If
you really want to come to know your Savior, there are no shortcuts, no
way of getting around passing through the depths of humility.
The world associates the notion of 'humility' too closely with 'humiliation'. This is the wrong way to look at it. In this post, I'll discuss what the prophets of the Book of Mormon mean when they say 'humility', and why the difference between humility and pride is the difference between spiritual life and death, or, as Alma the Younger would say, "joy and remorse of conscience". (Alma 29:4-5)
To really understand the word 'humility' the way the prophets in the Book of Mormon use it, we first need to understand the word 'pride'. If you haven't already, please take some time to read my article about the kind of pride described in the Book of Mormon. This article builds on what you'll find there.
Humility in the Book of Mormon
All too often, it seems like it takes something really serious happening in our lives before we will truly seek to know our Savior or come unto Him. Some of us need to lose our every earthly possession before we will see that there are far more valuable blessings to be had than mere "things". Some of us have to writhe in the chains and captivity of addiction before we will humble ourselves and learn of the incredible saving, changing power of that God who first championed our freedom in the councils of heaven. Some of us need a death in the family to humble us, to make us wish we'd spent just one more minute together, to make us wish that we'd said "I love you" just one last time before our chance to speak those elusive words slipped away from us forever.
This is, in fact, the reason why the Lord sent us to live in an imperfect world, where bad things happen: He wants us to experience the best he has to offer us, but we can only do that if we are willing to humble ourselves. That is the only reason the Lord allows these kinds of things to happen - so that, by way of humility, we can learn the joy of having His help in overcoming them.
But what if I told you that the salvation we experience under those extraordinary circumstances is only the infinitesimal tip of the iceberg? What if I told you that the greatest blessings the Lord has to offer are for everyone, all the time - if only we would just ask?! In my pride article (see the link above), we learned about the need to get into the habit of using living water to meet real human, emotional needs. In my article about building on the rock of the Redeemer, we learned how to feed our tree, how to work with the Lord of the vineyard to get our tree changed. Here in mortality, all of us feel weakness, temptation and trial - all the time! There isn't an hour that goes by, in any day, that we don't face something in our lives the Lord can help with! The Lord wants to be personally involved in our lives! Letting Him do that brings great joy, for what greater joy can we know than to feel the Lord walking next to us, through every footstep, through every temptation, through every heartache?
Alma the Younger and Amulek taught the Zoramites the same thing. These poor Zoramites had been driven from their synagogue, robbed of their labor, and mocked for their poverty by their own people. Alma and Amulek taught them that it was good that they had reached such a level of humility because of their circumstances. But they also taught that it is better to reach that same level of humility without the need for such things:
"And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved. And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty. Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble..." (Alma 32:13-16)
It seems like too many of us have to have these big events in our lives, forcing us to change, before we'll seek the Lord. The people of king Limhi found themselves in a state of captivity, having gotten there by way of ignoring the Lord's prophets and His commandments. It took being made to serve as slaves to get them to turn around, but they finally did:
"And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions." (Mosiah 21:14)
It took a long time, suffering in captivity and praying constantly, day in, and day out, for the Lord to begin to answer their prayers. In our time, early Latter-Day Saints made similar mistakes. Of their actions, the Lord said:
"They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me." (Doctrine and Covenants 101:7-8)
What we fail to understand, and what we most need to remember, is that we all have afflictions - great and small - with which the Lord can and will help us, all the time - if only we'll just ask Him to! The Lord wants us to "feel after Him" all the time, not just "in the day of [our] trouble!"
Thing is, most of us by far are slow to remember our God, slow to seek His counsel and His help for our small, everyday problems. We see all these "thou-shalts" and "thou-shalt-nots" - all the "dos" and "don'ts" of gospel living - and we wonder how we'll ever live up to all of it. In the same stroke, we turn back to our busy lives, rarely asking for the Lord's help with any of it! And then, we have the nerve to wonder why we continue to feel like we're failing in our efforts to live the gospel, why it is that our prayers seem to bounce off the walls, instead of reaching heaven like they're supposed to.
I feel to shout from the rooftops the Lord's lamentation:
"And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." (3 Nephi 10:5)
How oft would he gather us, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, how oft would he supply ample means for even us weak mortal beings to know the indescribable joy of really living the gospel - if only we'd just decide that we want Him to!
Feeling the Need for Change
We rarely realize the need for a Savior or for His power in our lives until we hit a point where something has got to change. We come unto rough circumstances, or we pick up a habit that we can't seem to beat - or maybe we get a new job or a new calling in church that feels like too much to handle alone. Whatever the case, we struggle to be equal to the task before us, but find ourselves unable.
Whether you've got a bad habit that has proven to be too much of a nuisance, or whether you've got an addiction that has really been yanking your chain, or even if you've just kind of spiritually fallen asleep at the wheel and need help waking up, the cure for all these things starts with humility. We have to learn to depend on the Lord for things only He can do. The trick is teaching our too-often stubborn hearts to go there.
The Three Depths of Humility
I hope you'll forgive a little bit of literary license here. The Book of Mormon speaks of the "depths of humility" as a state of having attained sufficient humility. In my own experience, it helps me to remember three necessary ingredients that, to me, represent the depths of humility.
Depth of Humility #1: Commitment - Doing things the Lord's Way, By the Lord's Rules, with His Power
We cannot truly begin a quest for change without making some sort of commitment to ourselves and to our Heavenly Father in prayer. This quest may start when we make the covenant of baptism. It can also start when we realize we need a change: we commit to work with the Lord in prayer, and then partake of the sacrament as soon as opportunity permits. Those who do not have access to these ordinances can, for the time being, simply make that commitment in prayer.
How to Pray
The Right Kind of Commitment
In making this kind of commitment, we should not "box ourselves in", to the point that we feel like we have to either succeed or call ourselves complete failures. I'm not talking about the kind of commitment where we get all psyched up and come boiling out of church "with our guns blazing", ready to pound opposing forces into the dust. This kind of fierce commitment provides a short-lived emotional "high" that can only last so long before it fizzles out and leaves us wondering how we're ever going to succeed.
