Little Children

     As I’ve considered what to write this week, my thoughts have continually returned to my family.  I am an incredibly blessed man when it comes to family.  My parents are wonderful parents, who truly care about me and my life.  They do everything they can to help me with my needs and concerns.

     I’ve also had the good fortune of finding excellent in-laws.  They, too, truly care about my little family.  Like my parents, they carry our needs in their hearts and minds, and do everything they can to help my wife and me when we need it.  I’m certain nobody has better parents or in-laws than I do.

    Then there’s my wife.  I love my wife very deeply.  She works so hard to make sure our marriage is the best it could be.  She constantly searches for ways to be a better mother, and she is already a great mother.  Most importantly, she loves the One True God and seeks to serve Him in all she does.

     But my little girl is the one that my thoughts dwell on most.  I have the cutest little girl in the world!  (I confess I might be heavily biased with my opinion on that.)  This little one is so much fun to watch as she chases the cats around, waves bye-bye to the cars driving past our front window, and romps around the house making messes with anything she can find.  She has such a deep love for life and fun, and it’s endearing.

     Watching this little girl makes it incredibly easy to understand why the Savior carries such a deep love for little children.  It’s easy to understand why He would rebuke His disciples, insisting they allow the little children to come to Him and be blessed.  (The New Testament, Matthew 19:13-15)  It’s also easy to understand why He would come to the people of America and spend considerable time blessing all the little children in the congregation.  (The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 17)

     As I’ve been thinking about my young one this week, I happened to read a talk given in the last General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Elder Shayne Bowen, one of the general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke to the congregation and addressed those who had lost a little child.  He spoke about the loss of a little child in his family and how it tore at their hearts. 

    He continued to speak of the pain he felt and the anger that followed.  But he turned to the Lord in prayer and faith, asking for an ability to cope with the loss.  Through personal spiritual experiences, God helped him overcome the feelings of loss and helped him find hope in the promise of seeing the child again when he himself would leave this world.

     In the beginning of this talk, Elder Bowen spoke of a woman he met while serving as a full time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He and his companion spoke with the woman about the age of accountability. 

     Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turn to revelation in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Moroni 8), The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 137 and 138), and other supporting scriptures to learn that little children are not held accountable before God until they reach the age of eight.  God has declared children who reach the age of eight have enough understanding to know the difference between good and evil.  They then become accountable before Him for that which they know.

     This woman had lost a child several years earlier.  The leader of a local church had informed her this child was condemned to an eternal state of limbo because he hadn’t been baptized.  For many years she lived with grief because she believed this was true.  Many children die during birth or before they can be baptized.  And unfortunately many parents live with guilt because they have been taught these children cannot enter the rest of the Lord because they weren’t baptized.

     Yet this teaching contradicts the love Jesus has demonstrated for little children.  Jesus the Atoning One sacrificed everything for the inhabitants of the world, making it possible for them to come again into the presence of the Eternal God.  How could the Loving Christ make this sacrifice and fail to make it possible for children, whom He loves so much, to return to God simply because they weren’t baptized, especially when so many don’t even have a moments opportunity to be baptized?

     It defies all logic and reasoning to believe this could be the case.  I know it isn’t the case.  The sacrifice Jesus made accounted for little children.  He made it possible for little children under the age of eight to enter into the rest of God without baptism.  He loves these children more perfectly than we do and He wouldn’t fail to make sure they had hope in Him just as the rest of the world can have.  His atonement saves them.

To read the talk given by Elder Bowen, visit http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/because-i-live-ye-shall-live-also?lang=eng.

