Doctrine and Covenants 6

(September 17, 2015)

                I loved the language in this chapter that every time he inquired of the Lord, he received instruction.  Notice what is not said – it doesn’t say that every time he inquired of the Lord he was given the answer that he sought.  No, instead it says that he received instruction. I think this is more common than we realize – what we see as unanswered questions, when we go to the Lord to inquire of Him, is rather Him teaching us what we need to know rather than what we want to know.

                And, of course, this is desperately important.  The second half to what the Lord says here illustrates that.  But for this instruction, he would not have come to the place he was at that time.  The margin, sometimes, between holding to the iron rod and losing your grip is razor thin.  I have often thought that even if I had the power to go back in time and change things I wouldn’t because I wouldn’t know what I could change that wouldn’t result in me being lost to the Lord.  I think that the instruction that we receive from the Lord in response to our inquiries (even when it doesn’t directly answer them the way that we want them to) is what has brought us to where we are in the same way it brought him.

                My other thought was on the phrase “what greater witness can you have than from God?”  I have always been partial to this scripture, as it played a role in my first spiritual confirmation of the Book of Mormon.  But beyond that, there is true doctrine there.  So many in our modern society look to miracles, or look to science and archaeology, for confirmation that the Gospel is true.  But these witnesses are always secondary (and insufficient) to the true witness that comes from the Lord.

                What greater witness can you have than from God?  None.  Not science, not archaeology, not miracles…nothing.