"Now it came to pass that there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of king Benjamin, being little children at the time he spake unto his people; and they did not believe the tradition of their fathers.
They did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ.
And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened."
Mosiah 26:1-3
The first verse here says that they could not understand, and then the third verse explains why... because of their unbelief. Their doubt got in the way of their comprehension, and their hearts became hardened... resistant to the faith and trust necessary to open ourselves up and listen to the Spirit.
We say things sometimes in our lives like "I don't understand why this is happening," and we often tend to think that understanding comes before believing--that we have to understand something before we can believe it or trust it. That is clearly the way of the world, but I don't think it is always God's way. He explains sometimes, even often, when we have the capacity to understand, but even then, he can't explain it all. He told the Brother of Jared what he needed to do to get air in the barges, but he didn't explain the sources of light.
When we are young we have to trust first. We can't understand as children why things are the way they are, so we have to trust our parents, and learn, and have faith in them that they are teaching us and guiding correctly. At this stage of development, when we believe something, we look for ways to understand it or prove it, but if we don't believe something, we tend to dismiss all evidence to the contrary. In the world that can often get us into trouble when we have faith in something or someone that isn't trustworthy, which is why, often, when we grow up we stop trusting and start thinking that we have to understand everything first.
In some ways this is a good development of boundaries, and self-protection from a wicked world where we cannot always trust others. However, when we let it make us cynical, and especially when we let it leak into our relationship with God, who we *can* trust, we are limiting ourselves to learning and doing only things that are within our comprehension... which might seem logical on the surface, but considering that we are still barely toddlers before God, it is way, way too little faith. We need to be able to take leaps of faith with others, and like Nephi, we have to be willing to trust and have faith in God "not knowing beforehand" (1 Nephi 4:6) the things that he will ask of us.
Today, let's remember that understanding doesn't always come before believing, and that sometimes it is the doing of the thing that teaches us why. Let's refuse to harden our hearts. Let's be willing to be open with others, and risk a little in order to learn how to love better. And while we are protecting ourselves in some areas, let's learn how to remain able to let down all of our walls with God and trust him with all our hearts, and "lean not unto [our] own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).
They did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ.
And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened."
Mosiah 26:1-3
The first verse here says that they could not understand, and then the third verse explains why... because of their unbelief. Their doubt got in the way of their comprehension, and their hearts became hardened... resistant to the faith and trust necessary to open ourselves up and listen to the Spirit.
We say things sometimes in our lives like "I don't understand why this is happening," and we often tend to think that understanding comes before believing--that we have to understand something before we can believe it or trust it. That is clearly the way of the world, but I don't think it is always God's way. He explains sometimes, even often, when we have the capacity to understand, but even then, he can't explain it all. He told the Brother of Jared what he needed to do to get air in the barges, but he didn't explain the sources of light.
When we are young we have to trust first. We can't understand as children why things are the way they are, so we have to trust our parents, and learn, and have faith in them that they are teaching us and guiding correctly. At this stage of development, when we believe something, we look for ways to understand it or prove it, but if we don't believe something, we tend to dismiss all evidence to the contrary. In the world that can often get us into trouble when we have faith in something or someone that isn't trustworthy, which is why, often, when we grow up we stop trusting and start thinking that we have to understand everything first.
In some ways this is a good development of boundaries, and self-protection from a wicked world where we cannot always trust others. However, when we let it make us cynical, and especially when we let it leak into our relationship with God, who we *can* trust, we are limiting ourselves to learning and doing only things that are within our comprehension... which might seem logical on the surface, but considering that we are still barely toddlers before God, it is way, way too little faith. We need to be able to take leaps of faith with others, and like Nephi, we have to be willing to trust and have faith in God "not knowing beforehand" (1 Nephi 4:6) the things that he will ask of us.
Today, let's remember that understanding doesn't always come before believing, and that sometimes it is the doing of the thing that teaches us why. Let's refuse to harden our hearts. Let's be willing to be open with others, and risk a little in order to learn how to love better. And while we are protecting ourselves in some areas, let's learn how to remain able to let down all of our walls with God and trust him with all our hearts, and "lean not unto [our] own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).
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