No, the kind of commitment the Lord requires is a bed of hot, slow-burning embers of faith - a rock-solid, heartfelt resolution to do as the Lord has commanded, and not allow ourselves to mess around or cut corners. This kind of commitment is a decision and a promise made to the Lord and to ourselves that we will do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all. It helps me to repeat that to myself: I will do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all. Making this kind of commitment means deciding that, whatever we think to do, if the Lord won't be a part of it - or at least give His nod of approval - we shouldn't and won't be doing it! Whatever the Lord will be a part of, we need to make a point of inviting Him along.
Perhaps the most fitting example of this kind of humility is found in these simple words from the prophet Nephi: "...thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey". (2 Nephi 33:15)
Commitment Equals Power
Our willingness to make and keep that promise to the Lord gives us access to the powers of heaven. It has been in making and keeping that promise I have found power to overcome things that had proven to be impossible challenges in my life! Being constantly committed to the Lord in this way gives us unimaginable power!
It is much easier to handle temptations and tough choices if we've made the important decisions and established our priorities well before we come to the inevitable fork in the road.
President Kimball teaches about making "right decisions" now instead of "at the fork".
To me, the most inspiring example of this kind of commitment is the one the Ammonites made, never to use their weapons of war again - no matter what. These are the words their Lamanite king spoke to them, to inspire them to make the commitment:
"Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby. And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved. And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth. And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands. And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace."
Making that commitment gave them power, made them "firm". Having the commitment in their hearts and their weapons in the ground made it possible for them to make the changes in their lives they knew they needed to make - even to the point of giving up their lives as they had covenanted to do.
Taking the Lords Laws Seriously
We all have things we do every day where, whatever small situation we may be in, we just react a certain way, knowing when we stop to think about it that our reaction isn't really in keeping with the Lord's commandments. Either the Lord approves or He doesn't approve. Either our knee-jerk reaction is in violation of His principles and standards - in violation of my covenants, or it isn't. If this is a violation, shouldn't I be doing a better job of remembering that and acting like it? It's one thing to try and fail, but it's another thing entirely to let force of habit displace principle in governing our actions. It's another thing entirely not to really even be trying.
I've noticed that when I find an area in my life like this, the real cause is not the weakness or the temptation, but a lack of humility. I find that when I take the Lord's laws seriously, when I take my baptismal covenant seriously, when I think about past experiences and how it felt to have the Lord closer in my life than the current sin allows, that is usually enough of a check to make me think at least once before I act. For me, humility turns out to be a sort of "spiritual Achilles heel". I don't know about you, but, when it comes to finding the level of humility that motivates change, I for one have a lot to learn!
Writing "The Check"
The world associates the notion of 'humility' too closely with 'humiliation'. This is the wrong way to look at it. In this post, I'll discuss what the prophets of the Book of Mormon mean when they say 'humility', and why the difference between humility and pride is the difference between spiritual life and death, or, as Alma the Younger would say, "joy and remorse of conscience". (Alma 29:4-5)
To really understand the word 'humility' the way the prophets in the Book of Mormon use it, we first need to understand the word 'pride'. If you haven't already, please take some time to read my article about the kind of pride described in the Book of Mormon. This article builds on what you'll find there.
Humility in the Book of Mormon
All too often, it seems like it takes something really serious happening in our lives before we will truly seek to know our Savior or come unto Him. Some of us need to lose our every earthly possession before we will see that there are far more valuable blessings to be had than mere "things". Some of us have to writhe in the chains and captivity of addiction before we will humble ourselves and learn of the incredible saving, changing power of that God who first championed our freedom in the councils of heaven. Some of us need a death in the family to humble us, to make us wish we'd spent just one more minute together, to make us wish that we'd said "I love you" just one last time before our chance to speak those elusive words slipped away from us forever.
This is, in fact, the reason why the Lord sent us to live in an imperfect world, where bad things happen: He wants us to experience the best he has to offer us, but we can only do that if we are willing to humble ourselves. That is the only reason the Lord allows these kinds of things to happen - so that, by way of humility, we can learn the joy of having His help in overcoming them.
But what if I told you that the salvation we experience under those extraordinary circumstances is only the infinitesimal tip of the iceberg? What if I told you that the greatest blessings the Lord has to offer are for everyone, all the time - if only we would just ask?! In my pride article (see the link above), we learned about the need to get into the habit of using living water to meet real human, emotional needs. In my article about building on the rock of the Redeemer, we learned how to feed our tree, how to work with the Lord of the vineyard to get our tree changed. Here in mortality, all of us feel weakness, temptation and trial - all the time! There isn't an hour that goes by, in any day, that we don't face something in our lives the Lord can help with! The Lord wants to be personally involved in our lives! Letting Him do that brings great joy, for what greater joy can we know than to feel the Lord walking next to us, through every footstep, through every temptation, through every heartache?
Alma the Younger and Amulek taught the Zoramites the same thing. These poor Zoramites had been driven from their synagogue, robbed of their labor, and mocked for their poverty by their own people. Alma and Amulek taught them that it was good that they had reached such a level of humility because of their circumstances. But they also taught that it is better to reach that same level of humility without the need for such things:
"And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved. And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty. Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble..." (Alma 32:13-16)
It seems like too many of us have to have these big events in our lives, forcing us to change, before we'll seek the Lord. The people of king Limhi found themselves in a state of captivity, having gotten there by way of ignoring the Lord's prophets and His commandments. It took being made to serve as slaves to get them to turn around, but they finally did:
"And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions." (Mosiah 21:14)
It took a long time, suffering in captivity and praying constantly, day in, and day out, for the Lord to begin to answer their prayers. In our time, early Latter-Day Saints made similar mistakes. Of their actions, the Lord said:
"They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me." (Doctrine and Covenants 101:7-8)
What we fail to understand, and what we most need to remember, is that we all have afflictions - great and small - with which the Lord can and will help us, all the time - if only we'll just ask Him to! The Lord wants us to "feel after Him" all the time, not just "in the day of [our] trouble!"