Obtaining the Promised Land

     After the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, they spent some time fulfilling the commandments of God.  This included circumcising the men, keeping the Passover, and preparing their own meals from the fruit of the land (the Lord stopped sending manna).  This time would soon pass, however, and the time would finally come to take the city Jericho.
     Jericho was a walled city.  When I think about battles of old where one side is trying to take a walled city, I think of battles like those in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  There should be siege engines like battering rams and ladders.  The battles are vicious and many soldiers die over the course of the fighting.  You would think the battle for Jericho should be the same type of battle.
     Yet the Lord God had a different plan.  He was going to let the children of Israel know just how much He would stand at their head and fight their battles for them.  So an angel was sent to give Joshua instructions.  The armies of Israel were commanded to march around the city once per day for six days.  On the seventh day the army would march around the city seven times, blow on their horns, and shout.  After they had followed the Lord’s command and completed these activities, the walls of the city would fall and the children of Israel would be able to take command of the city.
     Joshua gave the commandments to his people.  They marched around the city for the next seven days and shouted at the appropriate time.  The walls of the city fell and the children of Israel possessed the land without any loss of life that we have record of.  They conquered the city in what I believe is one of the easiest recorded battle victories in the history of the world.
     Spend a few minutes thinking about the message the Lord is trying to give us through this story.  The children of Israel in this story represent each and every one of us individually.  The Lord has a promised land for us to possess.  That promised land is a celestial existence with God.  It’s a life living like God.  It involves eternal increase and glory, infinite happiness and joy, and constant companionship with our families and God.
     The problem is there are walls standing between us and this promised land.  The children of Israel faced the walls of Jericho as they began their journey into their land of promise.  We face walls of trials, troubles, and tribulation.  And the walls are different for each of us.  For some of us these walls come in the form of physical ailments such as diabetes, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.  Some face walls of the mental nature, such as clinical depression, Alzheimer’s disease, or anxiety.  Some face walls of temptation, sin, and transgression.
     It doesn’t matter what the wall is.  The simple fact is we all face some sort of wall in our journey to the promised land of bounty the Lord has extended to us.  In fact we will most likely face many of these walls.  The children of Israel did as they conquered the inhabitants of the land.  We will as we conquer the obstacles we face. 
     As we come across these walls in our lives, we ought to be able to turn to this story for comfort.  There’s a simple reason why this story should be comforting to us.  It’s the message the Lord has given us.  That message is that He knows what walls we face, and He knows how to help us conquer them.  All we have to do is follow the instructions He gives us with faith.  He will take care of the rest.
     Now I want to clarify something at this point.  This story does not serve as a promise to the ease with which your wall will fall.  The children of Israel had what seemed to be an easy victory over their wall at this time.  But later in their history we learn the Israelites had some more difficult walls to overcome.  Our walls could fall tomorrow.  They could fall in two weeks, two months, two years, or two decades.  It may even be that we have to face this wall for the rest of our mortal life, tasting victory only when we come before Jesus in hope and faith to face our judgment. 
     The promise is that the Lord our God stands ready to help us with our walls and that He will ultimately help us conquer the walls after we have obediently and faithfully done all He asks of us.  Furthermore we have the promise that the land of promise is ours after we follow Him in faith.  We will stand in the bountiful land, partaking of the delicious fruits of eternal life.  This is the promise given through this story (and so many other stories in the history of the scriptures).  This is our promise from God for faithful obedience.

