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.
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Brooke, I've always thought of these stories in the same way---WHY did they just have to go and ruin what they had going for them???? But, I've just said to myself that though all these people were real people that God cared for and even though they were all God's children, He still has to bring forth his "righteous purposes". Sometimes these examples are for us to learn what not to do...I'm not saying that was the entire purpose of they're lives, but God needs to give us examples to learn from. Some people have lives that completely turn around, others start to and then fall away. It's just like people today. I had an uncle fall away from the church after 50 years and then he joined the Baptists! His daughter is going down the same path. It makes me want to yell, "Hello! What happened?" It doesn't make sense to me and depresses me sometimes, but God can only make half the deal of salvation. It's up to us to make the other and to stick with it and endure to the end. The devil can be so cunning!
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