Thing is, most of us by far are slow to remember our God, slow to seek His counsel and His help for our small, everyday problems. We see all these "thou-shalts" and "thou-shalt-nots" - all the "dos" and "don'ts" of gospel living - and we wonder how we'll ever live up to all of it. In the same stroke, we turn back to our busy lives, rarely asking for the Lord's help with any of it! And then, we have the nerve to wonder why we continue to feel like we're failing in our efforts to live the gospel, why it is that our prayers seem to bounce off the walls, instead of reaching heaven like they're supposed to.
I feel to shout from the rooftops the Lord's lamentation:
"And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." (3 Nephi 10:5)
How oft would he gather us, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, how oft would he supply ample means for even us weak mortal beings to know the indescribable joy of really living the gospel - if only we'd just decide that we want Him to!
Feeling the Need for Change
We rarely realize the need for a Savior or for His power in our lives until we hit a point where something has got to change. We come unto rough circumstances, or we pick up a habit that we can't seem to beat - or maybe we get a new job or a new calling in church that feels like too much to handle alone. Whatever the case, we struggle to be equal to the task before us, but find ourselves unable.
Whether you've got a bad habit that has proven to be too much of a nuisance, or whether you've got an addiction that has really been yanking your chain, or even if you've just kind of spiritually fallen asleep at the wheel and need help waking up, the cure for all these things starts with humility. We have to learn to depend on the Lord for things only He can do. The trick is teaching our too-often stubborn hearts to go there.
The Three Depths of Humility
I hope you'll forgive a little bit of literary license here. The Book of Mormon speaks of the "depths of humility" as a state of having attained sufficient humility. In my own experience, it helps me to remember three necessary ingredients that, to me, represent the depths of humility.
Depth of Humility #1: Commitment - Doing things the Lord's Way, By the Lord's Rules, with His Power
We cannot truly begin a quest for change without making some sort of commitment to ourselves and to our Heavenly Father in prayer. This quest may start when we make the covenant of baptism. It can also start when we realize we need a change: we commit to work with the Lord in prayer, and then partake of the sacrament as soon as opportunity permits. Those who do not have access to these ordinances can, for the time being, simply make that commitment in prayer.
How to Pray
The Right Kind of Commitment
In making this kind of commitment, we should not "box ourselves in", to the point that we feel like we have to either succeed or call ourselves complete failures. I'm not talking about the kind of commitment where we get all psyched up and come boiling out of church "with our guns blazing", ready to pound opposing forces into the dust. This kind of fierce commitment provides a short-lived emotional "high" that can only last so long before it fizzles out and leaves us wondering how we're ever going to succeed.
No, the kind of commitment the Lord requires is a bed of hot, slow-burning embers of faith - a rock-solid, heartfelt resolution to do as the Lord has commanded, and not allow ourselves to mess around or cut corners. This kind of commitment is a decision and a promise made to the Lord and to ourselves that we will do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all. It helps me to repeat that to myself: I will do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all. Making this kind of commitment means deciding that, whatever we think to do, if the Lord won't be a part of it - or at least give His nod of approval - we shouldn't and won't be doing it! Whatever the Lord will be a part of, we need to make a point of inviting Him along.
Perhaps the most fitting example of this kind of humility is found in these simple words from the prophet Nephi: "...thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey". (2 Nephi 33:15)
Commitment Equals Power
Our willingness to make and keep that promise to the Lord gives us access to the powers of heaven. It has been in making and keeping that promise I have found power to overcome things that had proven to be impossible challenges in my life! Being constantly committed to the Lord in this way gives us unimaginable power!
It is much easier to handle temptations and tough choices if we've made the important decisions and established our priorities well before we come to the inevitable fork in the road.
President Kimball teaches about making "right decisions" now instead of "at the fork".
To me, the most inspiring example of this kind of commitment is the one the Ammonites made, never to use their weapons of war again - no matter what. These are the words their Lamanite king spoke to them, to inspire them to make the commitment:
"Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby. And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved. And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth. And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands. And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace."
Making that commitment gave them power, made them "firm". Having the commitment in their hearts and their weapons in the ground made it possible for them to make the changes in their lives they knew they needed to make - even to the point of giving up their lives as they had covenanted to do.
Taking the Lords Laws Seriously
We all have things we do every day where, whatever small situation we may be in, we just react a certain way, knowing when we stop to think about it that our reaction isn't really in keeping with the Lord's commandments. Either the Lord approves or He doesn't approve. Either our knee-jerk reaction is in violation of His principles and standards - in violation of my covenants, or it isn't. If this is a violation, shouldn't I be doing a better job of remembering that and acting like it? It's one thing to try and fail, but it's another thing entirely to let force of habit displace principle in governing our actions. It's another thing entirely not to really even be trying.
I've noticed that when I find an area in my life like this, the real cause is not the weakness or the temptation, but a lack of humility. I find that when I take the Lord's laws seriously, when I take my baptismal covenant seriously, when I think about past experiences and how it felt to have the Lord closer in my life than the current sin allows, that is usually enough of a check to make me think at least once before I act. For me, humility turns out to be a sort of "spiritual Achilles heel". I don't know about you, but, when it comes to finding the level of humility that motivates change, I for one have a lot to learn!
Writing "The Check"
If
we want to succeed at living the gospel, we need to enter into depth of
humility number one: we need to make the commitment, we need to "write
the check" we cannot cash, and we need to trust that the Lord will eventually enable us to make good on it. We need to be ready to do things the Lord's way, with His help, by His power, or not at all.
Depth #2: Acknowledgement of Weakness - Without Me, Ye Can Do Nothing
There's a big difference between having the faith to make that commitment and expecting too much of yourself. I can't tell you how many times I've written that check and then forgotten to do what it takes to get the help I needed to make it good. Committing to living the gospel and then trying to do it all by yourself - without the Lord's help - is a recipe for disaster. When we fail to pull it off, we crash and burn, and it hurts!
