Today I was pondering the symbolism found in the journey of the Jaredites as found in the Book of Mormon. I started yesterday on the prompt from "Come Follow Me":
You may find spiritual insights if you compare the Jaredites’ voyage across the ocean to your journey through mortality. For example, what has the Lord provided that lights your way like the stones in the Jaredites’ barges? What might the barges represent, or the winds that “blow towards the promised land”? (Ether 6:8). What do you learn from the actions of the Jaredites before, during, and after the voyage? How is the Lord leading you toward your promised land?
Minerva•K. Teichert (1888–1976), Journey of the Jaredites across Asia, 1935, oil on linen on masonite, 35 x 48 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art.
I had started yesterday and done it about halfway, brainstorming that the barges could represent our actual physical homes, as well as those communities we build around us: family, friends, church, local, homeschool, etc.
Today I spent more time thinking about the fierce winds. We had a very strong wind system that blew through a couple days ago, knocking down many trees and making some areas go without power. It was perfect timing to help me relate to the "fierce winds" that blow. As I studied these passages, I noticed a few things about these fierce winds:
-they caused tempests
-they did not cease to blow
-they drove the people in the barges to the promised land
-God made them
It made me think about mortality and how God never ceases to "blow us," figuratively speaking, to the promised land, or becoming like Him. But then I thought, "Well, some people don't want to progress and He doesn't force them." As the hymn goes, "He'll call persuade, direct aright, and bless with wisdom, love and light. In nameless ways be good and kind...but never force the human mind." ("Know This That Every Soul Is Free," hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
I then realized another personal symbolism of the barges reflected on the previous day. Our barges can be the covenants we make with God. When we make a covenant we put ourselves in God's hands to direct us. We trust Him as we pay tithing; consecrate our goods to serve Him and the poor; serve in callings; multiply and replenish the earth; are baptized and weekly make time to partake of the Sacrament. All these are actions of trust and take faith, symbolically putting those parts of our lives in His hands.
I was then struck with further connection: in a very real sense, when we enter into the barges of our covenants, we are letting God prevail, one of the very definitions of the word "Israel." We are letting the winds that He blows in our life drive us to be like Him, trusting Him as the Jaredites did in such a literal way--gathering all their family and possessions into a barge that they could not direct nor steer. We are becoming part of the gathering of Israel.
Is this choice to let God prevail mindless? Far from it. It is very intentional and requires preparation and purpose. It is a choice. There is so much we can enjoy and experience while in our barges, but "the wind will never cease to blow" our overall course to our promised land as we counsel with Him, trust Him and submit ourselves to the mandates of our covenants, symbolically building our barges with our faith we place in Him.
Are there other winds that blow? Absolutely.
Can we stay on that shore and never enter into those barges and still survive? Absolutely.
But it may just be that we will never make it to our own "promised land," that place where we experience a fulness of our potential and a fulness of joy.
There's an account in the Book of Mormon that just before the Savior appeared to the people, they heard a voice speak to them three times. The first two times they didn't understand it but there was enough about the feeling of the message that they strained to listen for it despite not understanding it the first two times.
I have been listening to the General Conference messages again and have been amazed at the messages I "didn't hear" the first time. Some I have listened to a couple times. As I was struck by the personal revelation I received that I didn't get the first time, the situation of the Book of Mormon people came to mind.
Sometimes we just have to listen again to really get the message and not just a good feeling 😏.
I was struck by the recent address of the prophet of my church, President Russell M. Nelson. He expounds on the word "Israel" which, among other things, means let God prevail.
There is something so beautiful in this concept: a trust, a submission, a deep faith in God.
He couples this concept with the mandate to gather Israel, something that often feels daunting to me and leaves me feeling inadequate:
For centuries, prophets have foretold this gathering,11 and it is happening right now! As an essential prelude to the Second Coming of the Lord, it is the most important work in the world!
This premillennial gathering is an individual saga of expanding faith and spiritual courage for millions of people. And as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or “latter-day covenant Israel,”12 we have been charged to assist the Lord with this pivotal work.13
I was grateful for this address because as I listened to the talk again this morning, I came across this beautiful portion that kind of shifted that feeling of guilt to one of gratitude:
When we speak of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we are referring, of course, to missionary, temple, and family history work. We are also referring to building faith and testimony in the hearts of those with whom we live, work, and serve. Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.
