Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 59 and I have no idea where to start. This section starting at verse 7 has almost every single verse highlighted and there is SO much we could talk about. Some of what the Lord is saying we have talked about before so I don't think I will touch on it today.
The part of this section that I don't think we have dwelt on very much is the part about keeping the Sabbath day holy. I once had a friend give a talk in Sacrament meeting about the Sabbath day and he said something that has always stayed with me. He said that in our great-grandfather's time it was called the Holy Sabbath. In our grandfather's time it was the Sabbath. In our father's day it was called Sunday. And in our day it's called the weekend. We have lost our reverence for the Sabbath as a culture.
I think it is interesting that the Lord says in verse 9 that one of the purposes of the Sabbath and keeping it holy is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. And truly in this day and age of self pleasure and total disregard for the Lord and His commandments, keeping the Sabbath day holy certainly does make us different from the rest of the world. When I tell my friends, even those that go to church on Sundays, that I don't go out to eat, that I don't go out to parties, etc they look at me like I am crazy. But you know what? I really like not doing anything besides the Lord's work on Sundays. It's very relaxing.
The Lord also points out that Sunday should not be the only day we speak with the Lord. He reminds us that should be praying to Him and doing His work everyday of the week, but that the Sabbath day is the day appointed unto us to especially go to church and pay our devotions to Him and to rest from our labors. Another neat point in this section is the fact that the Lord equates fasting with rejoicing. Now that is really interesting to me. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't usually equate not eating or drinking for two straight meals with rejoicing. However, if you think about it, the opportunity to sacrifice on behalf of another, perhaps even a family member, is really unique and awesome. Talk about acting as a savior on Mount Zion! While yes we always can pray and we can promise God everything on the other person's behalf and we can hope and plead, but that's usually as far as it goes with most people. But to fast in behalf of someone, to go without sustaining fuel of the body. That is true sacrifice and that takes real love and compassion to do for someone else.
The final point I want to make from this section is one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures. In verse 21 the Lord tell us that against none is His wrath kindled save against those who confess not His hand in all things. The Lord is very big on making sure we do not take credit unto ourselves when we do something in the Lord's name. I had a discussion on Sunday with the Elder's Quorum presidency in my ward, I am the secretary for the Elder's Quorum. We were discussing if the faith of a sick person is necessary for them to be healed, what is the purpose of a priesthood blessing. We came to a consensus that the priesthood blessing is more about revealing the will of the Lord in the matter. Also, as long as he person is in tune with the Spirit, it can help tremendously in having the person get better. I told a story where I was once an instrument in God's hands with a friend of mine who had been sick for over a year and was losing all hope. My friend asked me for a blessing and the Lord was able to use me to describe the exact problem with their body to the person so that they could tell the doctor and within a matter of 3 months they were completely cured of their ailment! Now, I had no idea what the medical term for my friend's condition at the time was, I know it now, but I was able to describe it perfectly and give such a clear picture that my friend asked the doctor to look for it and sure enough it was there! But we all know it was not me. I was a conduit for the Lord in speaking to my friend, no more. How could I know what it was when I had never even heard of the condition?
The Lord allows us to assist in the salvation of others but that is all we are doing, assisting. How can we help others in their eternal journey? All that we are and can become is due to the Lord. We have done nothing and can do nothing save it is by the power of the Lord. Our very life comes from Him. It is sheer folly to think that we can do anything of ourselves. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, an Apostle, once said that the only true sacrifice we can offer up to the Lord is our will, our agency. It is the only thing that is uniquely ours. EVERYTHING else we have and are, are gifts from our Heavenly Father. Our natural talents, our intelligence, our bodies, all belong to Him and are gifts to us from Him. Only our will is wholly our own. How can we not confess His ways are just and we are nothing without Him? We are told that in time all will acknowledge His ways are just and His judgments righteous, why not start now since He asks it of us? Can we, should we, do any less that what He, our creator, has asked of us? Until tomorrow.
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