The Importance of Acknowledging Weakness
Depth number two is the acknowledgement of our weakness, of the fact that overcoming sin in our lives by ourselves is literally impossible. In commanding us to live up to His standard, the Lord really has, in no small way, asked us to walk on water. For mortal beings, it is impossible.
The Lord seems to have an infinite supply of patience and waiting arms that are always open for those who whole-heartedly acknowledge their weakness - their need for His help - in prayer.
The Savior said to the prophet Moroni:
"...my grace is sufficient for the meek... if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Behold, I will show unto [men] their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness." (Ether 12:26-28)
God created this earth, and then put us here on it to experience temptation and weakness - and the consequences that come of it. I personally believe the reason why is to give us powerful incentives - both positive and negative - for learning the most important lesson of mortality: the habit of accessing the power of God for accomplishing righteousness and living happily in an imperfect world. It is through faith, hope and charity that we access the fountain of all righteousness, for Christ himself is, or contains within His being, the power to live righteously. The reason Christ was able to live a perfect life is that He had the power to do it within Him, despite the weaknesses of mortality which, according to the apostle Paul, even He did in fact experience. If we would follow in His footsteps, we must learn to access the same power. He is the vine, and we must become the branches. There is no other way!
In my life, the way the Lord has usually shown me my weakness is by effectually and authoritatively making it disappear. You and I may struggle in vain all our lives against a weakness we despise in ourselves, and never budge it, never make an inch of progress toward really overcoming it. But, no sooner do you connect into your power source - begin seeking to have the Lord's help in everything - and that weakness slowly but surely begins to be eased, "that even you cannot feel [it] upon your back(s), even while you are in bondage".
After finding themselves in bondage, and humbling themselves before the Lord, the people of king Limhi experienced having their burdens lifted in this way:
"...the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens..." (Mosiah 21:15)
Alma the Elder and his converts fled from the armies of king Noah and built the city of Helam in the wilderness. There, they were eventually taken prisoners by the Lamanites, and they were forced into bondage. They also felt the Lord's support, lifting their burdens in the midst of their afflictions:
"And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." (Mosiah 24:13-15)
It isn't that the weakness disappears - Alma and his converts still had to lift the burdens. When you're plugged into your rightful Power Source, you can lift that burden with ease, even "laying aside every sin which doth easily beset you". (Alma 7:15) It is not you and I, but rather He that makes weak things become strong unto us! With Him involved, we maintain our ability to get out of trouble and stay out of trouble. Forget to seek the Lord, and you'll find trouble - your own brand of "Lamanites" - seems to follow you doggedly, wherever you go.
As Leaves that Need the Vine
As we begin to realize that you and I really are as leaves that need the Vine, we will feel more and more the Lord's benevolent power and influence in our lives. We'll learn the meaning of this earth-shattering phrase, neatly disguised as "nice words on a page" in a hymn:
"my weakness in mercy, he covers with power..." (LDS Hymns, #89 - The Lord is My Light)
If you follow my blog often, you'll see these words time and time again - Paul wrote the following in his epistle to the Hebrews:
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Humility does mean acknowledging that we are weak in doing all the Lord has asked of us, but it is also the key to the Power that makes our weakness irrelevant!
I firmly believe that, whether in this life or in the next, if we are to go onto eternal perfection as we have been commanded to do, we will have to learn to use the Lord's power for overcoming our weaknesses and living up to our covenants. To do that, we have to get to know our Savior - it has to be something that happens between you and Him. It has to be deeply personal! There is no greater joy than that of loving our God, and there is no other way! We need our Savior!
Don't Do It Alone
While among the Nephites in ancient America, the Lord taught:
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you... ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see... and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation." (3 Nephi 18:18-20,25)
For me, the hardest form of humility I've had to learn is that I can't do it by myself. It seems like too often it's easy to just live life, and when circumstances line up, we just react without thinking. Then, I wonder why I feel myself growing more impatient and irritable with each growing day. The devil would have us believe that life is all about watching out for "number one" - it's all about me. We seem to operate on the belief that life owes us everything we want without having to work too hard for it, including freedom from pain, frustration and disappointment. In this frame of mind, temptation drives us "to and fro", sifting us as wheat. But asking the Lord for help shifts our focus. It gets us thinking about Him, which gets Him helping us. Somehow, connecting to Him through prayer gives us both the knowledge of what it is we need to be doing, and the power to do it. Not only that, but, in my own experience, the Lord seems to best recognize my effort when I'm making a point of explicitly inviting Him to be a part of it.
Depth #3: Trust in God
With mortal weakness constantly getting in the way, living up to our covenants really is impossible for us to do alone. Fortunately for us, we know Someone who specializes in pulling off the impossible. We know someone who turned water into wine, gave the blind their sight, unstopped the ears of the deaf, and restored strength to the lame. We know someone who made it possible for Peter to walk with Him upon the Sea of Gallilee!
The thing is, we will never make the commitment to our Heavenly Father to really do as He has asked, if we don't trust Him. One of the most important things we can learn to do in this life is trust our Heavenly Father - and our Savior too.
Anxious Load
Back when I was going through divorce, I was feeling a lot of pressure. I had my fear of the litigative process. I had the worry about how am I going to pay bills and have enough to get by with the payments I would need to make. I still wanted to be a Daddy and be a part of my kids' lives, but didn't know how to do it under the circumstances. I was dealing with a lot of anger and resentment because of the situation. I struggling with vengeful thoughts and feelings toward my ex. At one point, these ugly feelings worked themselves up to a level where I couldn't handle it anymore. I needed not to feel this way! I hated what I was becoming! I began praying desperately for help.
In this state of heart, one evening I went to the chapel to get in some organ practice for Sunday. As I always do, before I practiced my assigned hymns, I flipped through and picked some easier hymns to kind of get my mind into organ mode. One of the hymns I landed on was "How Gentle God's Commands".
