A Prophets Role-a Watchman

In Ezekiel 3:17 and 33:3,7, Ezekiel is told that his responsibility to the house of Israel is to warn them of spiritual danger just like a watchman on a tower would warn others of physical danger. With this instruction in mind, I liked going back through some of Pres. Nelson's talks and seeing some of the "warning" language that our current watchman has been using to warn us of impending danger... (emphasis added)

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost,”  (Revelation for the church, Revelation for our lives)

"The assaults of the adversary are increasing exponentially, in intensity and in variety. Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater." (Becoming exemplary Latter Day Saints)

“The adversary is quadrupling his efforts to disrupt testimonies and impede the work of the Lord. He is arming his minions with potent weapons to keep us from partaking of the joy and love of the Lord.

Repentance is the key to avoiding misery inflicted by traps of the adversary.” (We can do better and be better)

"The adversary has other disturbing tactics. Among them are his efforts to blur the line between what is true and what is not true. The flood of information available at our fingertips, ironically, makes it increasingly difficult to determine what is true." (What is truth?)

Elder Spencer W. Kimball explained the need to have a watchman: “I am sure that Peter and James and Paul found it unpleasant business to constantly be calling people to repentance and warning them of dangers, but they continued unflinchingly. So we, your leaders, must be everlastingly at it; if young people do not understand, then the fault may be partly ours. But, if we make the true way clear to you, then we are blameless." (Old Testament Student Manual)

If you feel like our prophet is constantly repeating his pleadings and warnings to us, then you are right!  His prophetic duty as a spiritual watchman is to make sure we understand the Lords' warnings for us and he will continue to warn us so that he is not held accountable for our iniquities, but has done his best to "deliver every soul." (Ezekiel 3:18-19) Parents and leaders can also find application to the responsibilities placed on a watchman. We might not be responsible to warn the whole House of Israel of spiritual dangers, but we are responsible to warn those living in our own homes or those who are under our stewardship. And just like the prophet has to continually repeat his warnings to us, it is our job as parents and leaders to continually teach others within our sphere of influence what the prophet is saying. And as we do our part to fulfill the responsibilities of a watchman, I would think the same promise would also apply to us that we can be held blameless.

Letter and Spirit of the Law

 In Jeremiah 31:31-33 we can see the principle of God wanting us to live the letter of the law in order to help us more fully live the spirit of the law. The children of Israel were given laws, written on stone tablets, that they broke (v 32). They didn't connect those outward performances to anything meaningful, spiritually speaking. The Lord wants these outward practices to change us, spiritually, so that we feel these laws are written on our hearts; that we are living these covenants, not out of "show" to others, but out of our love for God.

Now that I understand this principle better, the connection between Jeremiah 31:31-33 and the revised "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet is unmistakable to me. When I first read the revised copy I was a little bit distraught, thinking "how am I going to teach my kids appropriate standards without any do's and don'ts?  I like the old version because it's like a checklist to me." But once I studied this Come, Follow Me lesson I realized that the Lord wants us to move beyond a "spirituality checklist" and into a mindset of "how am I letting God prevail in my life today."

Pres. Nelson summarized this principle perfectly when he said "When your greatest desire is to let God prevail... so many decisions become easier. So many issues become nonissues! You know how best to groom yourself. You know what to watch and read, where to spend your time, and with whom to associate. You know what you want to accomplish. You know the kind of person you really want to become." (Let God Prevail)

So now that I better understand the principle behind the change, the question is "how do I adapt my parenting in order to embrace these changes?" In his talk, "Jesus Christ is the Strength of Youth", Elder Uchtdorf gives some great counsel. He said "Is it wrong to have rules? Of course not. We all need them every day. But it is wrong to focus only on rules instead of focusing on the Savior. You need to know the whys and the hows and then consider the consequences of your choices."

What I understand from this is that my role as a parent is not to make the decisions for my children, but to teach the principles of the gospel that will then help them make their own decisions based on their own personal revelation and their own understanding of how they can best let God prevail in their life.

The Patience of a Potter

The symbolism of the potter and the clay have been on my mind since last weeks CFM lesson where Isaiah first mentions this metaphor (Isaiah 64:8). I loved that in this weeks reading of Jeremiah, the Lord used the same metaphor to help teach Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:3-6). To help me better understand all the symbolism this metaphor has to offer, I read a talk given by Camille Fronk at BYU entitled "Lessons from the Potter and the Clay" To prepare for her talk, she visited a BYU ceramics professor to learn about the processes that takes place in order to make a clay pot. I wanted to share some of the lessons she learned that helped me better understand the symbolism imbedded in this metaphor.

• Clay is "a lowly substance capable of being formed into vessels of glory. It reminds us of our own nothingness without the skills, the vision, and the sacrifice of the Master Potter."
• "the potter must add water—another seemingly simple element, but one that has vital properties. Water brings the clay to life. The symbolic water we receive from the Savior is as critical to our existence as physical water is to the clay."
• "the potter dries out the clay while kneading it and eliminating air pockets...These “kneadings” of the potter can be paralleled to disappointments and at times severe challenges we experience individually or as a people. They are not intended to destroy but have a refining capacity to bring increased perspective and wisdom."
• "During the kneading process, the potter will become aware of stones and other foreign objects mixed in with the clay. They will need to be identified and removed by running a wire through the clay as the final preparation to shaping...It is through the process of repentance, confessing and forsaking our sins, that we do our part to become pure and receptive in the hands of the Potter."
• "It is critical that the clay be totally centered [on the wheel] or it can never respond to the directives of the potter and therefore never be formed into a vessel of honor. When the clay does not deviate to the left nor to the right, the potter knows it is centered...Once we are centered [on Christ], right to our very core, we have no need to fear."
• "a potter...does not concentrate on the outward appearance of the vessel. He knows that the outside will take care of itself when the inner space is formed. In other words, the form of the inner chamber determines the appearance of the exterior."
• "Of all sculpting materials, clay responds the easiest to touch and retains the most minute detail, even a thumbprint. Each detail can be changed innumerable times until the potter is satisfied and declares the vessel complete."
• "Not all clay vessels go into their desired shape the first time. Some become marred while they are on the potter’s wheel...While there are no guarantees that once on the wheel you will never go wrong, all is not lost for those who contend against the Potter... It is given another chance to be obedient and pliable in the hands of the potter."

