He Is Our Story

Welcome, my friends to another episode of He isour Story.  This week we are moving into2 kings.  We are saying good bye toElijah and beginning to follow Elisha in his ministry.   I found an article this past week, written byMark A. Matthews.  He is an instructorwith the seminary and Institute program of the church. I attended a classtaught by him last year and he is a phenomenal teacher.  The title of the article intrigued me- “Howcan we tell if we are really following Jesus Christ today?I want you to think about how you would answerthat question.  Hit pause if you needto-but I want you to come up with an answer! President Nelson said, “one of the easiest ways toidentify a true follower of Jesus Christ, is how compassionately that persontreats other people.”  But he isreferring to looking at someone else and being able to determine if they are adisciple of Christ.  The question BrotherMatthews asked was how can we tell if we are following Christ today? How can weevaluate our own life and measure our discipleship?  In the article written by Brother Matthews, hebegins by admitting that whenever he reads the New Testament, he always putshimself into the narrative and wonders how he would have reacted to theteachings of the Savior.  I have wonderedthe same thing. You probably have too. Would I have been like Peter, James and John and left everything behindwhen I heard the Savior’s invitation to “Come follow me”?  Would I have been like Martha who recognizedthat time with Jesus was more important than any chore?  Would I have chosen to sit at his feet andlearn the better part? Would I have been like the Samaritan woman who met astranger at a well and after a conversation with Him, ran to bring others tohear His words that filled her like living water? Brother Matthews writes, “I have learned that this is not a question weneed to wonder about. The answer is simple. The Lord has revealed that thesimplest way to measure how well we follow Jesus Christ today is by how well wefollow His living prophets.”Friends, it is time to open upyour scriptures-we are going to explore this topic of following prophets today.And we are going to do it with the help of Elisha, an Old Testament prophetwhose life and example is a remarkable typifying of Jesus Christ.

Welcome my friends to another week at He is our Story.  I am particularly excited about this week’sepisode. I hope the stories we study today will bring as much strength to yourlife as they have to been over the past few days!    Think about the last time your whole family gathered around the dinner table. Picture the faces, the laughter, the shared memories. Now, imagine a line being drawn rightdown the middle of that table. On one side, are those who share your deepestcore beliefs, while on the other side, are those who you love fiercely, but whohave chosen to walk a completely different path. The complexities that accompany a shift like that can besome of the heaviest burdens a Latter-day Saint family can carry. It’s the acheof strained relationships, broken hearts and broken traditions.  It’s the prayer we whisper to heaven-Howdid we get here, and how do we stay together when we no longer pray, believe,or worship together? If your home or your heart feels divided today becauseloved ones have stepped away from the faith, you are not alone. And not surprisingly,this same story is told in the pages of the Old Testament. At first glance, the breaking up of the tribes of Israelcould be a history lesson about political rebellion—the tragic moment thetwelve tribes of Israel fractured into two separate kingdoms. But if we lookcloser, we see this is so much more than that.  This is family history.  Our family history.  This is the story of a covenant familysplitting apart. As in all things we can find guidance by looking to the Lords’prophet. And this week we’re going to look at the prophet Elijah. He walkedright into the middle of this deep spiritual divide. From his life, we are going to extract some really practical strategies on how to survive the drought of a home that feels divided,  how tolisten for the still, small voice when disagreements arise, and how to trust God with the people we love most. So, grab your scriptures. Let’s talk about howto find peace, assurance and unwavering hope even when our story includesdivision.

