"Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.
And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
Deuteronomy 5:27-29
The Israelites were afraid to hear the voice of the Lord directly, so they asked Moses to find out what God wanted, and promised to do it. And God basically says... that was an awesome thing to say. I wish they meant it, so that they could stay safe.
The same goes for us, right? We're quick to promise God our obedience, but slow to actually change our actions... and our minds. Instead of learning obedience by being obedient and watching things work out, we too often have to learn obedience through being disobedient and suffering the consequences, and then realizing that there might be a better way. We take the long way to learn so many things, using so much of our lives to grasp the basics instead of jumping in and being able to learn more and more. If we can master what we have, we will get more. Neal A. Maxwell, speaking in conference in a talk called "God Will Yet Reveal," talked about additional scripture that the Lord still has to give us, including significantly the records of the lost tribes of Israel. He says "later on, there will also be many more nourishing and inspiring scriptures. However, we must first feast worthily upon that which we already have!"
Of course it is okay when we learn slowly... that is much better than not learning. :) However, today, perhaps we can make an effort to jump start our lessons by giving the Lord the benefit of the doubt... by obeying rather than straying. By reading and praying for ten minutes rather than jumping to our entertainment activities right away. Let's appreciate what we have, and learn our lessons well... and perhaps God will bless us with more, until we learn enough that it can be well with us for ever. :)
And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
Deuteronomy 5:27-29
The Israelites were afraid to hear the voice of the Lord directly, so they asked Moses to find out what God wanted, and promised to do it. And God basically says... that was an awesome thing to say. I wish they meant it, so that they could stay safe.
The same goes for us, right? We're quick to promise God our obedience, but slow to actually change our actions... and our minds. Instead of learning obedience by being obedient and watching things work out, we too often have to learn obedience through being disobedient and suffering the consequences, and then realizing that there might be a better way. We take the long way to learn so many things, using so much of our lives to grasp the basics instead of jumping in and being able to learn more and more. If we can master what we have, we will get more. Neal A. Maxwell, speaking in conference in a talk called "God Will Yet Reveal," talked about additional scripture that the Lord still has to give us, including significantly the records of the lost tribes of Israel. He says "later on, there will also be many more nourishing and inspiring scriptures. However, we must first feast worthily upon that which we already have!"
Of course it is okay when we learn slowly... that is much better than not learning. :) However, today, perhaps we can make an effort to jump start our lessons by giving the Lord the benefit of the doubt... by obeying rather than straying. By reading and praying for ten minutes rather than jumping to our entertainment activities right away. Let's appreciate what we have, and learn our lessons well... and perhaps God will bless us with more, until we learn enough that it can be well with us for ever. :)
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