Book of Mormon: Day 255: And ye shall hear my words

Today’s reading: Helaman 14:1-15

And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord.

 10 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you.

 11 And ye shall hear my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;

Its been over 10 years since I put on my missionary badge. I often think back to those days and reflect on the people I met and the lessons I learned. One of the greatest blessing I had was serving under my Mission President and his wife. One theme that was impressed time and time again was how God speaks to His children. I can look back with clarity on a specific Zone Conference where we were counseled to encourage those we teach to look for how God answers their prayers. “It might even be something they hear on the radio or T.V” they said.  For the people of Samuel’s time, it seemed God had sent him to answer the prayers of those who were seeking answers. It was Samuel who taught them the eternal and fundamental truths of repentance. He was so dedicated to God that he CLIMBED A WALL to share his message.

But many we know, did not listen. They did not listen then and they do not listen now.  President Benson gave a timeless talk on this stubborn attribute we all seem to harbor — Pride. He said:

The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel. 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.

Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.

Samuel shared a message of warning and a message of hope. I picture him standing up there on the wall just desperate for his message to reach those open hearts. Perhaps even more desperate for it to reach those hearts that were not so open though. I am sure we all have either had a hard heart or know someone with a hard heart. Recently a series of events took place in my life that really brought me to realize I am not really measuring up to my potential. Now before you imagine crazy trials or really terrible choices made on my part, let me assure you it was none of those things. In fact, as I felt the promptings of the Spirit whispering for me to change, I resisted. A lot. President Benson says:

Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position.

That was me! Just like those Nephites that Samuel was dealing with! We read that because Samuel was  Lamanite AND spoke hard things to the Nephites, they were super angry with him. Eventually I came around and realized that I did, in fact, want to make changes in my life. I needed to know that I had used this probationary period to measure up to my God-given potential. I had in fact, had my own “Samuel the Lamanite” moment and while at first I threw stones, I quickly realized this message was from God to me. He was speaking to me through music and conversations with friends and conference talks. All of them gently (and some not so gently) letting me know it was time to go to work.  Proverbs 15: 10 tells us:

10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.

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God loves you so much. I know that because I know He loves me so much. He sent Samuel BACK to the Nephites and they tried to destroy him! I know that the Spirit will find ways to reach you but ultimately it is up to us to act on those promptings and not be so prideful we can’t even hear when a Prophet is standing on a wall (or in conference) telling us how to be made worthy.

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