement, he probably used that story in this case as well. I figure that since he was on the ocean, he probably thought about when the Israelites were going through the Red Sea and being pursued by the Egyptians. I went and looked for that in Exodus and here’s what I found:

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
19 ¶ And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 ¶ And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
26 ¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (Exodus 14:17-27)

(Quick note: Recall that the Joseph Smith Translation of verse 17 said “And I say unto thee the hearts of the Egyptians shall be hardened”) This reminds us that the Egyptians were hardening their own hearts.

I figure that Nephi thought of this particular section about how the Lord told Moses that He would allow the Egyptians to go on in the hardness of their hearts and He would discomfit them until they knew it was the Lord they were dealing with. (And of course by the time the Egyptians realized this it was too late.) Nephi knew his brothers would get themselves “swallowed up in the depths of the sea” (1 Nephi 18:15) like the Egyptians if they persisted in their hard-heartedness.

As it happens, Laman and Lemuel finally repent enough to untie Nephi… but I notice there is no record of any apology.

I really get a feeling from this story that the Lord was not only very kind and merciful to Nephi, but also to Laman and Lemuel, even when He was angry with them. It would have been so easy to strike them with lightening or wash them overboard or send a large sea creature with lots of sharp teeth to have them for lunch. But no, the Lord worked with persuasion and kept trying to find some way to speak to them in a way that they understood until they realized they were making a mistake. That point was reached when they were afraid they were going to die.

Gee, I really want to make sure I never have to be threatened with death before I’ll repent!


* “A Few Basics for Forecasting Waves”, Dr Steve Lyons, The Weather Channel, http://www.weather.com/activities/recreation/boatandbeach/surf/articles/surfingarticle_one.html

Revisiting the story of Nephi bursting his bands

Today I noticed something I hadn’t before. Remember the story of Nephi praying to burst the ropes that he was tied with when his brothers had tied him up and wanted to leave him to be eaten to wild beasts?

But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. (1 Nephi 7:17)

Before today, I always thought that Nephi was just praying to bursting his bands. Today, I realized that if he had only burst the ropes, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was saved…

18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.
19 And it came to pass that they were angry with me again, and sought to lay hands upon me… (I Nephi 7:18-19)

Nephi wasn’t necessarily saved, because his brothers could tie him up again. It could have turned into a comical cycle without additional help—tie up, burst bands, tie up, burst bands, tie up, burst bands—until his brothers get tired of it and kill him.

No, when the Lord delivers people, He doesn’t go halfway. How does the Lord completely save Nephi?

…but behold, one of the daughters of Ishmael, yea, and also her mother, and one of the sons of Ishmael, did plead with my brethren, insomuch that they did soften their hearts; and they did cease striving to take away my life.
20 And it came to pass that they were sorrowful, because of their wickedness, insomuch that they did bow down before me, and did plead with me that I would forgive them of the thing that they had done against me. (1 Nephi 7:19-20)

Lord completed Nephi’s deliverance by inspiring other people to speak to his brothers for him in such a way that his brothers were softened, realized the magnitude of their sin, and begged Nephi’s forgiveness. That change of attitude seems like it was the most effective deliverance.

If Nephi had had any less faith in the Lord’s power, it may not have happened that way. I notice that he prayed, “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me…”

Something I wonder about is whether Nephi was envisioning deliverance in the way that it came, or whether he knew the Lord had the power to save him to the extent that Nephi envisioned himself finishing the journey side-by-side with his brothers and no hard feelings between them at all and didn’t worry about how that might come about.

Perhaps it was both, because he asked for a specific kind of deliverance—"give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound"—but he also prayed for general deliverance “from the hands of my brethren”, which left it up to the Lord how that would be done.

If the Lord wanted to, He could have just inspired the same three people to speak for Nephi and then Laman and Lemuel would have untied Nephi themselves and Nephi wouldn’t have had to burst his bands. But the Lord was merciful to Nephi and wanted to grant Nephi deliverance in the way that Nephi wanted. Maybe because there was nothing wrong with Nephi bursting his bands in that situation. Maybe it would strengthen Nephi's testimony.

