Elijah started out in in the bible by sealing the heavens. That's a fancy way of saying he created a drought and famine in the land by making it stop raining. The people of Israel were struggling again, and Elijah felt maybe some compelling humility might help them turn to God. (As my cute little Primary class said last week, wait- Israel is in bondage again? I thought the whole point of last week's lesson is they got out of bondage from the Midianites, now they are in bondage to the Philistines?!?? Yep, you're right class, Israel kind of struggles with some things. Like all of us in different ways though.)
So Ahab, the king of Israel, marries Jezebel. As it says in the Bible Dictionary under Jezebel "This marriage, more than any other single event, caused the downfall of the northern kingdom, as Jezebel introduced into Israel the worst forms of Phenician worship in place of the worship of Jehovah."
Yikes.
Jezebel equals evil I guess.
Anyway, so God tells Elijah in 1 Kings 17:3 to go and hide for awhile. But not only that in verse 4 he says
"4. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there."
Elijah is being told that the birds are going to bring his food to him.
That would take some pretty strong faith and trust in the Lord.
I am food storage person, and get a little panicky when we are down to only 5 cans of anything, beans, corn, tomatoes, etc. To completely rely on God for every single meal and not have a menu plan for the week, or even for one meal would make me hyperventilate a little.
But one of Elijah's great strengths is his constant and amazing trust in the Lord.
In verse 5 it says "So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord."
No dillying and dallying. Just he went and did according to the Lord and trusted wholeheartedly in Him. How would our world be, or even our individual lives be if we just went and did when God told us to do something? If we made it that simple.
I'm trying to keep my posts a little smaller and more easily digested, so hopefully this gave you something without firehosing you with information. But we'll keep going with Elijah, don't you fret.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Elijah
I realize my posts have been sporadic at best here the last few weeks. Part of that is because I am teaching a Primary class, and trying to keep up with my Sunday readings I have little time to blog about my actual findings during my scripture study time. (aka children's nap time and clean house time)
But since this blog is more for ME than you, :) I don't feel too bad.
Anywho, onto one of my favorite people from the Old Testament: Elijah.
He is the man!
Seriously.
"What would you think about a man who had the power to raise the dead, call down fire from heaven, cause the heavens to withhold rain, and render a barrel of flour inexhaustible?
But since this blog is more for ME than you, :) I don't feel too bad.
Anywho, onto one of my favorite people from the Old Testament: Elijah.
He is the man!
Seriously.
"What would you think about a man who had the power to raise the dead, call down fire from heaven, cause the heavens to withhold rain, and render a barrel of flour inexhaustible?
Elijah was such a man, a man of power, a man of miracles, a prophet so worthy that he was translated and taken from the earth in a chariot of fire.
Small wonder that Elijah became one of the great heroes in Israel’s history. Small wonder, too, that in Jewish households a place is set for him at every Passover feast in anticipation of his return as predicted by the prophet Malachi (see Malachi 4:6)." (Old Testament LDS Institute Student Manual)
Don't worry he already came back house of Judah. You can stop setting the table for him, he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at the Kirtland Temple April 3, 1836. (D&C 110:13-16)
He was entrusted with the keys of turning the "hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers." (Malachi 4:6)
Just a little power that seals families together for all eternity. Only in our temples. Just one phrase that is the ONLY one mentioned in every one of our four books of scripture today.
The Old Testament (Malachi 4:6)
New Testament (Luke 1:17)
Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 25:6)
and
D&C (D&C 110:15)
He must have been something special for God to entrust him with that. And tomorrow we will talk about just that.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Old Testament findings...
Sometimes I do feel depressed when I read the scriptures. O.k. so not really, but let me explain. I like stories of where people overcame problems or obstacles with the Lord's help. There are plenty of those like one of my favorites Gideon (maybe I'll do a whole post on him next.)
But then there are plenty of stories of those that were pretty good, but then just never turned (Hebrew word for repentance) ALL the way back to God. And some that were just pretty much evil, like Jezebel.
Examples:
Saul- Humble and a great king at first, then he has a hard time being COMPLETELY obedient to God, trying to offer his own sacrifice instead of waiting for the prophet, and later trying to kill David like 5000 times because he was jealous how the people in the streets sang about the hundreds of people he has killed, but the thousands David had killed. Keeps going down a dark road and has pretty much lost the spirit and his goodness by the end of his life.
