"And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord."
Genesis 25:22
The phrase that stands out to me here is "she went to inquire of the Lord." That idea is central to the scriptures, and indeed is one of the primary ways that God reveals his will to us. Prayer connects us to personal revelation.
I think the problem comes in because, unlike Rebekah in this verse, that isn't always our first instinct. For every person who is confused and goes to pray about it like Joseph Smith or Nephi, there are probably hundreds of us who instead turn to Google, or a friend who is likely just as confused as we are, or we get our advice from a celebrity or a hit song. And although we can find answers in all of those places, there is a super-high level of uncertainty in the quality and validity of such information, and then we encounter more confusion
Today, let's be like Rebekah, and basically like every prophet who ever lived. If we encounter uncertainty and confusion, let's learn to make our default reaction to inquire of the Lord. He is the source of all truth, and he wants us to ask him in faith. I'm not saying that Google or our friends are evil, or even that they can't be helpful. Only that if we learn to make seeking the spirit our first inclination that we're likely to save time and additional confusion, because as we put God first, he can guide us to the answers we need, wherever they are.
Genesis 25:22
The phrase that stands out to me here is "she went to inquire of the Lord." That idea is central to the scriptures, and indeed is one of the primary ways that God reveals his will to us. Prayer connects us to personal revelation.
I think the problem comes in because, unlike Rebekah in this verse, that isn't always our first instinct. For every person who is confused and goes to pray about it like Joseph Smith or Nephi, there are probably hundreds of us who instead turn to Google, or a friend who is likely just as confused as we are, or we get our advice from a celebrity or a hit song. And although we can find answers in all of those places, there is a super-high level of uncertainty in the quality and validity of such information, and then we encounter more confusion
Today, let's be like Rebekah, and basically like every prophet who ever lived. If we encounter uncertainty and confusion, let's learn to make our default reaction to inquire of the Lord. He is the source of all truth, and he wants us to ask him in faith. I'm not saying that Google or our friends are evil, or even that they can't be helpful. Only that if we learn to make seeking the spirit our first inclination that we're likely to save time and additional confusion, because as we put God first, he can guide us to the answers we need, wherever they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment