Today I read 3 Nephi 22 which is a direct quote of the Savior of Isaiah 54. I must admit that while I have never found Isaiah to be too enigmatic, he is also sometimes quite hard to understand what he is referring to. I remember talking to my dad once about it and he stated that the reason most people had a tough time with Isaiah is because Isaiah is talking about 3 different time periods, his own time, the 1st coming of the Savior and the 2nd coming of the Savior. I will admit that makes for some challenging reading at times.
This particular chapter I am pretty sure, and the chapter heading agrees with me, is talking about the second coming of Jesus and about the gathering of scattered Israel. As I was reading this chapter my mind went back to my days in college to my first year which was spent at BYU - Idaho, actually it was the first year it was BYU - Idaho being called Ricks college before that year. I was taking a Book of Mormon class there and we were discussing what were mercies of the Lord. It was there that the Spirit first spoke and revealed to me the truth that the fact that the Lord would consign some of His children to lesser glories is a mercy.
The reason I say this chapter reminds of that time is because of verses 7-8. The states through Isaiah that for a small moment I have forsaken thee, which if you think about it is kind of a misnomer because the Lord never forsakes us. However what he is trying to say I believe is he is referring to the period when the Jews are harassed on all sides by all peoples because they crucified the Savior.
This thought got me to think of the times God has "forsaken" each of us. Most of us have had a few moments when we feel we have been forsaken of the Lord and we grow angry with God because He left our side. But we should not feel this way, instead we should thank the Lord for His tender mercies to us that He allowed us to grow. I'm not the biggest fan of the poem Footprints in Sand because while the Lord never leaves us completely, He does allow us to grow on our own. But if we grow angry with God for leaving our side and allowing us to face certain things on our own, we are hypocrites. Because we each of us who have children have to take a step back and allow them to fail and make choices that you know are wrong so that they can grow.
What good does it do if your child comes home with math homework and you help them do it, but by help you just do it for them and don't teach them anything? How is that going to help your child when it's time to take the math test? Likewise how does it benefit us if God removes every obstacle from our path and never allows us to climb over them ourselves? So while I stated earlier that calling those times when the Lord takes a step back Him forsaking us is a misnomer, it is not far from the truth.
I once made a statement to a friend that we ought to pray and give thanks for our trials in this life. He was floored and asked me how can I say such a thing. I answered that the entire purpose of this life is to choose who we want to be and without trials we cannot make that choice. Without trials we cannot grow and progress. If we had no trials we would be like the child who was given everything they ever asked for and was never told no. How prepared for real life is such a person? How great a disservice did their parents do for them in preparing them for life outside the home and eventual marriage? Can you imagine Heavenly Father doing something like that to us? No, because He loves us too much to do something so horrible and cruel to us. Yes, I say spoiling a child is a horrible thing to do and is a lack of true compassion and love.
Heavenly Father understands that really loving a child is having the courage to break their hearts a few times, to say no to them when you really, really, really want to say yes and let them have whatever it is they are asking for. Real love is explaining life lessons to them instead of preventing them from having those tough moments in life. I believe that is what the Lord is trying to convey to all His people through Isaiah. I could honestly go on and on and share experience after experience about this but what I have shared will suffice. Just as we love our children enough to let them suffer in life and learn the life lessons they need to know, so to does our Father in Heaven love us enough to let us suffer through our life lessons so we can grow. Learn them well, because if you don't you'll just have to keep suffering until you do. Until tomorrow.
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