David- AWESOME when it comes to David and Goliath, and many other things like loving and serving the Lord usually, however rather than confess and repent with Bathsheba he first tried to cover it up a few different ways and ended with killing Uriah. Problem! So although he still tried to repent all the way, and did the best he could, he couldn't ever restore Uriah's life, so he lost his eternal exaltation for that. (D&C 132:39)
Not to mention his family and kingdom got pulled away from him at the end of his life. What with them doing the exact same things he did, like killing and committing adultery but he couldn't properly discipline them, because he also had done the same things.
Solomon- started out great too! When the Lord appears to him asking him what he wants, he asks not for riches and glory, but understanding and wisdom. He reigns for awhile very well, but has this small problem of marrying people not in the covenant. (just kidding, that is a big problem!) They start turning his heart to their gods, and he in the end starts caring more about his huge palace and riches than his people and helping them. Which resulted in huge financial disaster for the kingdom, and people that were very angry for how much he made them work for all his buildings and things, and a break/divide in the Israelites after his death.
Samson- Given so much physical strength and a calling to free the Israelites from Philistine bondage. Rather than doing that, he decides to marry a Philistine first, and have parties with the Philistines. And then when they get on his nerves or make him angry he decides to seek revenge and kill Philistines. He starts a relationship with Delilah that ends up with her pressing him daily to find out where the secret of his strength lies. He finally gets worn down enough that he breaks the final straw in his not fulfilling his calling and covenants to God and tells her of his Nazarite vow to never shave his head. Which she promptly does, and he then gets his eyes poked out, and chained up to a temple to be laughed at and mocked by the Philistines. When he asks for his strength to return once more to kill the Philistines in the temple, he asks for it not to show God's power, but for his own selfish desire to get revenge. Samson never got it, and he never got past himself and his carnal desires.
I mean all of these are good stories to help motivate you to choose the right so you can be protected from Satan's influence, but I much prefer to be motivated by seeing those examples that had strength and did choose God and to glorify him. So sorry for the lack of posts recently, it just has seemed a little more depressing than usual, but I think we have some good ones coming up though like Elijah- he is the MAN! And Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Love it.
But then there are plenty of stories of those that were pretty good, but then just never turned (Hebrew word for repentance) ALL the way back to God. And some that were just pretty much evil, like Jezebel.
Examples:
Saul- Humble and a great king at first, then he has a hard time being COMPLETELY obedient to God, trying to offer his own sacrifice instead of waiting for the prophet, and later trying to kill David like 5000 times because he was jealous how the people in the streets sang about the hundreds of people he has killed, but the thousands David had killed. Keeps going down a dark road and has pretty much lost the spirit and his goodness by the end of his life.
David- AWESOME when it comes to David and Goliath, and many other things like loving and serving the Lord usually, however rather than confess and repent with Bathsheba he first tried to cover it up a few different ways and ended with killing Uriah. Problem! So although he still tried to repent all the way, and did the best he could, he couldn't ever restore Uriah's life, so he lost his eternal exaltation for that. (D&C 132:39)
Not to mention his family and kingdom got pulled away from him at the end of his life. What with them doing the exact same things he did, like killing and committing adultery but he couldn't properly discipline them, because he also had done the same things.
Solomon- started out great too! When the Lord appears to him asking him what he wants, he asks not for riches and glory, but understanding and wisdom. He reigns for awhile very well, but has this small problem of marrying people not in the covenant. (just kidding, that is a big problem!) They start turning his heart to their gods, and he in the end starts caring more about his huge palace and riches than his people and helping them. Which resulted in huge financial disaster for the kingdom, and people that were very angry for how much he made them work for all his buildings and things, and a break/divide in the Israelites after his death.
Samson- Given so much physical strength and a calling to free the Israelites from Philistine bondage. Rather than doing that, he decides to marry a Philistine first, and have parties with the Philistines. And then when they get on his nerves or make him angry he decides to seek revenge and kill Philistines. He starts a relationship with Delilah that ends up with her pressing him daily to find out where the secret of his strength lies. He finally gets worn down enough that he breaks the final straw in his not fulfilling his calling and covenants to God and tells her of his Nazarite vow to never shave his head. Which she promptly does, and he then gets his eyes poked out, and chained up to a temple to be laughed at and mocked by the Philistines. When he asks for his strength to return once more to kill the Philistines in the temple, he asks for it not to show God's power, but for his own selfish desire to get revenge. Samson never got it, and he never got past himself and his carnal desires.