The reading this week reminded me of that famous opening line from Charles Dicken’s a tale of two cities- “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times!” We begin with David. Where last week we focused on the David that said things like “the battle is the Lords”, and “Let no man’s heart fail because of him”, this week we see what can happen to the best of men or women when their focus drifts from submitting to the will of the one and only true and living God, to submitting to the appetites of the natural man. One sin leads to another sin to cover up the first sin and pretty soon David finds himself in the “worst of times”.And yet, the Lord is really good at making beauty from ashes. And from David and Bethsheba’s union comes Solomon, the one God has chosen to build His house. No more traveling tabernacle! A real, settled and established temple. A magnificent House of the Lord. A great reason for the house of Israel to rejoice! The Best of Times! #comefollowme #heisourstory #lds #scripturestudy #oldtestament

Why do we get scared when things do not go the way we anticipated or when life begins   to looktoo hard or the trial too long or the relationship too complicated?  What prevents us from turning our story overto God?  Sister Camille Johnson proposed an answer to this question;“Perhaps it is because the natural manor woman in us is resistant to turning things completely overto the Lord and trusting Him entirely.Maybe that is why we choose to stick with the narrative we have written for ourselves, a comfortable version of our story unedited by the Master Author. We don’t want to ask a question and get an answer that doesn’t fit neatly into thestory we are writing for ourselves.”I don’t know what kind of daydreamsDavid had during all those long days tending sheep-but I am fairly certain fighting a giant of a warrior, becoming an outcast while hiding for his life, and becoming King of Israel was not the story he was writing for himself.  President Ezra Taft Benson said, “"Men and women who turntheir lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their intellect, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends,and pour out peace." We see each of those promises fulfilled in thelife of David-and that should give us great hope that we can see each of those promises fulfilled in our lives as well. So, if the key to letting God be the author of ourstory is turning our lives over to him, then it seems appropriate that we should spend some time learning what turning our lives over to Him looks like in a life.  Are there lessons we canlearn from David?  Is there a pattern wecan follow? Are there steps we can take? 

This week we are studying Samuel as Israel’s prophet and Saul as Israel’s first King. We are going to look at some of their best days and some of their worst days! And I want you to keep Rosie's words in your mind.Let’s be completely honest for a minute: if you are sitting in a season right now where you feel like life is completely "cooking" you, it can feel incredibly lonely. Maybe you've been taken down by a sudden financial strain, maybe you are quietly battling with mental health, or maybe you’re experiencing the heavy grief that comes from watching someone you love make choices that break your heart. You might feel like you are pinned to the mat, wondering how a "best day" could slip away so fast. Or maybe it has been so long since you had a best day you are forgetting what a best day feels like! When we look at Samuel’s worst days—from being rejected by the people he served to crying all night over Saul's choices—we see our own struggles reflected. But when we slow down and look closer at Samuel’s experiences we see the real truth: Samuel's story didn't belong to the people who rejected him, and it didn't belong to Saul's failures. His story belonged to the Lord.And your story belongs to Him, too.

  I can see myself, really see myself in Naomi’sstory.   I know what it is like to feelso bitter you feel like a different person-a shadow of your former self.—I knowwhat it is like to feel like Naomi must have felt when she told Ruth to “Go andglean”, to be willing to have just enough faith to act on a prompting—(read theOld Testament)even though you are filled with doubts.  I know what it is like to begin to see theLord’s loving kindness, His Hesed, again. To have my eyes opened to theblessings around me, even if those blessings might not look the way I hadhoped.  I know what it is like to beginto understand God’s individual plan for me, to begin to see how He is workingin my waiting-to begin to understand how He is working in me-proving me-makingme strong enough to bear the burden, all the while showing me that He is mystrength.  My story does not have a tidyending like Ruth and Naomi’s…. yet.  Mystory is still being written-and the more I come to rely on the author of mystory, the more I trust Him.  He knows myultimate desire is to be with Him again-and He knows how to work in me todevelop the characteristics and attributes that will create an individual thatis more like Him. And every day I am so grateful He continues to work with me,in my weakness and imperfection-He still shows me His covenant love for me—HisHesed.

