"And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction."
1 Nephi 15:24
I've read this verse many times, but it never really stood out to me before. This is Nephi explaining to his brothers the meaning of their father's (Lehi's) dream, specifically what the rod of iron means. The part I find the most fascinating here is "overpower them unto blindness." ... It's so interesting to think of what Satan does as that. An attempt to blind us... and blind us to what? Reality. He wants to draw us into his perspective, to see the world from a competitive point of view. To choose the great and spacious building over the tree of life, mockery over love. And he tries to get us to see things that way... to label or exclude people because of belief or bias... to see ourselves as somehow better than others. It's a big temptation... but the verse says that the word of God can save us from those temptations... those fiery darts, and that blindness that will lead us to destruction. And also that if we hold on to the rod we'll never perish... I'm guessing spiritually. Today, maybe we can work on holding fast to that idea... reading and absorbing the words of God, and remembering that God wants us to love, not mock. To build Zion... that perfect society where there is no poverty, no inequality, no exclusion... we're going to have to learn how God loves, and a whole new way of seeing people. We can only get that from the fruit of the tree, from learning love, not mockery. :)
1 Nephi 15:24
I've read this verse many times, but it never really stood out to me before. This is Nephi explaining to his brothers the meaning of their father's (Lehi's) dream, specifically what the rod of iron means. The part I find the most fascinating here is "overpower them unto blindness." ... It's so interesting to think of what Satan does as that. An attempt to blind us... and blind us to what? Reality. He wants to draw us into his perspective, to see the world from a competitive point of view. To choose the great and spacious building over the tree of life, mockery over love. And he tries to get us to see things that way... to label or exclude people because of belief or bias... to see ourselves as somehow better than others. It's a big temptation... but the verse says that the word of God can save us from those temptations... those fiery darts, and that blindness that will lead us to destruction. And also that if we hold on to the rod we'll never perish... I'm guessing spiritually. Today, maybe we can work on holding fast to that idea... reading and absorbing the words of God, and remembering that God wants us to love, not mock. To build Zion... that perfect society where there is no poverty, no inequality, no exclusion... we're going to have to learn how God loves, and a whole new way of seeing people. We can only get that from the fruit of the tree, from learning love, not mockery. :)
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