I mean all of these are good stories to help motivate you to choose the right so you can be protected from Satan's influence, but I much prefer to be motivated by seeing those examples that had strength and did choose God and to glorify him. So sorry for the lack of posts recently, it just has seemed a little more depressing than usual, but I think we have some good ones coming up though like Elijah- he is the MAN! And Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Love it.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Baptismal fonts
Doing my daily scripture study and came upon this cool little nugget of knowledge in 1 Kings 7:23, 25, 26. They are talking about building the temple of Solomon.
"23.And he made a molten sea...
25.It stood upon twelve oxen...
26. And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths."
What does that sound like to you?
Well, Elder Bruce R. McConkie further explained:
"23.And he made a molten sea...
25.It stood upon twelve oxen...
26. And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths."
What does that sound like to you?
Well, Elder Bruce R. McConkie further explained:
“In Solomon’s Temple a large molten sea of brass was placed on the backs of 12 brazen oxen, these oxen being symbolical of the 12 tribes of Israel. ( 1 Kings 7:23–26, 44 ; 2 Kings 16:17 ; 25:13 ; 1 Chron. 18:8 .) This brazen sea was used for performing baptisms for the living. There were no baptisms for the dead until after the resurrection of Christ.
“It must be remembered that all direct and plain references to baptism have been deleted from the Old Testament ( 1 Ne. 13 ) and that the word baptize is of Greek origin. Some equivalent word, such as wash, would have been used by the Hebrew peoples. In describing the molten sea the Old Testament record says, ‘The sea was for the priests to wash in.’ ( 2 Chron. 4:2–6 .) This is tantamount to saying that the priests performed baptisms in it.
“In this temple building dispensation the Brethren have been led by the spirit of inspiration to pattern the baptismal fonts placed in temples after the one in Solomon’s Temple.” ( Mormon Doctrine, pp. 103–4.)
And again, cool, just cool. Washing being the same as baptizing and the fonts to perform baptisms for the dead are the same in King Solomon's time as they are in our LDS temples today!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Why Study?
"The scriptures enlarge our memory by helping us always to remember the Lord and our relationship to Him and the Father. They remind us of what we knew in our premortal life. And they expand our memory in another sense by teaching us about epochs, people, and events that we did not experience personally. None of us was present to see the Red Sea part and cross with Moses between walls of water to the other side. We were not there to hear the Sermon on the Mount, to see Lazarus raised from the dead, to see the suffering Savior in Gethsemane and on the cross, and we did not, with Mary, hear the two angels testify at the empty tomb that Jesus was risen from the dead. You and I did not go forward one by one with the multitude in the land Bountiful at the resurrected Savior’s invitation to feel the prints of the nails and bathe His feet with our tears. We did not kneel beside Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and gaze there upon the Father and the Son. Yet we know all these things and much, much more because we have the scriptural record to enlarge our memory, to teach us what we did not know. And as these things penetrate our minds and hearts, our faith in God and His Beloved Son takes root.
The scriptures also enlarge our memory by helping us not forget what we and earlier generations have learned... In Tyndale’s day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible, especially in a language they could understand. Today the Bible and other scripture are readily at hand, yet there is a growing scriptural illiteracy because people will not open the books. Consequently they have forgotten things their grandparents knew."D. Todd Christofferson General Conference April 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Hot weather and Psalms
I do not do well in heat. I like the cold, and can function very well in it. Heat however zaps my energy and I don't sleep well. But we are here to be tested in all circumstances not just those we're good at getting through, so of course for the past two days we have had heat up in the 100's. It was 85 degrees at 11 PM last night. That's really hot.
My husband and I also argued about something and I couldn't let it go. And as a further weakness when I get mad about something he has done I seem to then pile ALL of our problems up on top of each other and also bring those up at times like these. I know a really great weakness to have right?
So on Tuesday
1. It's hot
2. I'm mad at my husband
3. I am feeling all the problems I am facing right now and thinking woe is me, and that my husband doesn't care about any of the problems. (which is not true, but I was irrational at this point.)
4. I am sleep deprived because not only am I not sleeping well in the heat, my baby isn't either.
These four things just kept circling each other bringing me down into this negative downward spiral.
Not very spirit inducing is it?