Motherhood. Welcoming our new little Penelope into the world. By giving her an opportunity to experience mortality--and experience it in a family that knows the covenants of God--we are helping to gather Israel! When I speak of repentance and God's mercy and commandments to my children, I am gathering Israel. As I testify of my love of the temple and the covenants I have made there, I am gathering Israel.
The talk led me on to consider how I can "let God prevail" personally in my life and this process is surprisingly strengthening.
How?
Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?18
We can look up.
When we are surrounded by darkness, overwhelmed by temptation or our inadequacies, despairing because of the evil that seems so pervasive around us, like Joseph Smith we can "exert all our powers" to look up and cry to God...and He then can prevail. So what does that mean? To me, it means being able to lean into someone so much stronger and smarter than I am and let them take care of me. It is real. It is the most comforting sensation.
It reminds me of what I read in the Book of Mormon yesterday, in Mormon. Mormon is a prophet who has witnessed vast wickedness and destruction take over a people that he loves. You can feel his love as he chooses to lead them into battles even knowing that they at their heart are rejecting the One who will help them win all battles.
He uses the phrase: they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus. I was struck this time by the word "clasped"...not really the type of manly word you would imagine being used by a hardened battle leader. But Mormon uses the intimate and strong word to describe the relationship his people could have felt...to me, intimating that he himself had experienced it. Letting God prevail is putting yourself in a place where you are letting yourself by clasped in the arms of Jesus.
O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!
There are such beautiful promises with "letting God prevail":
When your greatest desire is to let God prevail, to be part of Israel, so many decisions become easier. So many issues become nonissues! You know how best to groom yourself. You know what to watch and read, where to spend your time, and with whom to associate. You know what you want to accomplish. You know the kind of person you really want to become...
Now, how does the Lord feel about people who will let God prevail? Nephi summed it up well: “[The Lord] loveth those who will have him to be their God...
And what is the Lord willing to do for Israel? The Lord has pledged that He will “fight [our] battles, and [our] children’s battles, and our children’s children’s [battles] … to the third and fourth generation”!
So my comforting messages:
-I am letting God prevail and gathering Israel right now in being a mother.
-I can reach up to Him when I am feeling weakest and He will prevail in the strongest way.
-By letting God prevail, I will have an easier time making decisions, I will feel God's love, and He will fight my and my children's battles...and really, what more do I need to worry about?
It has to be a regular, conscious choice. Somehow, having felt that experience of being "clasped in the arms of Jesus" makes it easier. I am grateful for this beautiful reminder to "let God prevail."
I was struggling
with loving myself and had a great RS lesson yesterday...my first
time attending a RS class since COVID started, I believe. It was cool
because I felt prompted to return to attending my meetings and I got
some answers to my struggles:
-"blame God
for those weaknesses I hate...hahaha." Obviously, "blame
God" is never a real thing that we want to do, but Sister
Margaret Pace said it in context of Ether 12:27 about how He gives us
those very weaknesses that we hate. So really, we can trust Him and
not hate ourselves because of our weaknesses, but it was a cute way
to remember it—combined with her adorable laugh and smile.
She also mentioned
that it is those weaknesses that are actually there for the good of
us and the good of others, so we will be able to look back and see
how those very things that annoyed us about ourselves will bless
others.
-"Just move
on." Again, Sister Pace said that she makes mistakes,
apologizes sincerely and tries to fix what she can and then just
moves on and doesn't worry about it any more. Or at least tries
not to, but it is what she tries to remember.
-"Blame
Satan...and then banish him." Satan is truly good at poking at
our weakest spots like the worst kind of Chinese water torture.
Sister Cheryl Arcangel said that she literally incorporates what we
learn at the temple about eliminating the influence of Satan in our
lives. She testified that she has done this consistently enough with
certain temptations—particularly the self-belittling one—that
Satan doesn't even have an influence on her there anymore. So cool!
I am excited to try
these things and am grateful for the added witness about the good of
meeting together in a congregation...even if it is over Zoom :D.
