Lessons from Rebekah

In Genesis 24-27 we learn about the next covenant couple that will have the Abrahamic covenant bestowed upon them—Isaac and Rebekah. As I started my Come, Follow Me studies this week I liked the suggestion in the manual to “look for qualities of Rebekah that you want to emulate.” But in one of the podcasts I listened to this week (Follow Him) the weekly guest, Camille F. Olson, suggested looking at Rebekah’s qualities in a different way. She suggested that if Isaac is a parallel to Jesus Christ, then Rebekah-the bridegroom of Isaac- can symbolize the Church (Ephesians 5:23-25). With that symbolism in mind, what attributes does Rebekah have that can represent what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints should strive for?

• Genesis 24:16-virtuous people
• Genesis 24:18-generous, service-oriented people 
• Genesis 24:19-hard-working, selfless, go-the-extra-mile kind of people
• Genesis 24:20-people with lots of energy to do good things
• Genesis 24:25-hospitable people
• Genesis 24:58-submissive and obedient people with faith and trust in God’s servants

As other people observe members of the Church exhibiting these types of characteristics, maybe we would be an answer to their prayers like Rebekah was an answer to the prayers of Abraham’s servant, who after observing her actions asks her “whose daughter are you and is there room in your fathers house for me?” (Genesis 24:23)

Lot vs Abraham

It takes faith, trust, and the submission of one’s will to obey God when it’s difficult or when we don’t understand why we must obey His will. In Genesis 19, Lot was told by heavenly messengers that he needed to gather his family, get out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and head to the mountain. Even though he was told that the city was going to be destroyed, it says he had to be awakened by the heavenly messengers who helped hasten his departure and that he "lingered" long enough that they had to take him by the hand and escort him out of the city! Basically, Lot was told he needed to sacrifice his way of life, leave behind his current lifestyle and follow God's messengers, but he didn't seem ready or very willing to do it. His response seems to indicate that either he wasn't convinced of the danger he was in and/or he didn't trust the promise that he would find safety in the mountain. (Genesis 19: 12-19)

Contrast this story of Lot with what Abraham was asked to do and how he responded to God's request. In Genesis 22:1-3 we read about Abraham being commanded by God to head to the mountain where he would sacrifice his son Isaac. Not only did God not give Abraham an explanation for this, but Abraham doesn't even ask for an explanation of "why." His decision to leave early the next morning demonstrates his willingness to obey God's commandment immediately.

I can't think of any "Abraham-like" sacrifices that the Lord has asked me to make, but I can think of plenty of "Lot-like" sacrifices that I can make using "Abraham-like" obedience. As a family we talked about what some of these sacrifices might be; keeping the Sabbath Day holy, paying tithing, serving a mission, accepting callings, serving others and putting off the natural man. Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said that "many of us have sufficient faith to avoid the major sins of commission, but not enough faith to sacrifice our distracting obsessions or to focus on our omissions...such as encouragement, kindness and commendation." (Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father). It's good to remember that not only are keeping the Sabbath Day holy and paying tithing sacrifices, but being kind to others is also a form of sacrifice.

We need to hasten to listen to God's heavenly messengers that are telling us that it is time to sacrifice some of our lifestyle choices for something that can lead us to greater safety and security. They know that as we do this that we will be more willing to head toward the temple (the mountain of the Lord), a place where we will grow closer to Jesus Christ.

Covenant Relationships

Since my youth I've been taught that a covenant is a promise that we make between us and the Lord. As I studied this week in Abraham 1-2, and Genesis 12-17, I gained a deeper understanding about how the covenants we make, starting with baptismal covenants, are not solely promises we make to God, but they also allow us to enter into a relationship with Him where He can teach us how to trust Him and how to live our lives with greater integrity. 

We start down the covenant path with the ordinance of baptism and we begin to learn how to be in a relationship with God. We learn that we are expected to keep the promises that we have made and we also learn to trust that God will keep His promises as we keep ours. We begin to understand the power of integrity in our lives and how living with integrity will enhance our relationship with God.

As we advance further down on the covenant path, our level of trust with God can increase in a way that we feel ready to enter into a deeper relationship with Him by accepting temple covenants. Temple covenants add another layer of responsibility and trust between us and the Lord as we strive "to be greater follower(s) of righteousness" (Abraham 1:2).

As we enter into the highest order of the Priesthood, by accepting the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, we are now prepared to enter into a relationship with a spouse. This spouse has also been walking the covenant path and learning how to have a relationship with God. As both marriage partners have moved along the covenant path, practicing trust and integrity with their Heavenly Father, their covenant paths now connect and they enter into the same kind of relationship with their spouse that they have had with their Father in Heaven-a relationship based on trust and integrity.

As marriage partners they continue down that covenant path together, and as they each continue to keep their individual baptismal and temple covenants with the Lord, their relationship with each other will be strengthened and blessed through integrity and greater trust one with another.

Sister Joy D. Jones, Primary General President has said: "A succession of small, successfully kept promises leads to integrity. This consistent practice of promise keeping is spiritual preparation...to receive the first covenant of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, wherein [we] covenant to serve God and keep His commandments. Promises and covenants are inseparable." (A Sin-Resistant Generation). I'm grateful to understand better that some  of the blessings that come from living our covenants are the blessings of greater personal integrity and trust in the Lord.

Arks and Temples

I started a little project this week where I wanted to read through all the conference talks given by President Nelson during the last four years as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was looking for the things that he has asked (pled and urged) us to do and I started highlighting the council he repeated. Even though I’m only halfway through his 32 talks, I have already noticed that one of the most prevalent themes in his discourses is the importance of getting to the temple. As I studied the Come, Follow Me chapters this week (Genesis 6-9 and Moses 8), I started noticing right away the connections we can make between the temple and the ark. I'm sure there are a lot more, but here are the parallels I came away with...

• Architecturally, both the ark and temples are massive structures built to hold a lot of people. Both are/were built to save people. Both are/were built to protect the righteous from a flood of wickedness. 
• Both take lots of hard work to prepare to be ready to enter. It took Noah years of physical labor to build the ark and it takes us years of spiritual preparation to be prepared to enter the temple. 
• Being in the ark was the safest place for Noah and his family, President Nelson has said that living within our temple covenants is the safest place we can be. (The Temple and your Spiritual Foundation)
• The ark saved Noah’s family so that the earth could have a second chance of bringing forth a righteous posterity. Through temple work we are able to save people by giving them a second chance to be with their ancestors and posterity forever.
• Noah was continually inviting people to repent so they could join him on the ark. Our prophet continually asks us to repent, come to the temple and invite others to join us there.
• Both the ark and the temple offer safety and refuge to all who are willing to obey God's commandments.
• Both the ark and the temple are associated with covenants. God covenanted with Noah that if he entered the ark that his posterity would continue. When we go to the temple we make covenants with God that allow us to be with our posterity for all eternity. 
• As the flood waters rose, the ark continually rose to stay above the water. As wickedness increases in the world,  the temple is a place of higher ground that helps us rise above the wickedness in the world.

President Nelson is the Noah of our day, pleading with us to get into the ark (temple) so that we can be safe from destruction. As the earth becomes more and more wicked, the Lord is providing more and more places of refuge for His righteous people. The Lord has commanded the prophets of our day, including President Nelson, to dot the earth with more and more temples in order to help His people rise above the wickedness that is flooding the earth. May we learn a lesson from this ancient scriptural account: heed the words of the prophet and we will be saved.