Counseling ourselves

Reading in Moses again today - the Pearl of Great Price is a book I've never been through, and it's a bit of an adventure. I find it to contain the readable story form that the Book of Mormon takes, but the precision of language that the Doctrine and Covenants takes.

I got stuck on the verse where I left off last time. Verse 43 in chapter 6 has a phrase that hits me. "...why council ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?"

I'll be delivering a lesson on Sunday about Crisis of faith, and this kind of thing is exactly what we do. We sit around in a circle of people who think they know what they're talking about, but don't. Then we talk ourselves into things that someone convinces us of and choose that belief. Then we find out later it's not true, and blame God. Why? He was never involved. We never involved him. We involved a bunch of pretenders, people who thought they were knowledgeable, but never requested God's advice, never placed our trust in him, never worked to open a pipeline and keep it open, none of the above. We trusted our brains. We trusted the other people in the room. We trusted someone's ability to speak well. We trusted someone because lots of other people trust him. We trust in whatever, but not the Lord.

I'm thinking scenarios might be in order. Let's say I see someone on TV - a preacher, and he's healing people right and left. Does that mean I should trust him? If I trust that the healing proves that he's a man of God, then I'm down the road of trusting the TV. If I trust that my Heavenly Father will guide me toward truth, then I'm down the road being guided by my Father.  If I go to church, and I am reassured by my Father that my bishop is his chosen servant and leader for me, then I know who I can rely on. By contrast, if I reject Christ's chosen leaders because I'm not open to being told whether or not they are His, then I've clearly shown that I'm not open to any guidance or assistance from his servants on earth - then I'm trusting my own brain. That doesn't get us too far. It could be compared to swimming in a huge mud pit with blinder goggles.

One thing is certain I believe: trusting anyone but the Lord leads pretty much to one place: being lost. I think there are 1000 ways to be lost, but in the end, I think we know it.

By contrast, the bright light and warmth associated with placing our lives and will into God's hands is a wonderful way to live. Yes, we do have to give up the dark to experience the light, but the more dark we give up to the Lord, the more bright we have in our lives. More certainty, more calm, more warmth, more knowing, more direction, more gifts, more love. Some would say that this is a very restrictive way to live - true from the viewpoint of darkness - but the freedom that the light provides is more than worth it.

May we seek counsel from the Lord. May he be our primary source of guidance. We can be open to the assistance from others, but Christ and He alone is our foundation. Not our friends, not our family, not our brains, not the charismatic guy - Christ is our foundation. With that foundation, we feel no need to counsel ourselves. Why ascend the mountain to speak to the guru, and after arriving at the peak, query the gopher sitting off to the side?

Finally, to seek counsel from anyone other than Christ or his designated and authorized representatives is to deny Christ. Let us be loathe to do so. And when we do - when Christ is our direction and foundation - there is no crisis that we can't handle.

following

Moses 6 today. There's some meaningful stuff in here for me.

"and they have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark". This phrase, like so many, contains layers of meaning. I was in a church meeting the other day where people talked about having questions about this or that. Just before the meeting ended, someone got up and said they were a member of some society, and that this society had all those answers. He asked those with questions to just believe that those answers were out there - he asked for their trust that the answers were to be had. I had great discomfort with such a response.

I got up after him and happened to finish the meeting. I stated that I had recently learned that Christ should be my foundation. Not my wife, not my friends, not someone I thought I trusted. Not my own brain. These are all quite fallible; very much subject to being wrong sometimes or often. The only thing that is perfect and perfectly reliable is God the Father and His son.

I had realized this from a conversation with a good friend, who made me realize that when Julie left, I felt like my world was crumbling. That's because she was my foundation. While that may sound romantic, it's wrong. She is not my foundation - she is my partner. Christ, once again, is my foundation. Then my foundation never crumbles - but back to the story.

So if your foundation is Christ, you're not leaning on your intellectual group for stability in Christ. They can go wrong and you're still solid. This is what it means to not seek your own counsel in the dark. The term "in the dark" is also interesting - it could mean lots of things. I am not going to go into them here.

