"And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly."
I like to picture this not as Lehi kneeling next to a large rock asking God for help, but rather Lehi walking to or from Jerusalem about his business and his mind is really caught up in all of these emotions. I don't really have any proof of that, other than it is what makes the most sense in my mind as I have been doing this. The pillar of fire seems a little odd to me at first, but lets see what we can make of it. The pillar of fire pops up over and over again in the bible, but not that often in the Book of Mormon. Let's be honest though, there are a LOT of strange things that are in the Bible. I feel like the Book of Mormon keeps it on a fairly conservative level in comparison. So, why a pillar of fire? I have thought for a long time on this, like 3-4 years long, and I think I have an answer that satisfies myself. My main concern was why we don't hear about pillars of fire nowadays? I mean, there are plenty of vision accounts and true or not, I have never heard a modern-day account of a pillar of fire.
Joseph Smith talks about a pillar of light that descended and that gets really close. So what is it about that time that brought down fire? I think it is where their source was from. Nowadays light proceeds from nearly everything. We have pillows that light up, lightbulbs, phones, and probably least prevalent is fire. I wonder if what we call a pillar of light today was a pillar of fire back then simply because when they saw light apart from the sun it was fire. Just a thought.
I love the description here because it is perfectly vague. I am not a huge fan of people describing their spiritual experiences in detail. Granted there is a kind of morbid curiosity that I have, but when people share too much about what they have experienced I get a little uncomfortable. I think this is a beautiful example of how it should be done. We understand exactly what we need to. We know that he saw a vision, and we know that he both saw and heard things. What the voice he heard sounded like or exactly what he saw is irrelevant. He saw things, he heard things, and those things caused him to shake and tremble. LOVE IT! all we need to know to appreciate the situation and no more or less. Beautifully written as always.
THE BIG THING
Revelation happens daily in both big and small ways. We should expect it and do our best to describe it in our personal journals and such. If prompted to share a spiritual experience you should stop, think about why you are sharing it and what it will mean to that person, and share only those things that are necessary. This keeps things sacred and personal. Spiritual growth is and always should be kept on a personal level.
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