"And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen may great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and they power and goodness and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou are merciful thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!"
Despite being long and fairly dense with things, I will be honest when I say I can't find a ton to pull our of this scripture besides what is on the surface so that is where I am really trying to be open to inspiration in case there is anything else that I am missing (there usually is). So Nephi is still writing this, which I appreciate that we get reminders every now and then because it is easy to forget and picture Lehi writing all of this down. Nephi says that not after, but when Lehi had seen a read these marvelous things he starts exclaiming things to the Lord. My first thought is how I would be in this situation. Now when I think of visions I picture them kind of like a dream where I don't really have control of myself. Did Lehi just kind of witness himself doing these things or was he active and present as if he were transported to the throne of God? I can tell you right now that I would not be talking much if I found myself standing before God. When I am talking to my boss at work I don't say much but sit and listen and try to be as accommodating as possible. I am sure there are a lot of things that I would like to say to my Father in Heaven but I don't know that I would be able to get them out. I love that Nephi doesn't say that he knows what Lehi said but he actually writes oh, he said something along these lines.
Keep in mind that a large part of what Lehi saw was a destruction of Jerusalem. He saw people being carried away as slaves, the city tumbling, and its inhabitants being slaughtered. After seeing all that he exclaims: "great and marvelous are they works, O Lord God Almighty!" And if you think that he is just saying this because he fears for his life, you are wrong. He goes on to reference his power, goodness, and mercy. I wonder why those three things.
Power - is in the capability of God. This is raw destructive, constructive, or otherwise ability to do.
Goodness - This is in reference to his character or motivation for how he uses that power. He uses his power for good. To make the world a better place. Goodness and Power seem an obvious pair. After all, a lot of villains are powerful.
Mercy - Mercy is the outlier here. It is a word that is sometimes hard to define and a study topic for another day. Mercy to me is callout to neither God's power, or his goodness, but his love. I think of powerful people good or bad, and I think of figures. I don't think of people. I see statues of might that are cold and calculating. The quality of mercy brings God back to us. God is not always about what is for the greater good. He isn't on his throne running statistics of what does the most good and how he can be perceived the greatest by the larger number of people. God is merciful. He sees individuals and makes his calls on a very personal level. I like that.
He also says something about being merciful to all the inhabitants of the earth. I know at that time is was a common belief that God was the God of the Israelites. I know that they lived in a world where many different cultures had many different Gods. I love that Lehi saw that God was the God of the entire earth. Not just for those in Jerusalem, but for everyone, everywhere, throughout all time.
PLEASE read the three scriptures that are under the footnote "come" at the end of the verse. Some amazing verses about God inviting us to come and be part of his fold. And the last thing that I would like to touch on today is the visual of how Lehi shared this with his sons. Did he sit them all down and tell them all these things as a group? or did he sit down with Nephi individually and have a person to person discussion. I would just think about how you would have preferred it to happen if you were Nephi. Maybe emulate that in your own life when you share personal experiences with your kids...
Despite being long and fairly dense with things, I will be honest when I say I can't find a ton to pull our of this scripture besides what is on the surface so that is where I am really trying to be open to inspiration in case there is anything else that I am missing (there usually is). So Nephi is still writing this, which I appreciate that we get reminders every now and then because it is easy to forget and picture Lehi writing all of this down. Nephi says that not after, but when Lehi had seen a read these marvelous things he starts exclaiming things to the Lord. My first thought is how I would be in this situation. Now when I think of visions I picture them kind of like a dream where I don't really have control of myself. Did Lehi just kind of witness himself doing these things or was he active and present as if he were transported to the throne of God? I can tell you right now that I would not be talking much if I found myself standing before God. When I am talking to my boss at work I don't say much but sit and listen and try to be as accommodating as possible. I am sure there are a lot of things that I would like to say to my Father in Heaven but I don't know that I would be able to get them out. I love that Nephi doesn't say that he knows what Lehi said but he actually writes oh, he said something along these lines.
Keep in mind that a large part of what Lehi saw was a destruction of Jerusalem. He saw people being carried away as slaves, the city tumbling, and its inhabitants being slaughtered. After seeing all that he exclaims: "great and marvelous are they works, O Lord God Almighty!" And if you think that he is just saying this because he fears for his life, you are wrong. He goes on to reference his power, goodness, and mercy. I wonder why those three things.
Power - is in the capability of God. This is raw destructive, constructive, or otherwise ability to do.
Goodness - This is in reference to his character or motivation for how he uses that power. He uses his power for good. To make the world a better place. Goodness and Power seem an obvious pair. After all, a lot of villains are powerful.
Mercy - Mercy is the outlier here. It is a word that is sometimes hard to define and a study topic for another day. Mercy to me is callout to neither God's power, or his goodness, but his love. I think of powerful people good or bad, and I think of figures. I don't think of people. I see statues of might that are cold and calculating. The quality of mercy brings God back to us. God is not always about what is for the greater good. He isn't on his throne running statistics of what does the most good and how he can be perceived the greatest by the larger number of people. God is merciful. He sees individuals and makes his calls on a very personal level. I like that.
He also says something about being merciful to all the inhabitants of the earth. I know at that time is was a common belief that God was the God of the Israelites. I know that they lived in a world where many different cultures had many different Gods. I love that Lehi saw that God was the God of the entire earth. Not just for those in Jerusalem, but for everyone, everywhere, throughout all time.
PLEASE read the three scriptures that are under the footnote "come" at the end of the verse. Some amazing verses about God inviting us to come and be part of his fold. And the last thing that I would like to touch on today is the visual of how Lehi shared this with his sons. Did he sit them all down and tell them all these things as a group? or did he sit down with Nephi individually and have a person to person discussion. I would just think about how you would have preferred it to happen if you were Nephi. Maybe emulate that in your own life when you share personal experiences with your kids...
Comments
Post a Comment