Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 94. In this section, the Lord maps out the city of Kirtland, how He wants it laid out. It must have been an interesting life and time, to live around the prophet, Joseph Smith and have him receive revelations from the Lord on a sometimes daily basis. It does seem a little odd to me that he should receive revelations from the Lord on such mundane topics as where to build a house for Hyrum Smith.
I think it would have been neat to live near the prophet Joseph. Although for some people it was stumbling block apparently. There is more than one person that, because of their close proximity to him, saw him for what he was, a man that the Lord had called to lead his church and he apparently did not meet their expectations of what a prophet should be like. For example, one of the men who left the church, I forget his name, came over to ask Joseph something and saw him wrestling on the floor with his children and felt that was not a behavior a prophet should engage in. Personally I would have been thrilled to see such a sight. I would have thought to myself that it is wonderful that the prophet is a man just like me.
I'm not sure where people got the idea of what a prophet should be like anyway. In the Bible we only have a record of the prophets of old and their duties as a prophet. We only know about their prophecies, their missions and the things they did in the name of the Lord. We have no idea what they did in their personal lives. Although, Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young are both unique in that they were called to be prophet unusually young, even Joseph was called at half the age Brigham was. So Joseph Smith was unique among most of the prophets, I'm sure there are others we don't know about, in that he was a prophet as a teenager and a young adult.
We DO have a record of the modern day prophets and how they were most definitely men made more perfect through the things they experienced and suffered. And that is a comfort for me, it gives me hope. Because I look at our current prophet, President Monson, and I just feel defeated. How can I ever hope to be as good as he is, let alone the Savior. But then I read about the prophet's in their lives at my age and realize they made mistakes too and they took it one day at a time, just like I have to. I believe it was President Spencer W. Kimball's wife that was once asked what it was like to be married to the prophet and she replied that he was not a prophet when she married him. The only person I know of that did not have to become perfected over a lifetime was the Savior. Enoch and his city was not translated for over 300 years! And Enoch was not called to the ministry until he was 65 I believe.
A prophet is not born, a prophet is made. Even then, they have help. Joseph Smith did not overnight go from being a young adult, to a prophet. The Lord helped him and taught him line upon line, precept upon precept. Joseph is again unique in that we know very, very well his faults and the problems he had in the learning process. We know for a fact that he did things he shouldn't have, like tempt the Lord and thus lost part of the Book of Mormon. Now, this is not to give one a license to just go out and run amok sinning wherever and whenever possible. Rather this is to help give us hope that we too can become as they are and were.
It would have indeed been neat to have lived in the days of Joseph Smith and seen first hand the revelations that we are now reading being received and watch Joseph direct the church. It would have been very hard too as you well know if you have studied any of the church's history. However, if you still want to see a prophet in action, all you have to do is watch general conference every six months, because we have President Monson who is in charge now and he receives inspiration for this church and he lets us know the will of the Lord concerning us. Actually we have conference this weekend, please be sure to take advantage of it and make sure you are spiritually prepared to hear the will of the Lord, and you will. Until tomorrow.
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