The first verse caught my attention:
"How gentle God's commands! How kind his precepts are!
Come cast your burdens on the Lord, and trust His constant care!"
I had burdens, and I knew they needed to be "cast on the Lord!" I felt the Spirit tell me I needed His constant care, and that I'd have to learn to trust Him in order to have it. The second verse began to be as salve to my wounded soul:
"Beneath His watchful eye, His Saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up shall guard His children well."
The third verse brought me to tears:
"Why should this anxious load press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heav'nly Father's throne and sweet refreshment find!"
The fourth verse bore the lesson of the moment:
"His goodness stands approved, unchanged from day to day;
I'll drop my burden at His feet and bear a song away."
I prayed and felt both a growing willingness to trust in His way of doing things, along with my load growing lighter by the minute. The next hymn I flipped to didn't seem to have much to do with this, but ended up surprising me anyway: Hymn #19 - We Thank Thee O God, for a Prophet. The second verse taught me a powerful, badly needed lesson that day:
"When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us
And we know that deliv'rance is nigh.
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.
We've proved Him in days that are past.
The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last."
Decision to Trust
I decided then and there, that no matter how frightening or stressful my circumstances might be, no matter what happened to me, the best possible outcome would only be mine if I would trust in the Lord, acknowledge my weakness - my need for His help - and be willing to do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all.
That day as I played and prayed on the organ, I committed to trust my Heavenly Father. Making and keeping that commitment gave me the opportunity to learn some neat things about what happens when we begin to trust our God.
Neat Thing #1 - The Lord will show me what He's doing in my life, and why!
I was surprised to find that, when my life hit a rough patch, as it often did then, there was always something specific the Lord wanted me to learn or to gain from the experience. I might value having things go easier, not having to fight my battles in court or with my weaknesses, or with my tenant at the time. But, rather than save me from my pain, the Lord was more interested in leveraging my pain to help me learn what it means to have Him and His love and His power in my life!
I found that when I trusted in my God, through the whisperings of the Spirit I could see specifically what it was He wanted me to learn, and I could see that the value of what He had in mind was high enough to make my pain worth bearing.
Neat Thing #2 - By virtue of His infinite capacity, He both wants and is able to procure my happiness - infinitely more so than I am.
One day, as I thought about it, I realized I knew from experience that my God was a benevolent god, if He was anything at all. I knew that, given His infinite power and capacity for love - which I myself had experienced - He is infinitely more capable of wanting my happiness than I am! Not only that, but, being an all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing God, He is infinitely more capable of helping me reach that happiness than I am of doing it on my own!
Earth-shattering conclusion: If I'll decide that the happiness I want is of the spiritual kind, I can trust my almighty God with my happiness!
That means I can sacrifice or endure endlessly for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I can have every confidence that He will see me come out on top - with Him by my side, every step of the way! Instantly I understood the power this could bring into my life. I understood how this kind of trust must have been the thing that enabled the Mormon pioneers to make the sacrifices and the hard journey of coming to the West. Now, I could use that same trust in God to get through anything and everything that might come my way!
Many years after the bondage they experienced at the city of Helam, Alma the Younger said this about his father's converts:
"...they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved." (Alma 5:13)
Our trust in God must be absolute, with no exceptions whatsoever - and no excuses. The more firm and unshaken our trust in God, the more firm and unshaken is our salvation from sin, the more firm and unshaken is our joy in Him.
"Turning Our Will Over to God"
If you've ever leafed through a pamphlet of the twelve-step Alcoholic's Anonymous program, you know one of the twelve steps is "turning your will over to God".
I personally don't believe in turning my will over to anyone, and I don't believe that a God who championed our freedom in the councils of heaven expects us to either. One of the big things our Heavenly Father sent us here to Earth to do was live our own lives.
However, I do believe the concept they're trying to teach is a critical one.
The thing is, the more we trust in God, the more our will reflects His. The more we seek to use our moral agency the way He would if He were here, the more we feel his power in our lives, helping us do it. Our Heavenly Father sometimes has different plans - better plans - for our lives than we do. He has different ideas about right and wrong than we do, more frequently than we realize. Most of us just aren't as accustomed to paying attention as we think we are.
We all have "weapons" we're used to using for dealing with certain things. Anger, back-biting, sarcasm, yelling, swearing, stonewalling - even alcohol or drugs - can all be weapons we're used to fighting our battles with - weapons that need to be buried. The Lamanites who went on to become the Ammonites were willing to bury their weapons of war and do without in order to make amends for all they had done wrong and to keep from returning to sin. That meant losing their lives if someone attacked them. It also meant a change of career. They went from surviving by pillaging to having to "labor abundantly with their hands". In order to survive, they had to learn, not just a new way of doing things, but a whole new trade. That's no small sacrifice! Why did they do it? They valued the peace that came from making and keeping their covenant with God so greatly that they preferred to die rather than lose it. They "buried their weapons of war... for peace."
The notion of "turning our will over to God" is about learning to love our God enough to notice when His will differs from ours, and then trust Him enough to make our will conform to His. This is especially important when it means burying ugly old weapons of war and finding a new way of doing things. If we will learn to conform our will to His unflinchingly, we can know the joy - and the great peace - of "securely dwelling beneath His watchful eye".
Just Can't Go There Anymore
The more accustomed we become to knowing and doing the Lord's will in our lives, the more we realize that much of what society and the world has taught us about how to handle everything from unruly fellow drivers on the road to misbehaving children at home is wrong. The more we trust Him, the more we are willing to give up those ways of doing things - even if it means not having any way of dealing with certain things, while we're learning the Lord's way.
We've got to learn to trust the Lord so completely that, when we realize familiar ways are wrong ways, we come to feel deeply that we "just can't go there anymore".
If we will do this, we have the Lord's promise given through Isaiah:
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)
Staying in the Depths of Humility
Speaking to the members of the Church in his time, John the Revelator said:
"I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16)
If you think about it, water is only useful if it is either hot or cold. Nobody likes to drink or bathe in lukewarm water. It takes work or energy to get water that is either hot or cold, and it takes work or energy to keep it that way - that's why the stove and refrigerator have to be plugged in, just as we do.