So moving down a bit, the  Enoch is called of the Lord to become a prophet. He objects, saying "I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?"

Here is a man who has not yet learned from the Lord that he must set the Lord as his foundation - not any gift of speech or lack thereof. The Lord will save his people - Enoch's tongue is not a factor. It may even be that someone who has no speech gifts may have an advantage over someone who does - a person's pride in their own skill set (their tongue in this case) may yield to pride, and a reliance on the tongue and delivery rather than a reliance on the Lord.

Verse 32: "And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee." I love the simplicity here. The Lord didn't say "trust me, your tongue will do me just fine - here are all the things I can do with you, and here's my plan for you". He could have reduced Enoch's fear this way perhaps, but that wasn't the Lord's way. He didn't lay out the entire plan for Enoch, he just gave him the next step: "Go forth and do what I have commanded thee". He didn't even say that he would lift or help Enoch and his slow tongue. He just said basically "Go do what I said". This is a lesson to all of us - we get a calling and think we can't do it because we're not enough. The reality is that we're right - we're not enough - none of us - and we can't do it alone. And we shouldn't try to do it alone. Attempting to do it alone will only result in failure for all of us regardless of our gift set. We must recognize our inadequacy, and in our humility call on the Lord. Then he can help us succeed.

The rest of the chapter is interesting as well - terms like "my Spirit is upon you" and "walk with me" and "testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him" and "the Lord spake with me, and gave me commandment; wherefore for this cause, to keep the commandment, I speak forth these words", and "why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven" are deep and meaningful. But I can't go there - I feel the need to keep this and all posts short-ish.

If there is to be denying, let us deny our own perceived strengths and weaknesses. Both can be an impediment if they become a part of our personal foundation. In relying on those, or excusing ourselves for them, we deny God and His power. Instead of that, let us deny our excuses and rely on God. He is the only pathway to our own greatness.

Crisis of faith talk

An outline for a lesson I'll be giving on Crisis of Faith

Foundation
1 Cor 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Helaman 5:12 " And now, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ that you must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds... it shall have no power over you to drag you down...because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a SURE FOUNDATION, a foundation whereon IF men build, they cannot fall." 
I always appreciate a member's testimony that is a second witness to scripture.

Moses 6: 28 What does it mean to seek your own counsels in the dark?
 - what does the phrase "in the dark" add to the phrase. Seeking your own counsel is already dark enough, right?
 - what does it mean to "deny me". Is is more than just directly denying Christ?
 - does it include denying Christ the opportunity to influence our lives?

Moses 6:43 Why counsel ye yourselves and deny christ
- what does it look like when we counsel ourselves
- how is that denying Christ?

Moses 4:3. Agency is the key in living.
- Why is using our agency frightening?
- When do we give that up?
- What happens when we choose to let agency go?
- What should be be using our agency to protect?

People of the Brother of Jared – stopping at the ocean. Not going to the promised land. Losing their anchor and thinking they have it going well. Not needing the Lord. 

Not lost can mean some things

So I hope I can fully describe the thoughts I have on this subject. It goes to the end of my comprehension - and surely it goes past there. It also goes to the end of my ability to write what I'm attempting to comprehend.

Moses 4. It is talking about the moment in the pre-existence, before this life, where the plan for all of us is being proposed and debated. I'm sure that God the Father had his own plan, and didn't need counselors or voting to arrive at the perfect plan. Nonetheless, two of his greatest spiritual sons put forth their own plan for execution. One was the man who became known as Satan, the other who became known as Jesus Christ. In this one I'm going to focus on Satan's plan and only mention that Christ's plan was to do exactly what the Father had in mind - but he would be the one to come to earth and pay the price. He had to know perfectly what that price would be.

