Prayers for what's important

You've probably never heard of Eric Metaxas.  I heard an interview with him the other day about this speech, which he delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast last week, preceding President Obama.  It's a great speech about the nature of prayer and faith, and the contrast between those and false religiosity of the kind Jesus condemned in the Pharisees during His ministry.  If you've got 20 minutes, watch the whole thing. (Metaxas starts 35 minutes in.)



In his interview on the radio, Metaxas described his preparation for the speech, which was the biggest of his life.  Metaxas is an author of some note, but hardly a celebrity, and certainly not used to opening for the President of the United States.

Metaxas talked about his prayers prior to the speech.  He prayed that the Lord would speak through him the words He wanted said.  It was a real "Thy will be done" attitude.  I'd imagine it takes a lot of faith to turn it all over to the Lord at an event like this.

I've had moments like that in some sense.  I've never spoken at an event with POTUS, but in my own life some events are more important than others.  I think of my first debate when I was 18 and running for city council in Foster City.  There have been times when I've known that people I love need and I knew would ask for blessings.  At times like that I pray hard and a lot that the Spirit will be with me, and I make sure that nothing in my own life stands in the way.

But at times that are less important, I'm not as prayerful, and sin tends to creep in, since I'm not so focused on it.  But, why aren't I?  What seems important to me at those times I know is different than what's important to the Lord.  There's nothing more important to Him than my ultimate happiness and my achieving Eternal Life.  That's his whole work (Moses 1:39).  Not just mine, of course, but yours, too.

If we are truly about living by His will, we'll take same level of faith and reliance on the Lord for what we think is important and put it into what He thinks is important, namely us.  We should pray for ourselves (and for others) as though we're most important, because we are to Him.

I think that takes a special kind of oxymoronic thinking.  We have to realize that we are so important to the Lord that we are entitled to that level of blessings, but also that we're so dependent on Him that we must put the highest level of faith and humility into our prayers every day.

Of temples and tabernacles

I finished the book of Exodus last week.  I have one further thought to what I wrote here.

The description of the "tabernacle of the congregation" is very detailed. Further, Exodus describes "washing," "annointing," the "robes" worn inside, as well as "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" inscribed on the outside of the building.

In short, the last third of Exodus is a description of a temple.  I'm glad to be part of a temple-building church.  The Church of Christ throughout the bible is one of temples, clearly the most important project that Israel had and completed after leaving Egypt.  The Church of Christ still is a church of temples.

"They had done it as the Lord had commanded"

In The Ten Commandments, there's not much that happens between when Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt until he comes down from the mount with the stone tablets and breaks them.



In the Book of Exodus, there's a lot, and it's mostly very detailed instructions about how to build the Tabernacle of the Congregation and what to put in it and where.

As I read the many chapters with these specific instructions (dimensions, colors, space between pillars, how to hang curtains) I had the thought that the lesson taught here is one of exactness.



That word appears only once in the Standard Works, in Alma 57:21--"Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them." That's in reference to the 2,000 Stripling Warriors.

But Exodus ends with a similar sentiment:

Exodus 39:43--"And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them."

Exodus 40 uses the phrase, "as the Lord commanded" several times also.

These can serve as reminders that we should follow God's commands with exactness in our own lives.

"What desirest thou?"

This week in church the Sunday School lesson was on Nephi's vision and explanation of his father's vision of the Tree of Life.  In 1 Nephi 11, as Nephi is praying, he is "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain." Upon arriving at the top, the Spirit asks, "What desirest thou?"

 Nephi's answer was to see the things his father had seen. If I got that question, I could think of lots of things I'd desire. That changes from moment to moment, but very few of them rise to the level of appropriate for the situation. Some seem greedy and ungrateful (a wife and family), and some seem inconsistent with the Plan (to never sin again).

Then during the Sacrament I listened carefully to the prayers (the guy who said them today had a great voice, and recited them very well).  I think the thing I want the most is what I already have--that I may always have the Spirit to be with me.

Thanks for parting the sea and all, but now we're hungry

Exodus 15 is a song sung by the Israelites after their miraculous rescue crossing the Red Sea.  A song of praise to Moses, the Lord, and the redemption of Israel. "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation" (v 13).

Exodus 16 starts with Israel complaining for want of bread. "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (v 3).

Trying to liken the scriptures to my own situation, I find that I've had my moments of redemption and rescue from, well, not slavery, but unhappiness and unfilfillment to be sure.  Also like Israel, I have complained about the want of bread, focusing on things I lack instead of the tremendous blessings I've already received.