Something this teaches me is that it is good to have both general and specific aspects to my prayers. The general aspects give the Lord the freedom to bless me in a way that is best for me according to His much higher wisdom. The specific aspects can help me notice immediately how the Lord is answering my prayers and alert me to try to discern the other ways the Lord has blessed me.

How can we escape unbelief and a hard heart?

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers. (1 Nephi 2:16)

Something I noticed in this scripture is that Nephi seems to suggest that he was not always the intrepid, faithful person that we have come to know and love. He notes that when he prayed to know the mysteries of God, the Lord softened his heart and helped him believe his father’s words, which shows us that his heart was hard before and he may have had difficulty believing.

Why do I find this scripture helpful? It suggests that I can pray for the Lord to soften my heart and help me believe the words of my leaders if I notice that I am not receiving counsel as I should.

(Image credit - "See the Change" blog, nvrlost.blogspot.com/2006/12/rope-breaking-on...)

Varying reactions to angelic reassurance

If anybody is wondering why I have been posting less, I have been getting ready for and have started school again. I probably won’t have the time to write at length, but I hope to at least post a short thought or two every day.

In my scripture reading I’ve started the Book of Mormon over again and today I was struck by the contrast of attitudes between Laman (and Lemuel) and Nephi after they had all just seen an angel telling them the Lord would deliver Laban into their hands so that they could get the brass plates.

Here’s the reaction of Laman and Lemuel:

And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us? (I Nephi 3:31)

Here is the reaction of Nephi:

1 And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?
2 Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea.
3 Now behold ye know that this is true; and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians. (1 Nephi 4:1-3)

I notice Laman and Lemuel were asking “how is it possible?” and were focused on the problems that stood in their way, while Nephi drew strength from his knowledge in the power of God and the story of the Israelites being saved from the Egyptians.

There are many times that I am more like Laman and Lemuel than Nephi. When I’m promised that the Lord will do something amazing, too often I ask, “how is that possible?!” and I focus too much on the obstacles in my way, rather than reminding myself that the Lord is mightier than the whole world and drawing strength from scriptural accounts that demonstrate that.

We are told the Lord will help us. How then can we doubt?

A Memorable Experience Learning about the Atonement of Christ

At some point in our lives we all have to learn how to use the Atonement of Christ. I don’t mean just that theory knowledge, but that knowledge that comes from trying it and experiencing it. I want to tell you about an experience that taught me about the power of the Atonement and gave me the faith to repent.

It was my second year at BYU and one particular day I had a really really bad day. From beginning to end it just felt wretched. As I lay in bed that night, thinking over the day and wishing I could start over again or wipe it away, I was pouring my troubles out to the Lord, when I started to wonder if the Atonement covered bad days. I asked the Lord if He could take my burden from me or whether I was required to carry it myself and the answer came back, “Do you think I can?” I answered that the scriptures said that He could take our burdens from us. The answer came back, “Then LET GO of it.” I exercised my faith and immediately I felt the remembrance of the day lift from my mind and it was as if the ceiling had just been lifted off the walls revealing clear sky. With curiosity I probed my memory, looking for remnants of misery and I found none! I had just been relieved of the entire day and I felt as though I had just found my way back to bed from morning to evening with nothing in between. Like a day had been wiped from my life. I loved it, and I started crying again as I thanked the Lord for His mercy.

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.. (Mosiah 14:4)

I realize that my experience that I have described above was not exactly repentance. I was not asking forgiveness of a sin, but asking for my bad day (a certain period of grief) to be taken away. But having such an experience was a big faith builder for me and I thought, “If my bad days can be taken away like this, then I can ask for forgiveness of my sins and have them taken away too!”

I began to be more careful to ask forgiveness for my sins when I prayed. I would think about what I had done since the last time I prayed and try to see if there was anything that I did that wasn’t right, and then when I found something I did, no matter how small, I asked the Lord to forgive me. It was very satisfying to know that my mistakes and offenses could be wiped away like this.