Satan had another plan - a very alluring one. One that would draw not one third, but a third part of the hosts of heaven to it, and that third part would follow it to their own demise, to the point that they would be cast out and never have the opportunity to come to earth, gain bodies, and have the chance to learn and grow. They were looking for the "safeness" that Satan offered.

His plan was this: "I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, and one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor".

It seems both tempting and hopeless at the same time. Nobody is lost. We all get to come to earth, go through the motions, do what we are told, and then we come back just as we left - safe and sound.

The problem is that such a plan does nothing. It allows nothing bad, but it allows nothing good either. If a person doesn't have a choice to do badly, then he can't choose good either. There is no greatness, no growth, no opportunity, no becoming, no guidance. No building spiritual muscles and growing into something that has God-like traits. No approaching God's greatness. Nothing. In this plan, we might as well sit back and watch a movie of someone going through an earth-like experience as do it ourselves, because we are not in control of our thoughts, minds or actions. It would all be managed for us.

We're not lost per se, because that's not allowed in Satan's plan, but in following it, we are all lost to our greatness. My blog is focused on gifts and guides, but there would be no gifts - we wouldn't need them. You don't need gifts if you're just on the railroad through life sitting in your designated seat. You don't need guides for the same reason. You could get a robot - or potted plant - and name it after yourself with the same result.

So in Satan's deceitful way, he was right. Nobody would be lost. But what's the point? Nobody wins either. This reminds me a bit of some of the politics lately. People who don't think they are getting their fair share from life, so they want everyone evened out. No matter that they haven't stretched themselves - gotten a difficult education, worked their way through life, gotten up early, stayed late, not watched TV at night, etc. They just want "fairness".

If  you define fairness as everyone gets the same result, fairness is Satan's plan. If you define fairness as everyone gets the result of the gifts they have developed, the result of the choices they make, the result of how well they listened to their guidance received, then fairness is God's plan. Those of us on this earth chose God's plan. At least we were not in the third part that rebelled. Also, please not that this is not Christ's plan - it's the plan of God the Father, and Jesus aligned himself with it.

Now a more direct application: many of us on this earth still look for safety over stretching. It is easy to keep our existing routine - get up, commute to work, put in the hours, grumble about our wife, family, coworker, boss, the corporation, and then commute home, grab a drink, eat something, burn the evening hours with a pastime, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. That's routine, and it's safe. We know that and it's normal. Everyone does it and so it's not a problem in any way, right?

It is if we're OK ignoring the gifts we've received. It is if we choose to ignore the guidance we might receive from on high. It is if we're destined to live a routine, "normal" life. If being saved means you've lived the routine life, then you're saved- but what a tragedy such a saved life is. What if we are gifted with the ability to inspire others? What if we have talents that could serve thousands and affect generations? What if we have the gift of speech, or writing, or spiritual strength, or art, or math, or love, and never recognize that gift? What if never seeking that gift means that it's not only never recognized, but never developed, and the generations that we could have served go unserved? What if in being "normal", we fail to find and develop and execute God's purpose for our being on earth? What if our routine prevents us from developing and executing our mission and being our purpose?

This is why God the Father had the right plan. When no one can become their own greatness, all are lost. I expect that God knew that many of us would fail to seek for greatness, choosing instead the news or our favorite TV series. He knew many would find small wins along the way, and I am certain he rejoices in those. But what if we set aside our routines and followed God's path for us? It's not the path that feels "safe", but it is the only path toward who we can become. The irony there is that from the rear view mirror, that safety in staying on the couch looks very dangerous - it robs us from what we can make from life.

From the rear view mirror, that's a terrible price to pay to be "safe". It's like the burglar that comes in to your mansion to rob you of everything - but in this case that burglar is you. We all rob ourselves from what we could have been when we make choices against our greatness.

Everyone has their own gifts. We all have different guides that are hand selected to get us to where we need to go. God and his angels are there to guide us, and point us toward our own greatness - all we have to do is unclog the communication pipeline, listen, and then act. It's the real "safe" way to live.

