"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:"
Psalms 146:5
The ideas of hope and happiness here I think go together really well. We learn in Mormon 9:14 that after the judgment, "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still," which means that learning to be happy now, in this life, is super important. Unfortunately, life isn't always happy, and no matter how well we live, we are all subject to the cloud or mist of darkness that it speaks of in many places in the scriptures. Sometimes it is a palpable darkness, as it was for the people in the Americas after all of the vast destructions that preceded Christ's visit (3 Nephi 8:22), or a huge impediment to progress, as it was in Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 8:23).
This mist can also affect us mentally, impacting our lives with a "brain cloud" of depression or despair that, by definition, we can't see our way out of. It is in times like these when we are blinded to the good that God asks us to rely on our other senses. He calls to us out of the darkness; he urges us to hold to the rod; he asks us to trust our spiritual senses above our mental and physical ones and trust in him even when everything else is telling us there is no way out. With God, there is always, always a way forward, and hope for the future. God can see what we can't, and he can lead us to the happy ending that is on the other side of that thick darkness.
We have God for our help, and he can lead us to happiness. He doesn't just help us to see the good and the hope in the world--he IS the good and the hope in the world. Everything that we need, he is. I'm certainly not saying that it is easy. Trying to find our way when we are blind is rarely easy, or fun. However, the more we trust in the Lord and follow him, the easier *and* happier it gets, as we learn to trust our spiritual senses and get to know the Lord, whose love for us surpasses comprehension, and who can help us become our best and most joyful selves. And if we keep at it, the mist will clear, as it did for the people in the scriptures, and we will be able to stand in the light in *every* sense.
Psalms 146:5
The ideas of hope and happiness here I think go together really well. We learn in Mormon 9:14 that after the judgment, "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still," which means that learning to be happy now, in this life, is super important. Unfortunately, life isn't always happy, and no matter how well we live, we are all subject to the cloud or mist of darkness that it speaks of in many places in the scriptures. Sometimes it is a palpable darkness, as it was for the people in the Americas after all of the vast destructions that preceded Christ's visit (3 Nephi 8:22), or a huge impediment to progress, as it was in Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 8:23).
This mist can also affect us mentally, impacting our lives with a "brain cloud" of depression or despair that, by definition, we can't see our way out of. It is in times like these when we are blinded to the good that God asks us to rely on our other senses. He calls to us out of the darkness; he urges us to hold to the rod; he asks us to trust our spiritual senses above our mental and physical ones and trust in him even when everything else is telling us there is no way out. With God, there is always, always a way forward, and hope for the future. God can see what we can't, and he can lead us to the happy ending that is on the other side of that thick darkness.
We have God for our help, and he can lead us to happiness. He doesn't just help us to see the good and the hope in the world--he IS the good and the hope in the world. Everything that we need, he is. I'm certainly not saying that it is easy. Trying to find our way when we are blind is rarely easy, or fun. However, the more we trust in the Lord and follow him, the easier *and* happier it gets, as we learn to trust our spiritual senses and get to know the Lord, whose love for us surpasses comprehension, and who can help us become our best and most joyful selves. And if we keep at it, the mist will clear, as it did for the people in the scriptures, and we will be able to stand in the light in *every* sense.
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