Each member of my Primary presidency brings something unique and strong to the team. Susan brought enthusiasm, humor, and great quotes. Shelby brings warmth and resolute testimony. Anne brings evidence of her deep thinking and a faith that has been tried and fortified. I could list many more things for each person, and Anne also consistently brings music to our meetings. This week, as we met without Susan, and with the shock of her sudden passing still with us, Anne played this song. ♥️
Category: Old Testament
Current Scriptures for Life
“But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
1 Samuel 30:6
David was in a pretty bleak situation, and people around him were grieved. “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
This is my personal scripture phrase of the week.
1. I can encourage myself, and not wait around for someone to fix things.
2. I can trust the Lord’s strength, not my own.
Last week, my favorite scripture phrase was,
“I perceive that ye are weak”
3 Nephi 17:2
The Lord does know that I am weak, but I find comfort in this: the same “weak” people who couldn’t understand all that the Lord had to share, Jesus also told them they had “great faith.” (3 Nephi 19:35)
I love when people are described by really different adjectives in the scriptures. Everyone has a lot of dimensions to their character, and the Lord understands this about us. He knows we are not perfect (complete) and being weak doesn’t mean we can’t have greatness in other areas. Being weak can also be the impetus for great faith.
Contrast
The story of Gideon is my favorite in the book of Judges. When I taught seminary, I remember shocking my early morning students by smashing a clay pot in my living room where we met, just like Gideon’s army smashed their pitchers. With trumpets, shattering pottery, lights, and voices, Gideon’s 300-man army surprised the host of sleeping enemies, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” and their enemy was destroyed. This might have been the only day my students left seminary more awake than when they arrived, except maybe the day we cast “stones” at a life-sized mural of Goliath.
This week as I studied Gideon’s story, I focused on two contrasting verses during the exchange between the angel of the Lord and Gideon about his call to deliver Israel, verses 12 and 15.
The Lord sees Gideon as a mighty man of valor, while Gideon sees himself as poor and unimportant. Pretty much my only takeaway this week from Bible study is enough: God knows who we truly are, who we were before we came to earth, and who we can become. He sends messengers to remind us that He is with us.
I have had a few messengers in my life who have helped me live with courage. One was a friend named Jody who told me that I had the capacity to homeschool my kids. Bishops and stake presidencies have also been messengers of the Lord’s confidence in me, and reminded me that the Lord would be with me. Perhaps the most common messengers are the people who trust me to listen to them and help them. When a friend opens her heart to me, I see this is as a call to valor. Today, we help rescue Israel one by one
Deuteronomy
I thought of this quote by William Tyndale as I studied Deuteronomy this week.
This is a book worthy to be read in day and night and never to be out of hands. For it is the most excellent of all the books of Moses. It is also easy and light and a very pure gospel that is to wete [know], a preaching of faith and love: deducing the love to God out of faith, and the love of man’s neighbor out of love to God.”
William Tyndale
Some of my favorite words from Deuteronomy:
“Fear not, neither be discouraged.” (Deut. 1:21)
“God so nigh” (Deut. 4:7)
“Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)
“Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice.” (Deut. 4:36)
“Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deut. 6:5)
“Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…talk of them…in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deut. 6:7)
“Love ye therefore the stranger.” (Deut. 10:19)
“Open thine hand wide unto [thy poor brother].” (Deut. 15:7-8)
“Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee.” (Deut 26:11)
“Choose life…for he is thy life.” (Deut. 29:19-20)
“But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deut. 30:14)
“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deut. 31:6)
“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help.” (Deut. 33:29)
Do you have a favorite passage from your study? If you like, you can share in the comments or send me a message. I love to swap favorite scriptures.
William Tyndale, Revisited
About 15 years ago, I began reading this book, and I filled its pages with post-it notes because I found it so interesting. My days were focused on homeschool and babies, and I couldn’t finish it before it was due at the library. Defeated, I pulled the post-it notes from the pages so I could return it, and I made a promise that I would pick it up again when I had more time to devote to such a scholarly work. Well, I remembered my promise and finished it.
There are other books that might tell the story of William Tyndale in a simpler way. This was academic, sometimes over-detailed, and occasionally beyond my understanding.
William Tyndale is one of my heroes. He was the first person to translate the Bible into readable, understandable English from the original Greek and Hebrew. He was condemned as a heretic and killed before he could finish his translation of the Old Testament. Thankfully, his New Testament and Pentateuch were used in the King James Version of the Bible after his martyrdom.
I liked the author’s focus on Tyndale’s value as a translator, comparing many more muddled translations to Tyndale’s direct, clear sentences. Tyndale contributed a lot to the English language, its cadence, sentence structure, and vocabulary. Beautifully and heroically, Tyndale made the Bible understandable, and its sentences memorable. He created important words and phrases such as scapegoat, Jehovah, and living water.
Take a look at the Bible, and you will see that most sentences are constructed with monosyllables, with multisyllable words at the end of the sentences for emphasis. This is Tyndale’s voice. His words sing in our minds. These are his words, and the King James Version follows them very closely.
And after the fire, came a small, still voice.
Why halt ye between two opinions?
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. For many are called, and few be chosen.
And Jacob served seven years for Rahel, and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
Tush, ye shall not die.
He believed the Bible should be read by anyone, and the gospel defined by the whole book, not isolated phrases, or worse, commentaries. As he worked over many years on the New and Old Testaments, he came to understand the gospel in terms of a covenant relationship with God, requiring faith and action. He learned for himself the value of the word of God, taken in its entirety, to understand what God expects of us.