All too often, I look myself in the mirror and realize I've gone spiritually lukewarm yet again. The reason? Somehow, somewhere along the way, I let my level of commitment slide, and I quit making the effort I was making before. There is joy in having ice cold determination to do what is right; there is joy in being on fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ! The biggest thing we can do to make sure we stay in the depths of humility is: we've got to keep the passion alive!
If, through the Atonement, we have recently achieved some badly needed overcoming, we may feel forgiven and free from our sin, like we have nothing to worry about when it comes to temptation. We may, in our new-found security, become careless once again.
Nephi warned:
"...others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully..." (2 Nephi 28:21)
Alma the Younger cautioned his son, Helaman:
"...do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way..." (Alma 37:46t)
Our Need for Help Never Goes Away
The remission of sins may restore our moral agency, but it does not remove mortal weakness. The fact that we are still subject to temptation that will inevitably come around again has not changed. If we want to keep our forgiveness and our freedom, we will still need to keep our God nearby!
In an effort to help his people to stay in the depths of humility, Alma the Younger asked:
"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life." (Alma 5:26-28)
Unfortunately, living in mortality as we do, the natural default is to get on with our day, and never bother to find out just how much the Lord really can help us. It's perfectly normal for pretty much everyone - church members included - to do too much of what Book of Mormon prophets called "living without God in the world". Alma the younger taught his son Corianton:
"Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness. And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness." (Alma 41:10-11)
So long as we neglect to seek our God and to have His living water and His power always in our lives, the next slip-up is only one false move away, and some degree of misery - the misery of living without God in the world - is the inevitable result.
Humility is not about changing our ways because God started throwing thunderbolts - most of the time by far, that's not the way God works. Humility is not about waiting for ourselves to get "tired" of the "buzz" we get when we indulge a bad habit or addiction - it'll never happen. Humility is not waiting for that mystical, imaginary day when you'll magically morph into a "more spiritual person" and be ready to change, for this is putting the cart before the horse. Humility is not about waiting until living the gospel is easy or fun. Humility is not about waiting until we "feel like it". Humility is about being willing to make sacrifices to make changes in your life, and then watch with joy as you begin to feel like "more of a spiritual person" because of your sacrifice.
We have to sacrifice out of love for our Heavenly Father, out of a strong desire to have Jesus Christ to be a part of our lives, just as as He sacrificed to have us be a part of His. It may be that the highest form of humility is that which was exemplified by the Savior as described in the words of a sacrament hymn about His atoning sacrifice:
"Oh dearly, dearly, has He loved, and we must love Him too..." (Hymns #194 - There Is a Green Hill Far Away)
Said He, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15)
Depth #2: Acknowledgement of Weakness - Without Me, Ye Can Do Nothing
There's a big difference between having the faith to make that commitment and expecting too much of yourself. I can't tell you how many times I've written that check and then forgotten to do what it takes to get the help I needed to make it good. Committing to living the gospel and then trying to do it all by yourself - without the Lord's help - is a recipe for disaster. When we fail to pull it off, we crash and burn, and it hurts!
The Importance of Acknowledging Weakness
Depth number two is the acknowledgement of our weakness, of the fact that overcoming sin in our lives by ourselves is literally impossible. In commanding us to live up to His standard, the Lord really has, in no small way, asked us to walk on water. For mortal beings, it is impossible.
The Lord seems to have an infinite supply of patience and waiting arms that are always open for those who whole-heartedly acknowledge their weakness - their need for His help - in prayer.
The Savior said to the prophet Moroni:
"...my grace is sufficient for the meek... if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Behold, I will show unto [men] their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness." (Ether 12:26-28)
God created this earth, and then put us here on it to experience temptation and weakness - and the consequences that come of it. I personally believe the reason why is to give us powerful incentives - both positive and negative - for learning the most important lesson of mortality: the habit of accessing the power of God for accomplishing righteousness and living happily in an imperfect world. It is through faith, hope and charity that we access the fountain of all righteousness, for Christ himself is, or contains within His being, the power to live righteously. The reason Christ was able to live a perfect life is that He had the power to do it within Him, despite the weaknesses of mortality which, according to the apostle Paul, even He did in fact experience. If we would follow in His footsteps, we must learn to access the same power. He is the vine, and we must become the branches. There is no other way!
In my life, the way the Lord has usually shown me my weakness is by effectually and authoritatively making it disappear. You and I may struggle in vain all our lives against a weakness we despise in ourselves, and never budge it, never make an inch of progress toward really overcoming it. But, no sooner do you connect into your power source - begin seeking to have the Lord's help in everything - and that weakness slowly but surely begins to be eased, "that even you cannot feel [it] upon your back(s), even while you are in bondage".
After finding themselves in bondage, and humbling themselves before the Lord, the people of king Limhi experienced having their burdens lifted in this way:
"...the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens..." (Mosiah 21:15)
Alma the Elder and his converts fled from the armies of king Noah and built the city of Helam in the wilderness. There, they were eventually taken prisoners by the Lamanites, and they were forced into bondage. They also felt the Lord's support, lifting their burdens in the midst of their afflictions:
"And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." (Mosiah 24:13-15)
It isn't that the weakness disappears - Alma and his converts still had to lift the burdens. When you're plugged into your rightful Power Source, you can lift that burden with ease, even "laying aside every sin which doth easily beset you". (Alma 7:15) It is not you and I, but rather He that makes weak things become strong unto us! With Him involved, we maintain our ability to get out of trouble and stay out of trouble. Forget to seek the Lord, and you'll find trouble - your own brand of "Lamanites" - seems to follow you doggedly, wherever you go.
