Book of Mormon: Day 174: The Mysteries of God

Today’s Reading:  Alma 12:  1-21

9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.

 10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

 11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.

How much water can a rock absorb?  If you are like me, you are thinking, “Not much.  It’s a rock.  It’s solid.”  If you are thinking this, you would be right…sort of.  I was curious so I Googled, “How much water can a rock absorb?”  and the answers that I found opened up a whole new thought process on this block of scriptures.  I had originally planned on talking about how a rock cannot absorb much water and then liken that to a hardened heart not being able to absorb the “living water” or knowledge from God.  And this is true.  This block of scriptures testifies of that. The softer your heart the more answers to your questions.  The harder your heart is, the less God is inclined to share with you His mysteries.

But as I have pondered on this, and read about how different rocks can absorb various amounts of water, five little words crept into my head.

It is never too late.

Even the hardest of rocks is still able to absorb a fair amount of water.

The difference between the rock and a hardened heart is that the heart is paired with a brain and a soul that can choose to either retain the moisture or let it go.

The formula is quite simple, the softer your heart, the more answers to God’s mysteries you receive.  Does that mean that you will eventually receive all of the answers?  Not in this life, no.  Even our Prophet and Apostles do not know the answers to all of God’s mysteries.  And that’s okay. We don’t have to know the “Why?” for everything.  If we did, then there would be no purpose for us to exercise faith and faith is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On the flip side, the harder your heart is and the more you contend with the Spirit who speaks the truth of all things, the less God is willing to share with you “until you know nothing concerning his mysteries.”  And that would be a very sad life indeed.  Every day I am alive I look forward to being taught by the Spirit and receiving the smallest little sliver of the pie, so to speak.  Answers will come if you let them and are willing to accept that God’s will may be completely different from yours.

I came across a wonderful talk on this subject of exploring the mysteries of God and finding answers to your questions.  It was given in the April 2014 General Conference by Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis.  The talk is entitled “If Ye Lack Wisdom.”  In this talk, Elder Aidukaitis talks about 3 things we need to use in order to gain the wisdom that we seek:  asking in faith, having an honest heart, and believing that you will receive an answer.

“Asking with an honest heart is equally important in this process.  If we are sincerely seeking the truth, we will do all in our power to find it, which can include reading the scriptures, going to church, and doing our best to keep the commandments of God.  It also means that we are willing to do God’s will when we find it.“

So simple, yet because of our pride and human imperfections, we can make it so complicated.

“We must ask in faith with an honest heart.  But that is not all.  We must also believe that we will receive the revelation.  We must trust the Lord and have hope in His promises.“

The Lord has promised us in this very block of scriptures that if we come to him with an open, soft, and honest heart, He will reveal portions of His word to us as He sees fit.  When that happens, we can choose to accept the answer that we receive or reject it because it wasn’t what we wanted or thought it would be.  Maybe this process has to happen a few times because of stubbornness, but God is patient.  He is there and He will be willing to pour out the answers to your questions drop by drop, piece by piece, as you soften your heart and humbly come before Him.

Desirae Ogden

I grew up the oldest of 5 children in the blazing heat of Southern Utah. After high school and some college experience I met and married Mark Ogden and we are the parents of four children. I have owned and operated my own home-based preschool for more than a dozen years, and I consider myself an accidental author as well. When I am not in my minivan transporting children from one activity to the next, I enjoy playing the piano, blogging, speaking about my life’s experiences, and feeding my insatiable crafting disease.