That strikes me as a pretty common occurrence.  Israel went through the same cycle many times, as did the Nephites and Jaredites in the Book of Mormon.

Seeing these contrasting attitudes in back-to-back chapters reminds me, when I roll my eyes at the ingratitude and short memory of Israel, that I need to be grateful for my blessings and my rescue.  I'm in the Lord's holy habitation, and if I don't yet have everything I'd like to have there, I can still dedicate myself to Him because what He's given me is so incredible, and so much better than what I had before.

And if I have to wait on the Lord's time frame for more blessings, He's already demonstrated the nature of those blessings, and they're worth waiting for.

"Prepare them that they may shine"

I read the story of The Brother of Jared and the stones today, from Ether 3.  I'm building on my last post about exercising faith in the Lord's ability to bless our efforts, to "keep our feet."

As we pray for guidance, I imagine that the Lord's response is often like it was to Jared's brother: "What will ye that I should prepare for you?"  We ask for the Lord's help with something, and he puts it right back to us.  "What would you like me to do?"

I've been struggling with what to do for a place to live and have been asking for help and guidance.  Acting as if my answer is "What will ye that I should prepare for you?" my answer back is, "A place where I can meet neighbors and be an instrument to bring one of them to the gospel."

I hope there's someone in South Jordan in my new townhome complex.

*          *          *

I also recall a lesson from Sunday School some years ago.  The teacher, a former member of the bishopric of that ward, equated Jared's request of the Lord ("Touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea") with what a bishop prays for every time he extends a calling.

Bishops and other leaders are commanded and entrusted to watch over their ward, or stake, or other area--make them "tight like unto a dish," so to speak.  And bishops pray for divine help. And what's the Lord's response?  "What will ye that I should prepare for you?"

And bishops go to their "mount," the membership of their wards, and bring back to the Lord stones in the shape of people under the bishop's care.  Bishops then pray, ""Touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth."

And the Lord reaches out and touches those imperfect souls who faithfully accept callings, and helps them to magnify them and reach beyond their capacity to serve their neighbors in the Kingdom.

Keep Thou my feet

Today in Sunday School, in the lesson about the first several chapters of 1 Nephi, chapter 4 verse 6 struck me--possibly because the teacher focused on that verse for the theme of her lesson.  "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

I've moved like that before.  Felt the prompting of the spirit very clearly, and even though it wasn't obvious how things would work out; I've exercised faith in following promptings that don't always coincide with my expectations.

I wondered today how much Nephi was "led by the Spirit" in the exact moments he was walking through Jerusalem hoping to get the Brass Plates from Laban.  Did the Spirit tell him to turn left and right, duck into this alley--someone's coming!?  My guess is no.  I think that Nephi felt prompted to go into the city alone, so he did, without any kind of plan or idea of what he'd do once there. He probably had the Spirit with him, but clearly not giving step-by-step directions.

I wonder if he felt frustrated like I sometimes do.  When I pray for guidance or help with specific decisions, the help doesn't always come--at least not in ways I want it to.  I want to be sure that my decisions are the right ones, that they'll work out for the best, and if I don't recognize a prompting about what decision I should make, I get frustrated and frozen--unable to act on my own.

I'm needing a new house.  Do I buy or rent?  I'm newly single, but how long will that last?  Should I invest in a home because it's such a good time to buy?  What if I do and then I find the girl I want to marry, and she works too far away?  Do I rent to keep it flexible in the meantime?  What about the tax break?  What if I miss this great opportunity to buy?  I pray, but don't feel like I know what the right answer is.  So, I freeze, needing to move in three weeks and having nowhere to go.

The teacher asked a class member to sing "Lead Kindly Light," which connects to this theme.  The first verse:

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I've always liked the last line about not asking to see the distant scene, but just one step ahead.  I know it's a weak area for me, freezing up when I can't see or worry about the future.

Before today I thought I had been greatly faithful at times when I've been prompted to act.  But today I realized that I lack faith in an important area--in the keeping of my feet.  I recognize that I don't need to see the "distant scene," but have trouble taking that one step that ought to be enough.

If I act in faith, the Lord will keep my feet, sheltering and blessing me along the way, even if I do not know beforehand the things I should do.

So today my decision is to act--to take the step--and my prayer is, "Keep Thou my feet."