What he did took great skill. He knew 8 languages. What he did took great courage. He lived in hiding in a foreign land for years. You may have heard his quote to a learned man,
If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost.
Moving beyond the book, I think about Tyndale’s influence on the plowboy, Joseph Smith, who translated the Book of Mormon. Joseph didn’t have an Oxford education like Tyndale. He had no experience in ancient languages, but with the inspiration of God and a mind full of Biblical phrases (influenced by Tyndale), he translated the Book of Mormon in a very short period of time. As for the words from James 1:5-6 that inspired Joseph the plowboy to go the woods to pray, many are Tyndale’s.
Walking and Talking
We’ve reached a moment of decision in the Old Testament curriculum this year. Before now, we studied every chapter, but recently, we began to move ahead more rapidly, with only selected chapters to read. I had to ask myself, “Will I read all, or just the assigned chapters?” I have decided to read ’em all, because I can.
So, today I studied Leviticus 26, even though it wasn’t on the list. If you have a minute, Leviticus 26:3-13 is really worth reading. It’s basically a list of promises to covenant Israel.
Take a look at the Hebrew footnote “a” in verse 9. It says the Lord will “turn unto” his covenant keeping people. This image is beautiful. All of these verses teach me that he is attentive, protective, and wants to walk among us.
I love that the Lord promises he will “walk among” us! To me, this indicates the need to be with other covenant people. If I surround myself with people of faith, this also increases the Lord’s influence on my life. For if he is inspiring me, he is inspiring others of faith. This is one reason I attend church. The most important reason, though, is to maintain my personal covenant relationship with God.
When I think of the Lord walking with me personally, I think of the steep roads I must climb. He is there. I think of the times I get hurt. He is there. I think of the confusion I feel sometimes. He is there, teaching me. After all, what is a walk without conversation?
My hope is to be able to hear him and notice him better among those of faith, and in my own private reaching. It’s not a question of him being there or not. It is whether I will recognize him. He keeps his covenants.
In an acceptable time
I am grateful I got to see our Tim speak in sacrament meeting in Canada today via Zoom.
I finished reading Saints volume 2, and it had a LOT about opening the missions of the South Pacific in the mid-1800s. One takeaway is that the Lord had specific people in mind to introduce the gospel to the Pacific, and He even used them multiple times throughout their lives. I know the Lord loves all of his children and He has a plan for gathering them.
Timothy’s grandfathers served missions on isles of the sea, in Samoa and Puerto Rico.
I keep a list of scriptures about the promises to the isles of the sea, as I continue to pray that missionaries can return to areas that are currently closed.
“In an acceptable time I have heard thee O isles of the sea…and helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee my servant for a covenant of the people.” (1 Nephi 21:8, Isaiah 49:8)
“Great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea.” (2 Nephi 10:21)
“I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea, and will bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth.” (2 Nephi 29:7)
Of course, Jacob considered the Americas an isle of the sea, so Canada counts, too. (2 Nephi 10:20)
West is home
I took an Old Testament course a few years ago which taught me to look at the words of Genesis more allegorically, or poetically. So when I read that God planted a garden eastward in Eden, I think the author symbolically places God in the west. Cain chooses to dwell east of Eden, which would be as far from God as possible.
Later, when the Tabernacle is constructed, the orientation is east to west, with the Holy of Holies taking the far west position. East to west, this is the direction the high priest would take to commune with God.
East and west, this is the orientation of my house. In the different seasons I know when the sun will light up my kitchen in the morning, and I know when to look out my western windows for the sunset.
East to west, I follow the sun each day.
East to west, disciples try to follow the Son each day.
Every day is a chance to begin again. Every day is a chance to pray and study and do something kind. I want to follow, east to west, because west is home.
Scripture Advent Calendar 2021
My go-to gift for for my friends and family the last several years has been a scripture advent calendar. Creating a calendar about Jesus Christ is such a good exercise! I love seeing the united voices of all scripture rally around Him.
Almost every day, I get a text from one or two people commenting on the scriptures I shared. What good company! I love hearing from people. Yesterday, a friend texted me that she loved the scripture about Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd because it was so poetic.
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
Ezekiel 34:12, KJV
I know the reason this advent calendar is especially popular this year is because of its topic, Jesus Christ. I know when we speak His name in reverence and seek to know Him, our lives are filled with the Spirit. This is the Christmas feeling, the Spirit of God.
Timothy’s goodbye
1 Samuel 1
There were around 600 missionaries who entered the missionary training center this week, and that can make a person think this is just something we do in our religious culture. But I have the view that every missionary is a unique marvel, and it doesn’t escape my notice that we lend our children to the Lord at the gates of a temple. It is a sacred act to say goodbye to a child going on a mission. For this child I prayed, it is true, but we aren’t really the ones who are doing the lending. It is our son’s decision and gift.
Acts 26:16
The MTC room in our house had a sacred feeling that could capture my breath while Tim lived with us as a missionary. When he left, the room, while peaceful, did not have the same impact. This is evidence to me of the power of God to transform a teenager into a minister and a witness. I don’t know what Tim will be able to do in this pandemic-ridden world, or where he will serve because of so many uncertainties, but I have experienced the peace that accompanies a missionary. The world needs this kind of peace, and I believe the Lord will use our son for good.
2 Timothy 1
So we send him on his way. The hugs are inadequate to convey all we feel, but as I look up at the blue sky and feel the warmth of the sun this week, I feel a compensating joy. I have learned the only way to drive away fear is to act in faith. Then we see miracles.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord… but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
2 Timothy 1:7-9