As Leaves that Need the Vine
As we begin to realize that you and I really are as leaves that need the Vine, we will feel more and more the Lord's benevolent power and influence in our lives. We'll learn the meaning of this earth-shattering phrase, neatly disguised as "nice words on a page" in a hymn:
"my weakness in mercy, he covers with power..." (LDS Hymns, #89 - The Lord is My Light)
If you follow my blog often, you'll see these words time and time again - Paul wrote the following in his epistle to the Hebrews:
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Humility does mean acknowledging that we are weak in doing all the Lord has asked of us, but it is also the key to the Power that makes our weakness irrelevant!
I firmly believe that, whether in this life or in the next, if we are to go onto eternal perfection as we have been commanded to do, we will have to learn to use the Lord's power for overcoming our weaknesses and living up to our covenants. To do that, we have to get to know our Savior - it has to be something that happens between you and Him. It has to be deeply personal! There is no greater joy than that of loving our God, and there is no other way! We need our Savior!
Don't Do It Alone
While among the Nephites in ancient America, the Lord taught:
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you... ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see... and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation." (3 Nephi 18:18-20,25)
For me, the hardest form of humility I've had to learn is that I can't do it by myself. It seems like too often it's easy to just live life, and when circumstances line up, we just react without thinking. Then, I wonder why I feel myself growing more impatient and irritable with each growing day. The devil would have us believe that life is all about watching out for "number one" - it's all about me. We seem to operate on the belief that life owes us everything we want without having to work too hard for it, including freedom from pain, frustration and disappointment. In this frame of mind, temptation drives us "to and fro", sifting us as wheat. But asking the Lord for help shifts our focus. It gets us thinking about Him, which gets Him helping us. Somehow, connecting to Him through prayer gives us both the knowledge of what it is we need to be doing, and the power to do it. Not only that, but, in my own experience, the Lord seems to best recognize my effort when I'm making a point of explicitly inviting Him to be a part of it.
Depth #3: Trust in God
With mortal weakness constantly getting in the way, living up to our covenants really is impossible for us to do alone. Fortunately for us, we know Someone who specializes in pulling off the impossible. We know someone who turned water into wine, gave the blind their sight, unstopped the ears of the deaf, and restored strength to the lame. We know someone who made it possible for Peter to walk with Him upon the Sea of Gallilee!
The thing is, we will never make the commitment to our Heavenly Father to really do as He has asked, if we don't trust Him. One of the most important things we can learn to do in this life is trust our Heavenly Father - and our Savior too.
Anxious Load
Back when I was going through divorce, I was feeling a lot of pressure. I had my fear of the litigative process. I had the worry about how am I going to pay bills and have enough to get by with the payments I would need to make. I still wanted to be a Daddy and be a part of my kids' lives, but didn't know how to do it under the circumstances. I was dealing with a lot of anger and resentment because of the situation. I struggling with vengeful thoughts and feelings toward my ex. At one point, these ugly feelings worked themselves up to a level where I couldn't handle it anymore. I needed not to feel this way! I hated what I was becoming! I began praying desperately for help.
In this state of heart, one evening I went to the chapel to get in some organ practice for Sunday. As I always do, before I practiced my assigned hymns, I flipped through and picked some easier hymns to kind of get my mind into organ mode. One of the hymns I landed on was "How Gentle God's Commands".
The first verse caught my attention:
"How gentle God's commands! How kind his precepts are!
Come cast your burdens on the Lord, and trust His constant care!"
I had burdens, and I knew they needed to be "cast on the Lord!" I felt the Spirit tell me I needed His constant care, and that I'd have to learn to trust Him in order to have it. The second verse began to be as salve to my wounded soul:
"Beneath His watchful eye, His Saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up shall guard His children well."
The third verse brought me to tears:
"Why should this anxious load press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heav'nly Father's throne and sweet refreshment find!"
The fourth verse bore the lesson of the moment:
"His goodness stands approved, unchanged from day to day;
I'll drop my burden at His feet and bear a song away."
I prayed and felt both a growing willingness to trust in His way of doing things, along with my load growing lighter by the minute. The next hymn I flipped to didn't seem to have much to do with this, but ended up surprising me anyway: Hymn #19 - We Thank Thee O God, for a Prophet. The second verse taught me a powerful, badly needed lesson that day:
"When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us
And we know that deliv'rance is nigh.
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.
We've proved Him in days that are past.
The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last."
Decision to Trust
I decided then and there, that no matter how frightening or stressful my circumstances might be, no matter what happened to me, the best possible outcome would only be mine if I would trust in the Lord, acknowledge my weakness - my need for His help - and be willing to do things His way, by His rules, with His power, or not at all.
That day as I played and prayed on the organ, I committed to trust my Heavenly Father. Making and keeping that commitment gave me the opportunity to learn some neat things about what happens when we begin to trust our God.
Neat Thing #1 - The Lord will show me what He's doing in my life, and why!
I was surprised to find that, when my life hit a rough patch, as it often did then, there was always something specific the Lord wanted me to learn or to gain from the experience. I might value having things go easier, not having to fight my battles in court or with my weaknesses, or with my tenant at the time. But, rather than save me from my pain, the Lord was more interested in leveraging my pain to help me learn what it means to have Him and His love and His power in my life!
I found that when I trusted in my God, through the whisperings of the Spirit I could see specifically what it was He wanted me to learn, and I could see that the value of what He had in mind was high enough to make my pain worth bearing.
Neat Thing #2 - By virtue of His infinite capacity, He both wants and is able to procure my happiness - infinitely more so than I am.
One day, as I thought about it, I realized I knew from experience that my God was a benevolent god, if He was anything at all. I knew that, given His infinite power and capacity for love - which I myself had experienced - He is infinitely more capable of wanting my happiness than I am! Not only that, but, being an all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing God, He is infinitely more capable of helping me reach that happiness than I am of doing it on my own!
Earth-shattering conclusion: If I'll decide that the happiness I want is of the spiritual kind, I can trust my almighty God with my happiness!
