Isaiah 34-36

(December 29, 2014)

                What we have here is a wonderful example of something that we see far too commonly today.  There was a man with nothing more than political ambitions, and yet we see that he at first attempted to couch his political ambitions in the illusion of the Lord’s approval.  He even claimed to speak for the Lord, asking whether he would have come up had not the Lord instructed him to.  But when push came to shove, he revealed his contempt for the Lord and his belief in the powerlessness of the Lord.

                We see that nowadays – particularly from one portion of the political left.  They will quote scripture and state that being a good Christian (or Mormon) demands being a political liberal.  They will be offended at any slight of their political position, especially if it is backed by scripture (they would certainly be apoplectic at this entry).  And yet, when push comes to shove, they show over and over again that their true religion is their political position and they ultimately feel that God is powerless next to politics.

                This isn’t to say that all leftist are like this, of course – I know several devout believers far to the left of me.  But it is instead to point out that we must be careful to discern between those who believe in a religion that informs their politics (whether driving them left or right) and those who believe in politics which informs their religion.

Moroni 8

(December 29, 2014)

                I have often wondered why Moroni included this letter from his father.  He was running out of space on the plates, he was on the run for his life, and he decided to throw in a chapter about infant baptism.  The only thing that I could think of was that while the plates were scarce, time was even more scarce and he could easily copy the letter rather than create something of his own (or, perhaps, he felt the sermons of his father – even on a topic like this – were more valuable than what he could compose himself).

                The other thought was on Mormon’s instruction to pray for those who he believed were destined to be destroyed.  Mormon had read the prophecies, and had seen his people and their wickedness.  He was under no illusions as to the end result militarily or spiritually.  And yet, Mormon insisted that Moroni and he continue to pray on their behalf.  Just like these prophetic examples, we too need to not give up on those who may be falling short of where they need to be – even if things seem hopeless.  Perhaps, thought Mormon, the Lord might be merciful one more time to them and this would give them the chance to repent and change.  With those we encounter, we should have the same thoughts – no matter what they do, have done, or are doing we should pray for them that perhaps the Lord might give them one more chance and perhaps they might take it and repent and be accepted back with Him.

Isaiah 33

(December 28, 2014)

                Once again, Isaiah is pointing out that we serve an eternal cause, and temporal things are not nearly as important.  Isaiah points this out by highlighting the fact that there are those who spoil others having never been spoiled themselves and who deal treacherously with others having never had others deal treacherously with them.  All of us know people of this sort, and we all likely can identify ways in which we behave this way also.

                It may frustrate us when those who spoil us seem to escape the consequences of their behavior, but let us never forget that we are escaping the consequences of far worse behavior in ourselves.  Others may act against us without a cause, but that is nothing compared to acting against the Living God.  And yet, God stands ready to accept us back.  Those who harm us, by doing so, do far more damage to themselves – especially if they get away with it in mortality!  Better for them that they suffer for their actions against us, as that may give them the opportunity to repent.  But they can never escape the damage their actions cause and it must be dealt with in the end (whether in this life or the life to come).

Moroni 7

(December 28, 2014)

                It is a sobering thought, when reviewing the great sermon that was taught in this chapter, that the speaker and nearly every person who heart the sermon would be dead in only a few short years (or perhaps months?).  Mormon explicitly points out that the people who are listening to him are those who are peaceable followers of Christ, and yet they would shortly be destroyed by a warlike group of apostates striving to destroy the work of the Lord.

                We in the Church think that because there is a perfect plan that things will go well for us.  Really, there is nothing in the scriptures that we can point to in order to back up that assertion.  The reality is that we can and should expect our lives to be difficult and painful and for the bad guys to win more often than not (temporally, at least).  There is absolutely no need for us to get upset at this, or to claim that things aren’t fair, because in reality things really aren’t fair – but they aren’t fair to our benefit.  If things were fair, we would be lost forever because of our sins.

                It doesn’t matter how righteous our goals might be or how willing we are to work for them – we are called only to fight and the Lord will grant us victory at His discretion.  This doesn’t for a moment justify our slackening of our efforts (Mormon certainly didn’t slack in his efforts even though he had a pretty good idea that his cause was hopeless).  Nor should we ever worry if our efforts result in nothing temporally – we are not here to build temporal lives or temporal kingdoms, but rather to build the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Isaiah 31-32

(December 27, 2014)

                Each of us spend far too much of our lives relying on the Egypts around us.  We think that the chariots, or the warriors, or the fleshpots, or whatever will be sufficient for us.  But each of these will ultimately fail.  They may not fail during our lifetime, but no matter how good the food the day will come when our bodies fail even if the fleshpots don’t.  On that day, our reliance on Egypt will be our downfall rather than our safety.  If we lose perspective and think that this world means anything other than a test we may very well choose poorly.

Ether 15; Moroni 1-6

(December 27, 2014)

                The experience of Coriantumr is a tragic one, as every indication that we have is that he was a generally good person.  He didn’t want to repent in his prosperity, but that is sadly common amongst many of us.  When, in the time of his adversity, he turned to the Lord and wanted to repent he found himself surrounded by those who hated him and hated the Lord.  He would have made amends for his mistakes and saved his people, but the evil of others prevented it.

                Not surprisingly, I found myself identifying with Coriantumr.  I have made my mistakes in my prosperity, and now I find myself doing my best to repent.  I find that I cannot make things right because of the anger of others.  Like Shiz, the actions they are taking against me will lead to their own destruction rather than mine, but I don’t long for vengeance.  I just wish that I had the opportunity to care for others who will be hurt.

                I hope that there is room for Coriantumr in the Kingdom of God – that the Lord will look to his heart and his actions and bless him for his efforts.  Not surprisingly, I hope for the same for myself.  And, to take a pair of lessons from this, (1) we need to leave vengeance to the Lord when we have been hurt so we don’t destroy ourselves as did Shiz; and (2) we need to be willing to repent when things are going well so we don’t lose the opportunity to repent in our adversity.

                I was also struck by Moroni’s statement that he would not deny the Christ and therefore he made efforts to avoid the Lamanites so he survived.  This struck me because my understanding of the Plan is that the Plan is so comprehensive that I could be accused of being Panglossian in my approach.  I still think that is correct, but we are each obligated to do what we can to protect ourselves, to build for our families, and so forth even though we know that success or failure is wholly in the hands of the Lord.

Isaiah 29-30

(December 26, 2014)

                I have experienced in my life the sensation of ‘eating in a dream’ and awaking hungry.  We are built, paraphrasing C. S. Lewis, to run on the fuel of God’s love and seeking happiness in any other way is eating in a dream.  No matter how much enjoyment we get out of whatever we try to replace God with, we will find our happiness diminishing.  The only way to generate lasting happiness is to turn our lives over to Him and anything less than that will lead us to pain and dissatisfaction.