O Be Wise

O Be Wise

I'm busy so I'll have to do a short one this week but one of my favorite verses in The Book Of Mormon is Jacob chapter six verse twelve:

"O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12)

Jacob, one of the most effective gospel teachers in The Book Of Mormon, is characterized by his love of his people, and his faithfulness in fulfilling his calling to teach them. Jacob inherited that "anxiety" of his father Lehi. The anxiety for the eternal welfare of the souls of his family. He repeatedly expresses that he feels responsible to warn and teach his people so that their sins might not come upon his head at the last day.

I feel that as a parent I am responsible in that same way. If I do not teach my children the gospel of Jesus Christ I am the one who will be held responsible on judgment day.

I am grateful for God's reminder through the scriptures to "be wise". It's so obvious that it seems like it may not even be worth saying; but I think we can all agree that it is worth saying (or hearing) once in a while.

These were Jacob's last words before he bid us farewell. As a man who saw God and heard his voice, I think he is someone worth listening to.

I love the simplicity of this verse. It reminds me of one of the psalms and the proverbs. An expounded version of Jacob's counsel might be found in Proverbs chapter two:

 1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

 6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

 10 ¶When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereh with her words;

 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

 19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Despise Not the Revelations of God

     Despise Not the Revelations of God

As discussed in earlier posts, The Book Of Mormon is the story of a family who travels from Jerusalem to ancient America and eventually divides into two nations, the Nephites and the Lamanites. About 12 years into this family's story (roughly 588 BC), Lehi, the father, dies. The siblings of the family don't get along and Nephi, Sam, Jacob, Joseph, some of the sisters, and their families separate themselves from the rest of the family (older brothers Laman and Lemuel and their families). Laman and Lemuel were planing to kill Nephi so the Lord warned Nephi to flee into a different land.

Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, myyounger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with mewere those who believed in the warnings and therevelations of God
(2 Nephi 5:6)

     Notice here that the main difference between the Nephites and the Lamanites is that the Nephites believed in the "warnings and the revelations of God".

     After the family separates, Nephi and his people travel for many days until they settle in a land they call Nephi and they make Nephi their ruler. Nephi appoints his younger brothers Jacob and Joseph as teachers over the people. After Nephi dies he passes the records to his younger brother Jacob and asks him to write on them "a few of the things which I considered to be most precious... and if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates (records made from thin sheets of metal), and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ's sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:2-4).
     In one of the Jacob's recorded sermons to his people he counsels them to:
"despise not the revelations of God."
(Jacob 4:8)

     As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the 
Kingdom of God."
(Articles of Faith 1:9)

      I believe that God revealed truths to his prophets in the old testament like when God told Noah that the earth would be flooded. I believe that Jesus Christ restored many important truths to the earth when he established his church in the meridian of time. The prophets in The Book of Mormon like Jacob also received revelations from God. I believe that we have a living prophet on the earth today that receives revelation from God for the people of the earth.
     

     We may not always like what the prophets have to say. When Noah told people to prepare for a flood only a handful of people would listen. The revelations of God are not always popular but they are always right. In the second book of Chronicles in the Old Testament we read of king Ahab who wanted to seek the Lord's council during a time of war. The problem is that he didn't always want to listen to what the Lord had to say. When looking for someone who could give such a revelation "the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may 
inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but 
always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla" (2 Chronicles 18:7).   In the old testament the word "evil" is often synonymous with "bad". So in other words the king didn't want to listen to the revelations of the prophet because sometimes the truth hurts. 

     I am grateful that we have a living prophet on the earth today. He is the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His name is Thomas Monson. He has spent the majority of his life in the service of his fellow men and in the service of God. I have listened to his words and I know he receives revelation from God. What he teaches may not always be popular but it is always right. 
     

     Jacob in The Book Of Mormon knew that because of the wickedness of human kind people would struggle to believe the revelations of God. I am grateful for his counsel to "despise not the revelations of God".