I ran across a scripture in the Book of Mormon that describes the process.

2 And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.
3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them. (Mosiah 4:2-3)

I’ve found that when asking for forgiveness, it is best if I begin by confessing to Heavenly Father in prayer what I have done. I tell Him that I know it was wrong and then I ask for my sin to be covered by the Atonement of Christ and I ask to be forgiven. Then I exercise faith that I have been heard and I let go of the sin and trust that it has been taken.

Sometimes letting go of the sin is harder than other times. It is especially hard for me when I have let someone down somehow or been a bad example. But it has to be released, otherwise we don’t get that wonderful relief of feeling forgiven and feeling clean. I’ve found that it helps to use my imagination and visualize myself throwing my sin up in the air and the Lord catching it. I’ve read that other people like to imagine nailing their sins to the cross. I think anything that helps you let go is good.

An under-the-weather day

Yesterday I woke up with the most bizarre of sicknesses. It wasn’t a fever, because my thermometer said 96 degrees. It wasn’t the flu, because I didn’t really throw up. (I had the dry heaves once, but nothing really came of it.) It wasn’t a cold, because I didn’t have a runny nose. It wasn’t a sinus infection, because my boogers weren’t green. It wasn’t a cough or a sore throat. I didn’t know what it was, so I gave it a name based on the symptoms I had.

I decided to call it “Burpy Vertigo”. That’s exactly what it was. I burped a lot and I was incredibly dizzy. (Warning: I am about to go into detail...)

The burping was really strange. I felt like I had an endless supply of air bubbles to get rid of and it wouldn’t come out with one big EERRRRRRRRRP. No, it had to be removed piecemeal. About every few minutes I had to have a 30 second burping session to get rid of the discomfort. I was afraid to swallow my saliva for fear I would somehow swallow more air and make it worse.

The vertigo was also very weird. I had vertigo even while lying in bed. I couldn’t lie on my back and look at the ceiling, because the world would begin to spin in the most unaccountably vicious way. I couldn’t even turn my head up to a 45 degree angle because the room would begin to revolve. I had lie on my side and keep one ear flush with the pillow at all times.

I was a little worried about the vertigo. My mom went on a cruise back in the late ‘90s and came home with vertigo that lasted for a year and I really hoped that a case of year-long dizziness hadn’t come to call on me too (though I had done no cruising whatsoever). Fortunately I happened to talk on the phone with my church choir director who, when I told her what I called my malady, said, “Oh! I had the same thing earlier this week!” Aha! It was only a bug that was going around.

In the morning when I was lying on my side, I dutifully opened my scriptures and they came to Ether 3 and I read this verse:

O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires. (Ether 3:2)

I read that plea of the brother of Jared that the Lord not be angry because of his weakness and I thought of my sickness that I had suddenly hit by and I felt to echo that prayer in my own way. O Lord, be not angry because of my mortal weakness and sickness, and how I can not serve thee today as I had hoped and planned yesterday. All I could do was lie in bed and play games on my palm pilot. (I think I played 37 games of Bejeweled.) It was an act of bravery just to get up briefly and get the phone and call a few people to let them know I couldn’t go to cub scout pack meeting or help babysit.

I had to count my blessings though. 1) School hadn’t started yet, so I wasn’t missing classes. School starts in 3 days and I could have gotten sick then. 2) I had a nice bed to lie in, with warm blankets. 3) I wasn’t missing work. We had intensive tutor training just the two day before and it could have hit then, but it didn’t. 4) I wasn’t feeling sick to my stomach like my choir director had, so I knew I would probably be feeling better the next day, whereas she had it for 3 or 4 days.

The dizziness was so odd that I really wondered what was causing it. I knew the inner ear was somehow affected, because that is what facilitates our balance and perception of up, down, and sideways. How nice it is when our inner ear works and we can walk straight and ride bikes and do all sorts of other things!