That means I can sacrifice or endure endlessly for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I can have every confidence that He will see me come out on top - with Him by my side, every step of the way! Instantly I understood the power this could bring into my life. I understood how this kind of trust must have been the thing that enabled the Mormon pioneers to make the sacrifices and the hard journey of coming to the West. Now, I could use that same trust in God to get through anything and everything that might come my way!
Many years after the bondage they experienced at the city of Helam, Alma the Younger said this about his father's converts:
"...they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved." (Alma 5:13)
Our trust in God must be absolute, with no exceptions whatsoever - and no excuses. The more firm and unshaken our trust in God, the more firm and unshaken is our salvation from sin, the more firm and unshaken is our joy in Him.
"Turning Our Will Over to God"
If you've ever leafed through a pamphlet of the twelve-step Alcoholic's Anonymous program, you know one of the twelve steps is "turning your will over to God".
I personally don't believe in turning my will over to anyone, and I don't believe that a God who championed our freedom in the councils of heaven expects us to either. One of the big things our Heavenly Father sent us here to Earth to do was live our own lives.
However, I do believe the concept they're trying to teach is a critical one.
The thing is, the more we trust in God, the more our will reflects His. The more we seek to use our moral agency the way He would if He were here, the more we feel his power in our lives, helping us do it. Our Heavenly Father sometimes has different plans - better plans - for our lives than we do. He has different ideas about right and wrong than we do, more frequently than we realize. Most of us just aren't as accustomed to paying attention as we think we are.
We all have "weapons" we're used to using for dealing with certain things. Anger, back-biting, sarcasm, yelling, swearing, stonewalling - even alcohol or drugs - can all be weapons we're used to fighting our battles with - weapons that need to be buried. The Lamanites who went on to become the Ammonites were willing to bury their weapons of war and do without in order to make amends for all they had done wrong and to keep from returning to sin. That meant losing their lives if someone attacked them. It also meant a change of career. They went from surviving by pillaging to having to "labor abundantly with their hands". In order to survive, they had to learn, not just a new way of doing things, but a whole new trade. That's no small sacrifice! Why did they do it? They valued the peace that came from making and keeping their covenant with God so greatly that they preferred to die rather than lose it. They "buried their weapons of war... for peace."
The notion of "turning our will over to God" is about learning to love our God enough to notice when His will differs from ours, and then trust Him enough to make our will conform to His. This is especially important when it means burying ugly old weapons of war and finding a new way of doing things. If we will learn to conform our will to His unflinchingly, we can know the joy - and the great peace - of "securely dwelling beneath His watchful eye".
Just Can't Go There Anymore
The more accustomed we become to knowing and doing the Lord's will in our lives, the more we realize that much of what society and the world has taught us about how to handle everything from unruly fellow drivers on the road to misbehaving children at home is wrong. The more we trust Him, the more we are willing to give up those ways of doing things - even if it means not having any way of dealing with certain things, while we're learning the Lord's way.
We've got to learn to trust the Lord so completely that, when we realize familiar ways are wrong ways, we come to feel deeply that we "just can't go there anymore".
If we will do this, we have the Lord's promise given through Isaiah:
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)
Staying in the Depths of Humility
Speaking to the members of the Church in his time, John the Revelator said:
"I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16)
If you think about it, water is only useful if it is either hot or cold. Nobody likes to drink or bathe in lukewarm water. It takes work or energy to get water that is either hot or cold, and it takes work or energy to keep it that way - that's why the stove and refrigerator have to be plugged in, just as we do.
All too often, I look myself in the mirror and realize I've gone spiritually lukewarm yet again. The reason? Somehow, somewhere along the way, I let my level of commitment slide, and I quit making the effort I was making before. There is joy in having ice cold determination to do what is right; there is joy in being on fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ! The biggest thing we can do to make sure we stay in the depths of humility is: we've got to keep the passion alive!
If, through the Atonement, we have recently achieved some badly needed overcoming, we may feel forgiven and free from our sin, like we have nothing to worry about when it comes to temptation. We may, in our new-found security, become careless once again.
Nephi warned:
"...others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully..." (2 Nephi 28:21)
Alma the Younger cautioned his son, Helaman:
"...do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way..." (Alma 37:46t)
Our Need for Help Never Goes Away
The remission of sins may restore our moral agency, but it does not remove mortal weakness. The fact that we are still subject to temptation that will inevitably come around again has not changed. If we want to keep our forgiveness and our freedom, we will still need to keep our God nearby!
In an effort to help his people to stay in the depths of humility, Alma the Younger asked:
"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life." (Alma 5:26-28)
Unfortunately, living in mortality as we do, the natural default is to get on with our day, and never bother to find out just how much the Lord really can help us. It's perfectly normal for pretty much everyone - church members included - to do too much of what Book of Mormon prophets called "living without God in the world". Alma the younger taught his son Corianton:
"Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness. And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness." (Alma 41:10-11)
So long as we neglect to seek our God and to have His living water and His power always in our lives, the next slip-up is only one false move away, and some degree of misery - the misery of living without God in the world - is the inevitable result.
Humility is not about changing our ways because God started throwing thunderbolts - most of the time by far, that's not the way God works. Humility is not about waiting for ourselves to get "tired" of the "buzz" we get when we indulge a bad habit or addiction - it'll never happen. Humility is not waiting for that mystical, imaginary day when you'll magically morph into a "more spiritual person" and be ready to change, for this is putting the cart before the horse. Humility is not about waiting until living the gospel is easy or fun. Humility is not about waiting until we "feel like it". Humility is about being willing to make sacrifices to make changes in your life, and then watch with joy as you begin to feel like "more of a spiritual person" because of your sacrifice.
We have to sacrifice out of love for our Heavenly Father, out of a strong desire to have Jesus Christ to be a part of our lives, just as as He sacrificed to have us be a part of His. It may be that the highest form of humility is that which was exemplified by the Savior as described in the words of a sacrament hymn about His atoning sacrifice:
"Oh dearly, dearly, has He loved, and we must love Him too..." (Hymns #194 - There Is a Green Hill Far Away)
Said He, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15)
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