Now, that I understood the symbolism of the metaphor a little bit better, it was easier to see how it applied to me-not only as clay, but also in my role as a potter. In Elder Schmitt's talk "That They Might Know Thee" given in General Conference two weeks ago, he challenged us to learn the different names of Christ.  Each week when we take the sacrament we commit to take upon us the name of Christ. What if each week we thought of a different name of Christ and the attributes associated with that name? If one of Christ's name is "potter", then what are some attributes we can learn about Him because of that name? Sister Fronk describes a potter like this...

• "A good potter always gives the clay respect by not moving it faster than it is capable of enduring and will never force it into a shape."
• "With a combination of pinching and pulling movements, adding the living water constantly to keep it flexible and alive, the potter leads the vessel to its proper form."
• "He can feel unique tendencies within the clay that, when followed, lead him to create a different vessel every time."

Patience and consistency. These are two words that will now come to my mind when I think of the Lord as a potter. As I am given "potter-like" responsibilities, when I am asked to help mold and shape some "wedges of clay", I hope I can reflect on this lesson: to be more like Christ I need to be more patient and consistent with the clay I've been given to work with.  Remembering that my job is not to force it into a certain shape but to lead it towards its proper form.

Isaiah Insights-Part 5

Watching General Conference the weekend before studying these last Isaiah chapters really framed the way I studied this weeks Come, Follow Me material (Isaiah 58-66). In the talk entitled “That They Might Know Thee” given by Elder Jonathan S.Schmitt he talked about the importance of taking the Lord's name upon us and challenged us to learn about all the different names of Jesus Christ, and by so doing, it might inspire us to become more like Him and to develop those different Christlike attributes. As I thought about this challenge and wondered how/when to start gathering those different names, one of the Come, Follow Me podcasts I listened to (Follow Him) talked about how prolific the book of Isaiah is when it comes to giving us different names of Jesus Christ! So, I had my answer. Start now with the book of Isaiah. Here are the names that I found...

Chapter 58: rereward (rearguard, or protector),  the holy of the Lord

Chapter 59: intercessor, Spirit of the Lord, Redeemer

Chapter 60: Lord thy God, Holy One of Israel, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel, Savior, Redeemer, mighty One of Jacob, Salvation, Praise, everlasting light

Chapter 61: bridegroom

Chapter 62: bridegroom

Chapter 63: Savior, father, redeemer

Chapter 64: father, potter

Chapter 65: God of truth

I also found it interesting to see some of the names that He calls us, His righteous followers...the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths, trees of righteousness, Priests of the Lord  Ministers of our God, clay and the work of thy hand.

I loved what I learned about what it might mean to be a "tree of righteousness." In the Follow Him podcast, Dr. Ross Baron talked about the characteristics of trees and how we might compare them to ourselves. 

1) trees always grow towards the light

2) trees require opposition to thrive

3) trees are best grown in forests, not in isolation

4) trees draw strength from previous generations of trees

5) trees point upward and use the power of the sun to provide oxygen for life

I love how he went into detail about point #3 and talked about how your ward and family are great laboratories where you get to practice developing Christlike attributes like faith, knowledge, temperance, patience...because you don't get that kind of development in isolation. It’s easy to be spiritual living alone on top of a mountain, but the real test of spirituality is found by putting yourself in a ward and in a family and then try living the gospel of Jesus Christ. This principle reminded me of another talk that was given in General Conference. Sister Michelle D. Craig in her talk entitled "Wholehearted" said "when your faith, your family, or your future are challenged-when you wonder why life is so hard when you are doing your best to live the gospel-remember that the Lord told us to expect troubles." She goes on to say that "living in convenience does not bring power." We don't need to go looking for trials, they will come no matter what. But when they do come we can try to see that adversity as a way to develop some Christlike attributes.

Isaiah Insights-Part 4

This week the Come, Follow Me manual covered Isaiah chapters 50-57. Here's what I learned...

Isaiah 50:1-2 If we ever feel distanced from God, it is us that have moved away from Him and not Him that has left us.

Isaiah 51 Invitations to remember who we are and invitations to act according to that knowledge (i.e. hearken, look, lift up your eyes, awake, put on and stand up.

Isaiah 53:12 what God gives us (divides) can only end up being multiplied to make more of it (i.e. His knowledge, His power, His love). It is the divine economy of heaven. It's why He can promise to give everyone all that he has, because those attributes are only multiplied once they are shared.

Isaiah 54:1-3 even those without children are told to expand their living spaces and to expect those spaces to be filled. God will promise us unexpected blessings.

Isaiah 55:8-9 God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours. We need to look to Him to inspire our ways and our thoughts.

Isaiah 56:3-8 Righteous living (not our genealogy) determines whether or not we are accepted into the Lord's kingdom. God is willing to let everyone in, if they choose to make and keep covenants with Him.

(my study resources were: "Don't Miss This" podcast, "Book of Mormon Central" podcast, "Follow Him" podcast, "Unshaken Saints" podcast, NIV Bible translation, ESV Bible translation, KJV Bible & footnotes, Old Testament Student Manual)