Power - we don't own it

Reading in Moses today - this is in the Pearl of Great Price. Moses 1. Moses talks about how he met with God and was instructed. He was strengthened so that he could be in the presence of God without having his body overwhelmed. That happened, and he returned to whatever "normal" is for us mortals.

Then something happened that always makes me wonder - after having a spiritual gift of large proportions, here comes Satan. It seems to happen often in scenarios where I am around enough to be aware of it - that when God gets an opportunity or moment with one of us, Satan's side is not far behind. Like, if you have an exceptional gift from God, it comes with a flip side of the same coin that might exceptionally expose you to the dark side.  I don't know that is the case, but I suspect there might be something there.

So before we get to the story, I noticed in verse 11 that he says "But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes". This means we have spiritual eyes - another subject I don't know about. If I were to be guessing, maybe the spirit - which does look like our bodies - would have eyes. Is it those eyes? I don't know. Or maybe it's just something that our spirit can do that doesn't have a cornea and lenses and focal points. Maybe it's far more refined than that. Once again, I don't know.

But when we experience something with our spiritual eyes and ears, and brains and heart, and when we stay true to that truth, we don't stray simply because somebody hands us a brochure claiming something that is not God's truth. We know from a place much more deep inside - a place that no brochure, no science, no "intelligent" pronouncement can affect. That's just man's stuff. We know much more deeply than that, and we know that we must rely on the truth we have been personally given, or be condemned for willfully disowning our gifts and disobeying what we know to be God's will.

The price for such a traitorous act to truth would have to be so heavy that I am sure God is very hesitant to give someone that gift. I think it only comes when He believes that we will be and stay true to that gift. I also think that the "line upon line" concept fits in there too - we are given what we can handle, and what we have shown we can obey, use, and manage. No more and no less - otherwise God may be condemning us by giving us too much. Or for that matter, too little. Given that he loves us perfectly, I doubt that he'd be motivated to do anything that's likely to condemn us in the long run.

But that's the side subject. I saw something else in this chapter. So here comes Satan - God has had his moment, now enters Satan. He comes in and basically says "I'm God. Worship me".

Moses says "yeah - no. You don't have any glory. You're not God". He could see the difference. I think that the ability to distinguish is also a gift from God - one of the greater gifts, and it doesn't just come to anyone. Most, I believe, lack this gift. Or perhaps they have it (the Holy Ghost's guidance), but they have failed to develop the skills to use that tool. Once again, I don't have that answer.

But in verse 18 he says basically "sorry, you're not God, and I'm not going to worship you" and "Depart hence Satan".

This of course really makes Satan angry. We've all seen angry people - now imagine what it would look like to see Satan angry. Moses begins to fear greatly. He calls upon God and received strength enough to command "Depart from me Satan"

But it doesn't go. Earthquake. Anger. The most powerful evil ever is now wanting to come down on Moses, and he hasn't obeyed Moses' command. Why? Because it was Moses doing the command, and Moses doesn't have the power by himself to do that. All he has done is make darkness quite angry.

The next time he gets it right: "In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan." Next, there's loudness, weeping and wailing and anger, and then it's out.

We don't have the power by ourselves to command Satan, and the jury's out as to what we can do with his followers. For me, they may not recognize Garth power, but when I can do it by my priesthood, given to me by the Lord, and in the name of my Savior, he must leave.

It's a reminder that we must not rely on ourselves as we traverse life. When we consecrate our actions by calling on the Lord, listening to and acting on his guidance, we allow ourselves to be far more successful than doing it alone.  May I remember this for a long time - may we all.

we're not there yet

Reading in Ether today, it's surprising what children we all are. The story is in Ether 2, and it talks about how Jared and his brother were able to not have their language changed, and they were able to keep their friends from having their language changed as well. They had enough wisdom to know that staying in place wasn't the gift they wanted from the Lord - that there was a better place for them.

