Thursday, October 16, 2014

Mosiah 4:6-7 -- On Trusting the Lord

"I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—
I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world."
Mosiah 4:6-7


The big thing that struck me in this selection is the idea of trusting the Lord.  It talks about salvation coming to those who do, and I think that trusting God is actually a gigantic hurdle in our lives sometimes.  Even when we get to talking to him, knowing him better, learning to love him... we are often still greatly surprised when God answers a prayer or comes through in an emergency.  And that's understandable, but still a little bit sad, because we haven't gotten to the point where we are on the same page, and we know how to work with God better... what he will do for us, and what we need to learn by doing it ourselves.  That is a huge lesson, and by no means am I criticizing us as a group for not being there yet.  Only pointing out that maybe that is something to work on... that we have a ways to go in learning to trust.
Trust is a process.  I'm guessing that even the prophets have to learn it gradually before they are confident talking about future events.  We know that Jonah had to learn to trust God, and Nephi and the Brother of Jared both show us some of the division between doing things ourselves and relying on the Lord to give us the answer.  But you know, I think that the way to learn the essential trust we need is also right here in the verse.  Salvation comes to those who trust in the Lord, who are diligent in keeping his commandments, and who continue in the faith throughout their lives.  It takes trust to believe that the commandments are important and that we should follow them.  We often want to carve out exceptions for ourselves and our friends depending on how we feel or whether we feel it makes sense or not.  So, maybe that is the first step to learning to trust more and be on the same page with God.  We need to let go of our protests and exceptions and learn trust by assuming that we are part of the rule.  And if we can do that, and trust God that much, then we'll learn more and more how to interact with him and learn more of how to listen to him, trust him, and rely on him in emergencies.  Today, let's let go of our reservations about the commandments and go all in when following the Lord.  As we do, he will teach us of his ways, and we will learn to trust him as he leads us to salvation.

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