I read a little of 2 Nephi chapter 10 in the Book of Mormon this morning as my scripture study. Verses 20 and 21 really caught my eye:
20 And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea.
21 But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren.
I'll tell you where my thoughts went with this, but first a little background.
Isaiah. Maybe the most feared word among adult members of my church. We're supposed to study it, we've been promised that if we do so with the help of the Holy Ghost that we will understand it. And mostly, from my observation, people are just afraid to tackle it.
The reality is that understanding Isaiah is not going to happen by magic, but through diligent, faithful effort. And most of us just don't have that kind of faith in ourselves. We see all of our shortcomings, and feel like it's too big a hurdle to overcome. But our shortcomings are given to us so that we can come to the Lord, and then HE will turn our weaknesses to strengths. But all of that is just a personal rant. Back to the story.
Several years ago, I was attending a youth activity where a guest speaker talked about Isaiah. Why did Nephi love the words of Isaiah so much? The speaker said that Nephi loved Isaiah because Nephi was experiencing the very things Isaiah talked about.
Recently, as I have started reading the Book of Mormon again, and thinking about the experiences of Lehi's family, I came to a realization about Laman and Lemuel, and WHY Nephi kept reading Isaiah's words to them.
Often, we bring our child-like understanding to our scripture study. We see Nephi as the good guy and Laman and Lemuel as the bad guys, because that's how we understood them when we were young. But if that's where our understanding STAYS, we miss out on SO. MUCH.
I'm starting to think that Laman and Lemuel were not the bad guys I used to think they were. I think they were a lot like me. They knew the promised blessings, and they knew what was required of them to obtain those blessings. And, for the most part, I think they probably did those good things, though maybe there was some grumbling involved.
Until Father Lehi takes the family away from Jerusalem (then there is a lot of grumbling involved!). But stop and think for a moment about what that meant. It wasn't just that Lehi was taking them away from civilization, he was leading them away from the chosen people of the Lord. What if Laman and Lemuel, in addition to longing for their riches and the good life they had known, were longing for the security of being part of the Lord's people? What if they were hoping for the blessings promised to the House of Israel, and believed that because they left Jerusalem, that they were forfeiting those blessings? (I don't think they had allowed the gospel to change their hearts and make them ready for these blessings, but I think maybe they were expecting to receive them, by virtue of the fact that they were a part of "God's chosen people." (And then there is the fact that they didn't recognize how far the Jews at Jerusalem had strayed from the gospel. So I'm not saying they would have received these blessings, just that perhaps THEY thought they would, and this loss added to their resentment of Lehi and Nephi.))
And let's not forget Nephi. He experienced the same things that Laman and Lemuel did, with one important difference. He WANTED to know what the Lord had in mind, and he believed the Lord would help him understand. So he asked. Oh, what a difference that attitude makes!
And now we finally get to the heart of this post. Much of the Isaiah chapters that Nephi quotes (and Jacob, his brother), talk about the scattering and gathering of Israel. And the chapter and verses I read today talk about how even though these Israelites are no longer gathered in one body at Jerusalem, the blessings of the Lord will still be theirs if they repent. Why? Because they have not been forgotten.
Did you catch that?
Because they have not been forgotten.
I started to wonder if that had a modern-day application. I know many people who have been faithful members of the church, and then, for a variety of reasons, stopped coming. For some, the pain of going just became too great. Oh, how my heart aches for them!
But.
If the Lord will scatter an apostate generation of Israelites to the four corners of the earth and still extend His blessings to them, will he not do the same for our modern-day brothers and sisters who are struggling? Some of them have felt like they are upon a lonely, desert island, even in the midst of church activity.
As I pondered and prayed about this, I got one definitive answer:
They have not been forgotten. YOU have not been forgotten.
Whatever your struggles, whatever your pains, however great your loneliness, you have not been forgotten.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. (1 Nephi 21:16)My prayer this morning was that we--that I--would have my heart opened to these brothers and sisters, and just love them. They need to know that they are loved, regardless of their membership status.
And my prayer was that those who are struggling would feel that support, and God's love for them.
And I am so thankful for the comforting words of the prophet Isaiah.
Comments
Post a Comment