Later in the evening I finally realized my faults our disagreement, and that I needed to let go of the other problems I dragged into our argument and my husband does care about them, but we could work those out later. And I realized my lack of sleep and the heat was making things worse for me to handle this particular situation. However it's very hard for me to forgive myself and ask for forgiveness from my husband, because I feel I should know better and not make such mistakes. Especially mistakes I have made more than once before.
So I turned to the scriptures. Psalms to be exact.
Now I hadn't really read through much of Psalms other than where they are extracted and used in other parts of the scriptures, and sometimes a speaker/teacher would incorporate a Psalm into their lesson. But what a glorious book of scripture! David was actually my solace at this time reading through Psalm 51 where he is asking for forgiveness of his sins.
Psalm 51: 1-2, 7-10
"1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to they lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."
I feel as if David is pleading for forgiveness, and he was willing to do ANYTHING to get clean again. I also like that he knows it's not his own actions that will gain him this forgiveness, it's the Lord alone that can create in him a clean heart and a right spirit.
I thought of my sins, and I felt my heart melting inside letting go of that pride. I finally wished for that same cleansing for myself and unity with my husband again. I too, wanted to do anything to be clean again. I knew any of my own or any others' means couldn't give me this purity again. Only the Lord could create in me a clean heart and right spirit.
And guess what? After asking for my husband's and the Lord's forgiveness I did feel that cleansing, the gift only God could give. How blessed I truly am.
My husband and I also argued about something and I couldn't let it go. And as a further weakness when I get mad about something he has done I seem to then pile ALL of our problems up on top of each other and also bring those up at times like these. I know a really great weakness to have right?
So on Tuesday
1. It's hot
2. I'm mad at my husband
3. I am feeling all the problems I am facing right now and thinking woe is me, and that my husband doesn't care about any of the problems. (which is not true, but I was irrational at this point.)
4. I am sleep deprived because not only am I not sleeping well in the heat, my baby isn't either.
These four things just kept circling each other bringing me down into this negative downward spiral.
Not very spirit inducing is it?
Later in the evening I finally realized my faults our disagreement, and that I needed to let go of the other problems I dragged into our argument and my husband does care about them, but we could work those out later. And I realized my lack of sleep and the heat was making things worse for me to handle this particular situation. However it's very hard for me to forgive myself and ask for forgiveness from my husband, because I feel I should know better and not make such mistakes. Especially mistakes I have made more than once before.
So I turned to the scriptures. Psalms to be exact.
Now I hadn't really read through much of Psalms other than where they are extracted and used in other parts of the scriptures, and sometimes a speaker/teacher would incorporate a Psalm into their lesson. But what a glorious book of scripture! David was actually my solace at this time reading through Psalm 51 where he is asking for forgiveness of his sins.
Psalm 51: 1-2, 7-10
"1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to they lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."
I feel as if David is pleading for forgiveness, and he was willing to do ANYTHING to get clean again. I also like that he knows it's not his own actions that will gain him this forgiveness, it's the Lord alone that can create in him a clean heart and a right spirit.
I thought of my sins, and I felt my heart melting inside letting go of that pride. I finally wished for that same cleansing for myself and unity with my husband again. I too, wanted to do anything to be clean again. I knew any of my own or any others' means couldn't give me this purity again. Only the Lord could create in me a clean heart and right spirit.
And guess what? After asking for my husband's and the Lord's forgiveness I did feel that cleansing, the gift only God could give. How blessed I truly am.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Choose you this day
I am going to be teaching a primary class of girls ages 10-11 for the next few weeks. We are on the lesson of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, and I am struck by how much I had forgotten of those scriptures and principles in that story although I had just studied it for Sunday School a few weeks ago. These mortal minds are so quick to forget. All the more reason I see to be studying the word of God EVERY SINGLE DAY. If I had forgotten that so quickly in 7 weeks, how many more principles and words of God would I miss if I chose to only study every other day, or only those days I'm not too busy.
One of my favorite scriptures also comes from Joshua where he has all his people gathered and he asks them to "choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
And Jesus when he says in Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
So what will it be for you today? And everyday hereafter? Do you choose God or something else?
One of my favorite scriptures also comes from Joshua where he has all his people gathered and he asks them to "choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
And Jesus when he says in Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
So what will it be for you today? And everyday hereafter? Do you choose God or something else?
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