I don't know why, but this reminds me of the board game Risk, where you are trying to win by taking over all the world. You have to have your own place first, then you expand your empire. I have always liked Africa and Australia. The last place I want to try to dominate is europe - way too many ways to be attacked.

Same thing for staying in whatever land the land of Babel was - all your future enemies might be leaving and going somewhere else, but you're still in the center of everyone. Not a good war strategy if you want your progeny to survive. A new continent separated by thousands of miles of water? Yes and thank you.

And they knew that they would be going there - or strongly suspected that at least - they mentioned something like "and who knows if the Lord doesn't send us someplace awesome" - their words were slightly different, but yeah.

So they are guided by the hand of the Lord to a beach, where they set up camp for four years. Long time to be camping. They thought perhaps that this was their promised land. They didn't know, right? It was probably very nice compared to Babel.

But in forgetting to ask the Lord what needed to happen next, they got comfortable. They would have stayed there forever - the place had a beach! But in the Lord's eyes, they were on a trip from New York to California and they stopped and stayed in Indiana. Indiana's nice, but it's not California.

And how did they make such a mistake? They relied on themselves. After much guidance by the Lord, they got where they decided the goal was, then stopped relying on the Lord. This is nice Lord - thanks. We're done with you now. We'll pray really fervently next time we need something.

And this is no pile of wayward children - it contained the brother of Jared. This is one of few men ever who got the Lord to extend his arm and create light in rocks. This is one of few men who saw the flesh of the Lord. The only man I know of that is called by another name - presumably out of reverence. God the Father and Jesus are called by many other names, but only the brother of Jared is called this way - at least as far as I'm aware.

So here's the wisdom: how often do we get where we think we are going, then stop relying on the Lord? How often do we get comfortable and then decide we've got this? How often do we decide we don't need the Lord when we mistakenly decide life is good enough?

And we didn't get far enough. And even if we perhaps did, we still need the Lord. So we wait, dig ourselves a comfortable hole, then call on the Lord in pleading tones to get us out again?

I think the lesson there is that we must always remember him, and keep his commandments which he has given us. That we can always have His guidance.

Works out much better that way. That's what I believe.

According to their danger

So today's thought is a bit shorter than most, but I was reading a chapter I've already been through. The stuff that so captivated me last time wasn't what got me this time.

Admittedly there is a description of Moroni in Alma 48 that sounds like what I've been challenged to become. That talks about how Moroni was a strong and mighty man (there's that word and again - it would be interesting to know the difference between strong and mighty as relates to him - I do have some ideas), a man of perfect understanding (yeah - not sure what that means either or how to get that), a man who didn't delight in bloodshed, whose soul  found joy in liberty and freedom, whose heart swelled in thanks to his God, and a man who worked hard - labored - for his people. And he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ.

This sounds a lot like what I've been challenged to become. There's a sign on my wall right above my pc that says "Organize yourself; prepare every needful thing; and establish a man, even a man of prayer, a man of fasting, a man of faith, a man of learning, a man of glory, a man of order, a man of God". As I look at that list, I have a substantial distance between where I am and where those words can take me. It's a bit overwhelming, but that's why we're all here on earth, and I know that if I honestly do what I can to build myself, the Lord makes up the difference.

But what I saw in the scriptures today is in verse 15. "And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger".

At first blush, I gathered that a person can do everything right, and there is still a chance that God's answer is not to help you keep your home against all the odds of the overwhelming adversary. He may not slaughter millions of enemy soldiers to preserve you in your home, but he will preserve you. It's about expectations perhaps, and when we expect that the Lord will do what we expect him to do based on our own perceived faithfulness, we set us up for failure and disappointment. He will do what he chooses best - and that may not be what we think we want. I think he is much less concerned with our comfort, and more concerned with who we are and what we are becoming. Hard times can sometimes be just what we need to take that next step into our own greatness.

May we trust Him, even when the purpose for the pathway isn't clear. Even when it seems unjust, or unfair. Instead, may we just trust him, without any reference to an "even if" clause. That may be one definition of what greatness may be.