I think our conscience is kind of like our inner ear too. It tells us which way is good and which way is bad. We are out in a dizzying world, one that reels to and fro like a drunken man, one that likes to call good things bad and bad things good. It calls things “wicked” when it approves and says “great” sarcastically when it doesn’t.

I know that we can find rest from this moral vertigo when we come to Christ. Repenting of our sins heals our conscience, that spiritual inner ear, and we come to know what kind of person He was, we learn to see the world through His eyes with vision that is always steady.

Flooding the earth with righteousness

And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. (Moses 7:62)

This scripture is in the Joseph Smith lesson manual as part of the lesson “Establishing the Cause of Zion” and as I was reading, I started focusing on that phrase “righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood”. I felt there was some lesson I could learn by examining the process of flooding that would teach me how Heavenly Father would fulfill this.

I grew up in the Midwest and I know a little something about what causes flooding.

First, there has to be excess rain, more than the ground can hold. In the same way, I think Heavenly Father starts by raining doctrine and correct principles down from heaven to the prophet and apostles and they pass it on to us. Also, insights by the Holy Ghost pour in to us from reading the scriptures, from our lessons, and from pondering carefully and so on.

Second, the runoff from the rain fills the rivers and the low places. In the same way, testimony resulting from all our faithful works fills and overflows from our hearts. All that we know and do and say about the gospel overflows into all parts of our lives and greatly affects the people around us, especially those who are feeling the lowest. No wonder sharing our testimonies can cause our tears to overflow.

Third, for a flood to continue to build, the rain and the runoff must all increase in intensity over time and not decrease. In the same way, the more we do good things, the more blessings and knowledge we qualify ourselves for, which increases our capacity to do good, and trying to fill that capacity increases our good works, which qualifies us for more blessings and knowledge and testimony, and it can become a positive feedback loop.

Something I am reminded of right now is President Ezra Taft Benson’s challenge to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. It seems to me that one way this can be done is by incorporating it more in our day-to-day conversations, irrespective of who we are speaking to. If we do this, even people who don’t read the Book of Mormon and those who are not of our faith will begin to know something of what is in it.

When I was a teen, I used to listen to my church friends quote their favorite parts from the movie “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail” and I learned a lot of what was in the movie from that and it made me eager to see the movie. If we could harness our enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon as we do our enthusiasm for those quotable movies and share quotations from the Book of Mormon as they fit into the conversation, we can help flood the earth with the messages from the Book of Mormon.

All of this is to culminate in the redemption of Zion. When the Saints forced out of Independence, Missouri and unable to lay the foundation of Zion, it appears that Joseph Smith naturally inquired when Zion would finally be redeemed. The manual says Joseph wrote:

I know that Zion, in the due time of the Lord, will be redeemed; but how many will be the days of her purification, tribulation, and affliction, the Lord has kept hid from my eyes; and when I inquire concerning this subject, the voice of the Lord is: Be still, and know that I am God! All those who suffer for my name shall reign with me, and he that layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again….May God grant that notwithstanding [our] great afflictions and sufferings, there may not anything separate us from [the] love of Christ [see Romans 8:35-39]. (p186)

When I read this it at first appeared to me that the Lord was putting off Joseph’s question, but then I thought of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis in the Book of Mormon who preferred to die rather than kill anyone even in self-defense. I thought of how that determination to die rather than sin made such a difference in their ability to deal with Korihor the anti-Christ. After enduring faithfully such a physical trial as the danger of dying for their religion, anything else was a cinch to deal with! They could give a large portion of their substance to maintain the armies of the Nephites and they could give inheritances to dispossessed Zoramites without a second thought.

So it seemed to me that the Lord was giving Joseph Smith a sign of when Zion would be redeemed—it would happen when Zion becomes willing to suffer for Christ’s name and willing to lay down life and anything else. Certainly people who have and will do this can overcome all other obstacles that stand in the way of building Zion.