In his conference talk , "Follow the Prophet, he Knows the Way, Elder Michael John U. Teh says, “When my parents joined theChurch, little did they know that they were embracing yet another set of values and traditions-even the gospel culture, based on the plan of salvation, God’s commandments, and the words of the living prophets.  Over time, as our family strived to fully embrace the gospel, my parents discovered that some of our well-loved traditions were not consistent with gospel culture.  It became apparent to them that they neededto make a choice.”When I think of gospel culture, I generally thinkabout things like green jello and carrots, funeral potatoes, or family pictures in BYU shirts (my family is guilty of that one).  I had never thought about a gospel culture based on the plan of salvation, God’s commandments, and the words of livingprophets.  An example of this could be not drinking coffee due to our observance of the Word of Wisdom or not shopping on Sunday due to how we feel about observing the Sabbath day.  The definition of culture is: The shared way of life of a groupof people. It encompasses the collective beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, arts, and knowledge that are learned, shared, and passed down from generation to generation. As the children of Israel enter the promised land, they are going to encounter some different cultures.  The people that already inhabit the land have a very different belief system.  Theirvalues and behaviors are distinct and, at times, contrary to the commandments of God.  The Israelites will need to makea choice. I can hear Joshua’s words echoing in their ears, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”   Will they keeptheir covenant and adhere to the commandments of Jehovah, or will they follow the enticing culture of the world around them and eventually choose to break their covenant with God? This is the same choice each of us must make every day—Willwe follow our Savior, or will we follow the world?

We live in a day full of all different kinds of “blast zones”. There is no shortage of people willing to share with you their opinions about what is or is not “safe.” However, there is only one person on earth right now who has been given the power and authority to point out all the various “blast zones” of our day—and point us in the direction of safety. His name is Dallin H. Oaks. This week we are studying the Book of Joshua. This is a new beginning for the Israelites. A new land, a new set of miracles, a new leader and prophet. We just sustained a new prophet a little over a month and a half ago, and as we study Israel’s new prophet today, we are also going to study some of the words and teachings of our new prophet. We are going to focus on some of the “blast zones” he has warned us about in our day.

We read about wilderness times often in scripture.We have been following Moses and the ancient Israelites and their journey inthe wilderness.   The Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his familyspent some considerable time in the wilderness. The saints of the early restoration did their fair share of traveling inthe wilderness, even Jesus Christ had His time in the wilderness.  The wilderness symbolically represents aplace of testing, preparation and refinement. The wilderness also happens to be where God manifests Himself to Hischildren.  One of my favorite quotesabout the early saints coming across the plains is from Francis Webster a memberof the Martin Handcart Company.  “We suffered beyond anything you can imagine,and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor ofthat company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company everapostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with theabsolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with Him in ourextremities.  The price we paid to becomeacquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I wasprivileged to come in the Martin handcart company.” What price are we willing to pay to become acquaintedwith God?  How will we let the wilderness times in our lives shape ourstories? For us the wilderness might not look like an extended period of time travelingin a desert or across the plains.  For us,it may be that feeling we get at 2:00 AM when the house is quiet and ourworries are loud.  Maybe our wildernessis the exhausting cycle of a job that feels empty, or without a lot of future.  Maybe it's the silence of a house that usedto be full, or the noise of doubts that are wearing you down. If you feel likeyou’re wandering in the wilderness, I want you to hear this clearly: You arein very good company.God didn't lead Moses or the Pioneers into the desert tolose them; He led them there because that is where they would find Him.  He led them there so that the only voice theycould hear would be His.  The wildernessbecame the best place to forge a covenant relationship with them. 

The book of Numbers teaches us about theimportance of our focus-and the consequences that come when our focus shiftssolely to our trials instead of staying where it should be, which is, ofcourse, on God! In Hebrew the title for Numbers is Bamidbar-whichmeans “in the wilderness”.  We all havewilderness times.  In reality most ofmortality is lived in the wilderness.  Weget some reprieve when we visit holy places like the temple or the mountains,or even when we experience holy times making memories with our family andfriends.  But our day to day lives aremostly lived in the wilderness-which is why our focus becomes critical.