"Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea."
Jacob 4:6
Interesting chapter. What stood out to me as I was reading it this morning is the faith that it talks about here. Throughout the scriptures we learn of faith, and the power that it has, but how often do we see it or exercise it in our lives? Jacob says here that if our faith is unshaken that trees, mountains, and waves will obey us. And the brother of Jared actually moved Mount Zerin. Peter walked on water for a few steps. Faith, right? So, why can't we just walk down the street cleaning up the trash as we go by telling it to go collect itself in the trash bins... or turning it into bakery-fresh steaming hot bread when we encounter a homeless and hungry person? Why can't we by faith tell the tornado or tsunami to calm down when it is threatening a town, or coax our wireless signal to be more stable when we're watching conference? Is it because God doesn't wish those things to happen, or is it because we don't believe that they can? ... or both?
If Faith were an easy thing we probably wouldn't learn a lot. We'd solve all of our problems by commanding nature, rather than learning how to work and to prosper in the midst of adversity. Our trials make us stronger. Our weaknesses allow us to learn how to solve things in different ways. Why does God make bad things so easy and good things so hard? Maybe, like the trees in the Garden of Eden, the sweet and bitter in opposition allow us to see past the taste of things to how good they are for us underneath. We see how easy it is to make bad choices and how hard it is often to make good choices, and it shows us the value of what we strive for... it might be a struggle or a sacrifice at first, but the end result is much better than taking the easy way.
And maybe in the end, most of our limitations are internal. Things are probably much easier once we learn to see past the wrapping to the real life inside. Jacob gives us lots of good guidelines here, but the very first one is "search the prophets." Today, let's work on that step. Let's really search. Let's make this particular difficult choice over some other easier ones. And when we get this down, then we'll build on it. Maybe we'll get to commanding nature once we get the knack of commanding ourselves. :)
Jacob 4:6
Interesting chapter. What stood out to me as I was reading it this morning is the faith that it talks about here. Throughout the scriptures we learn of faith, and the power that it has, but how often do we see it or exercise it in our lives? Jacob says here that if our faith is unshaken that trees, mountains, and waves will obey us. And the brother of Jared actually moved Mount Zerin. Peter walked on water for a few steps. Faith, right? So, why can't we just walk down the street cleaning up the trash as we go by telling it to go collect itself in the trash bins... or turning it into bakery-fresh steaming hot bread when we encounter a homeless and hungry person? Why can't we by faith tell the tornado or tsunami to calm down when it is threatening a town, or coax our wireless signal to be more stable when we're watching conference? Is it because God doesn't wish those things to happen, or is it because we don't believe that they can? ... or both?
If Faith were an easy thing we probably wouldn't learn a lot. We'd solve all of our problems by commanding nature, rather than learning how to work and to prosper in the midst of adversity. Our trials make us stronger. Our weaknesses allow us to learn how to solve things in different ways. Why does God make bad things so easy and good things so hard? Maybe, like the trees in the Garden of Eden, the sweet and bitter in opposition allow us to see past the taste of things to how good they are for us underneath. We see how easy it is to make bad choices and how hard it is often to make good choices, and it shows us the value of what we strive for... it might be a struggle or a sacrifice at first, but the end result is much better than taking the easy way.
And maybe in the end, most of our limitations are internal. Things are probably much easier once we learn to see past the wrapping to the real life inside. Jacob gives us lots of good guidelines here, but the very first one is "search the prophets." Today, let's work on that step. Let's really search. Let's make this particular difficult choice over some other easier ones. And when we get this down, then we'll build on it. Maybe we'll get to commanding nature once we get the knack of commanding ourselves. :)
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