(Image credit - "Climate", climatex.org/.../flooding-introduction/)

Prophesying the Future

And I, Nephi, said unto them: Behold they were manifest unto the prophet by the voice of the Spirit; for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the prophets, which shall come upon the children of men according to the flesh. (1 Nephi 22:2)

It doesn’t have to be visions or angels. This is why we must learn to listen to the Spirit, because it makes the future known to us, even if it is a little instructive “get this done”. That get-this-done implies a future need is coming, and so it implicitly tells the future.

One day this week I read my scripture after breakfast as I usually do, and somehow I found a scripture to blog about really quickly. I got right on it and I finished unusually fast. I had the feeling that I should go shower immediately, but I shrugged it off and started checking other blogs that I like to follow regularly. Time slipped away doing this and that. All of a sudden I heard a noise from outside in the front that sounded like our sprinklers had just come on, but it sounded twice as loud as they usually do. I was puzzled by this and went to go check. Imagine my dismay when I discovered an exposed PVC pipe of our sprinkler system had ruptured its glue and water was spraying all over the house and the postage stamp yard. The shut-off valve was right there and I yanked it closed. But now the house was without water. And I was in my pajamas and still not showered. At 11:30 AM. (I was a lazy bum that day.)

How nice that we had about 9 gallons of emergency water stored. At least I could brush my teeth… (No, it doesn’t take 9 gallons of water for me to scrub my pearly whites..)

That silent suggestion to go shower quickly was a manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord prophesying of things shortly to come in my life. Had I been willing to listen I would have felt more secure in the face of this minor disaster and less embarrassed at my own indolence.

This is the same Spirit that is whispering to the prophet and apostles to speak so much to us about strengthening our families. Will we listen?

What is the bottomless pit?

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:2-3)

What is this bottomless pit? Can you imagine falling into a bottomless pit? Falling..

down…

down…

down…

down..

down..

down…

down…

down..

down..

down…

down…

down..

down..

And never stopping?

I imagine something like at the beginning of the movie “Enchanted” when the girl falls into the well that just keeps going and going and going…

Imagine falling like that and never hitting bottom! If there was a bottom, then you could hit it WHAM and then start thinking about how to get out.

You hear of drug addicts and drunkards that eventually hit bottom and decide that they are going to start climbing out of the pit they have fallen into. Hitting bottom is about deciding you have gone far enough.

But Satan’s pit is bottomless. He likes what he is doing. His spirit can’t die and he can’t experience physical pain, because he doesn’t have a body. The only way he can be frustrated is when we decide not to listen to him any more. It hurts his pride. He hates being ignored. But he doesn’t deserve our attention.

I suspect we each have our pits that we fall into—bad habits, sins, faults. When we hit bottom and decide it is time to stop, time to repent, and time to climb out of them, we take away a little more of Satan’s power, add another link to his chain, and make the world a better place.

(Image credit - "Suzanne's drawings, photos and texts" blog, suesdrawings.blogspot.com/2007/11/bottomless-...)

Keeping Prayers Fresh

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. (3 Nephi 13:7-8, see also Matthew 6: 7-8)

When I was trying to apply this scripture to my life, something I realized is that when we pray there are things we may find ourselves asking for over and over because we always need it, like help at work, or patience with the kids, or understanding of our schoolwork, or whatever. After a while these requests become automatic and we stop thinking about what they really mean. Some of our ordinary conversation to each other is like that already. (“How are you?” “Fine” “How’s it going?” “Good” “What’s up? “Not much”)

I think this scripture shows us that a long prayer full of the things we usually ask for isn’t more righteous. If anything, it is more boring to us and to the Lord. It’s what makes praying a drag, to have a big list of usuals to get through before we get to our real concerns.

I think this scripture is telling us to stop asking for those automatic things, because Heavenly Father knows what we need. It is possible that He gets conditioned after a while and knows exactly what is coming next in our prayer because He's heard it so many times before. What He really wants is for us to talk to Him and tell Him what we are really worried about deep down. He wants to know what our plans are and He wants to be consulted and He wants to communicate with us.