Mormon 4

Notes from personal scripture study:

Mormon chapter 4

• It is easier to remember to pray at the beginning of my scripture study when I take notes.
• "..it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed." (v5) War and the destruction that comes with it are one way that the wicked are punished. It seems to me that when the wicked stir up men unto bloodshed, the righteous frequently suffer as well. I don't think it is fair to say that the righteous are being punished, however. Maybe Mormon is saying that the wicked punish themselves through the shedding of blood.
  
• verses 13, 14 - the city of Desolation changes hands for the 3rd time in the chapter. Was it occupied entirely by the military forces? What about the people that weren't fighting? V14 mentions that the Lamanites offered up women and children "as sacrifices unto their idol gods." Perhaps this is the type of punishment that the wicked bring upon the wicked. If the Nephites had been righteous, maybe these sacrifices would not have occurred as they did.
• Chapter 4 begins with the Nephites as the aggressors, but ends with the Lamanites doing all the attacking. The aggressiveness of the Nephites led to their destruction (v4).
  

Start 9:40 pause 9:50 resume 10:13 end 10:37 -- 34 min.

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The Infinite Power of Hope

Notes from my scripture study today:

The Infinite Power of Hope by Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf (from November 2008 Ensign)

Notes:

• Faith overcomes fear; hope overcomes despair. Faith and hope must be put into action to be truly effective.
• The scriptures are written that we "might have hope" (Romans 15:4). This verse actually says that hope comes through "patience and comfort of the scriptures." What does comfort of the scriptures mean? Knowing them well enough to be comfortable? Finding comfort in the words?
• Having hope is important if I want to have a happy life (Psalm 146:5) - specifically, having hope in the God of Jacob and his power to raise us unto life eternal (Moroni 7:41).
• The absence of hope can make the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12).
  
• Hope is a gift of the Spirit which accompanies repentance and humility (Moroni 8:26).
• "...be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard..." (Colossians 1:23).
  
• We are commanded to be hopeful: "we have the responsibility to make it an active part of our lives and overcome the temptation to lose hope."
• "...wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance" in the kingdom of God (Ether 12:32).
  

Quotes:

Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity.

[W]e have the responsibility to make [hope] an active part of our lives and overcome the temptation to lose hope.

Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us.

Because God has been faithful and kept His promises in the past, we can hope with confidence that God will keep His promises to us in the present and in the future.

Started: 1:30 p.m. Ended: 2:15 (45 minutes)

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Even As Abraham

As we study the scriptures, we learn that many prophets had their faith tried in many different ways. But as far as I can think of off the top of my head, there is only one trial of faith experienced by a prophet that the Lord specifically tells us that we must also go through. In Doctrine and Covenants 101:4-5, the Lord says that the Saints "must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified." A similar idea is found in John 8:39, where the Savior says, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."

Each prophet had his faith tried in different ways, and each of us will have our faith tried in different ways. What is it about Abraham's trial of faith that makes it the one that must be universally passed by all of us if we wish to draw nearer to God? There are probably several good answers to this question, but my feeling is that it has to do with how Abraham was able to put the will of the Lord before his own, even when it meant sacrificing something that he dearly loved. If I want to do the works of Abraham and return to the presence of God, I must also learn to put the will of God first in my life.

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For Great Are the Words of Isaiah

I recently completed a personal study of the book of Isaiah. It was my first attempt at really trying to understood his writings, and took me nearly a year to complete. I am very glad that I put in the effort I did, however, because Isaiah is amazing. I will try and write an entry or two on what I learned. To start, here are a few thoughts on why Isaiah is so difficult to understand, and what I can do about it.

In 2 Nephi 25:1, Nephi mentions that his people had a hard time understanding the writings of Isaiah, and then explains why he chose to include them. He also gives several keys to understanding Isaiah. What I recently found interesting, however, is the footnote in verse 1 that leads to Jacob 4:14. In Jacob 4:14, we learn that the Jews desired things that were difficult to understand, and “because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.”

There are two things I took from this verse: first, we are rewarded according to our desires. Second, the book of Isaiah isn't necessarily meant to be hard for me to understand – it was meant to be hard for the Jews of that time to understand.

Following the last footnote in verse 14 to Isaiah 57, I came across another scripture that was interesting. One of the ideas in Isaiah 57:13-14 is that those who trust in the Lord (v13) seek for their stumbling blocks to be removed (v14). In other words, in contrast to the ancient Jews, those who trust in the Lord seek for the gospel to be plain to the understanding.

Applying this principle to myself, I came up with the following: If I trust in the Lord and ask in faith, my stumbling blocks can be removed according to my righteous desires. I can be filled with the spirit of prophecy (2 Nephi 25:4) in such a way that the words of Isaiah will become plain to me.

After spending a year studying Isaiah, I know that Isaiah can become plain and precious. While there are still many parts of Isaiah's writings that I do not fully comprehend, I am amazed at how much I was able to get from the book with just a little more effort than normal. The Savior has commanded us to study Isaiah, “for great are the words of Isaiah,” (3 Nephi 23:1) and He can and will help us to understand Isaiah's writings.

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