Saturday, June 22, 2019

Moses 4:17 -- On Knowing and Listening

"And I, the Lord God, said unto Adam: Who told thee thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, if so thou shouldst surely die?"
Moses 4:17


This is an interesting verse because it tells us something about our mortal condition.  We have an inherent knowledge of the difference between good and evil.  We traditionally call this a conscience.  It is explained further in Moroni 7: "the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. / But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil" (Moroni 7:16-17).

We often wonder how to make choices in life, and feel like we are stumbling around in the dark, but there is a way.  Eve's choice in the garden, and God's overall plan, gave us a gift that we can use to make those choices and find our way.  We're taught in the scriptures how to listen to that voice, but too often we refuse to pay attention to it, dismiss it as irrationality, or brush it off as old fashioned prudishness, even sometimes feeling accomplished when we are able to set that inner voice aside, feeling that it was something that was holding us back rather than a gift given to us to help us and keep us safe.

Today, let's tune into our consciences rather than trying to overcome them because they seem restrictive or inconvenient.  Let's even pray and ask God to strengthen those feelings so that we know which way to go.  Let's listen for that "still small voice" (1 Nephi 17:45) that means God is speaking to us, and guiding us along the path that leads to life and salvation.  The more we tune into that voice and follow God's instructions, the more guidance we can get... but if we don't listen and we drown out that voice with other things, then we will only be able to hear it when we get the very loudest emergency warnings... and sometimes not even then, because we're so used to smothering the voice as soon as we hear it.

God wants to help us.  Let's let him. :)

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