Mosiah 4:19-21

"For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend on the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
And behold, even at this time, ye have been begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy. And now, if God, who has created you, on whom ye are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another."
Mosiah 4:19-21


I *love* king Benjamin. he is amazing. talk about a leader... wow. a king that teaches humility and service and submission to God... I could quote him all day. what an amazing man. he is definitely on my list of people that I want to meet someday. :)
Anyway, this is from one of his speeches. first of all... think about begging. nasty, eh? talk about vulnerability in large amounts... when it is talked about, it's usually... "I’m not going to *stoop* to begging" ... or in tragic news stories about wives on their knees begging their husbands not to shoot them ... it's seen as the ultimate humiliation, and emotional suicide. and King Benjamin just jumps in and says... aren't we all beggars? each and every one of us could be selected as the desperation poster child at any time, we need God so much... (okay so, I am being a little flexible with my paraphrasing...)
but the thing is... that with God, begging isn't the hopeless, crushing thing that we usually see... we aren't expected to give up our moral decency, our souls, or our human dignity for him to fulfill our request... he loves us... he gives us what we need... and a lot of what we want... and frequently b'zillions of things that are better than we ever imagined. and so King Benjamin goes on and says... okay... he has filled us to overflowing, so much that we can't even communicate it... so, if *we* are beggars, and God treats us like kings... then think about what we should be doing for other people. God gives us everything... and he says inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me... so, really, if we want to show God how much we love him, all we have to do is take care of other people. :)