Parting the River Jordan

     After Joshua sent the spies into Jericho, the time finally came for the people of Israel to cross the River Jordan as the Lord commanded.  At this point it seems important to me to acknowledge some of the circumstances surrounding the people of Israel.  For several generations the people of Israel were ruled by the Pharaohs of Egypt, not by leaders anointed by God.  Moses was the first.
     Unfortunately this lack of a spiritual leader allowed many of the descendants of Israel to grow accustomed to the Egyptian beliefs in deity.  The plagues of Egypt were specifically designed to allow the Lord God to demonstrate the Egyptian Gods had no power.  Only He did.  Then He buried Pharaoh, who was considered a god in Egypt, in the depths of the Red Sea, fully establishing Himself as God. 
     He did this not only to declare Himself God to the Egyptians (thus convincing them to let the Israelites depart), but also to reclaim His rightful place in the eyes of the Israelites.  He was their God, the only true God, and always would be.  In addition these miracles were performed through Moses, establishing him as the mouthpiece—the prophet—of God.  Ironically the Israelites, as discussed a couple weeks ago, still struggled obeying God and following His prophet.
     Forty years later the mantle of leadership would be placed on a new man—Joshua.  This time the children of Israel had become a new group of people.  These people had come to know and trust God.  They also trusted His leader.  So when the Lord gave guidance and direction to Moses, they obeyed.  When the Lord called Joshua to take the place of Moses, these people had faith in God and followed Joshua.
     As the Lord commonly does with those who wish to follow Him, he decided to test the faith of the people of Israel.  When Moses and the people of Israel were trapped by the Egyptian Armies on the shores of the Red Sea, the Lord God departed the large body of water.  The people were allowed to cross the sea on dry ground without ever getting their feet wet. 
     Now the people of Israel stood by the banks of the River Jordan.  No army pursued them.  In fact they were to become the army moving into a land they had never been in.  Yet the Lord God commanded the priests of Levi to stand in the river, actually in it, with the sacred Ark of the Covenant in order to prepare the way for the people of Israel.  This time, with these people who carried more faith than their predecessors had, a demonstration of their faith was required.
     The priests of Levi did enter the waters of the River Jordan in faith.  The Lord then caused the waters to depart in the same way that He had with the Red Sea.  In this manner He rewarded the faith of the Israelites while profoundly declaring He would stand by Joshua just as He had Moses.  The people of Israel were willing to follow Joshua because they believed He was called of God.  Now God had confirmed it.
     Amazingly we have no record of any complaints by this second group of people.  The Israelites who departed out of the land of Egypt were shown several signs and wonders even when they did almost no work to earn these miracles.  They even often complained about the signs and miracles they saw.  Yet this second group of people was asked to do more work to get the same sign their ancestors received.  They did so with no indication they complained about the task before them.
      Now imagine your life.  Has the Lord asked you to do some work so He can bless you?  I can read the scriptures and know there isn’t anybody reading this blog who can answer no to this question.  All of us have been asked to show our faith by works.  In return the Lord has promised blessings.  I’m also familiar with the way the Lord works.  I know that anyone who places their faith in God will be asked to demonstrate their faith through their works in more ways than those presented in the scriptures.  So I know that all of us must answer yes to the question above.  The Lord has asked us to do some work so He can bless us.
     Are you doing it without complaint?  This is the example the Israelites set for us.  This is what the Lord wants us to learn.  He never asks anything of us that won’t come back to bless us in the long run.  For the Israelites the blessings of their faith came through the parting of the River Jordan.  Ultimately it would also lead to a strong nation settled within the borders of the land of Israel.  And eternally it would lead to a place with God in the courts of heaven.
     So where will your faith and obedience take you?

Faith in the One True God

     When Moses led the children of Israel to the land of Abraham the first time, they lacked the faith to enter the land.  As mentioned in last week’s post, only two stood with the prophet Moses on the side of God when fear gripped the hearts of the children of Israel.  God promised these two entrance into the Promised Land, but the rest of that generation would spend their days wandering in the wilderness and never enter the land of Israel.
     So the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  The older generation who lacked the faith to follow God had all passed away.  During these forty years the older generation raised their youth in the wilderness, teaching these children to have the faith in God their parents had lacked.  When the older generation passed away, all save the two who stood with the prophet (Joshua and Caleb), the time came for the younger generation to enter their promised home.  
     Moses led the children to the borders of the land, where the Lord God commanded him to leave the children of Israel.  The Lord’s chosen people would be required to cross the river Jordan and enter the land of Jericho without Moses.  Joshua, the faithful servant who had demonstrated his faith in God forty years earlier, would take charge of leading the people. 
     God spoke to Joshua and commanded him to prepare the people to enter the Promised Land.  Joshua gave the commandment just as God commanded and sent spies to learn about the city of Jericho.  When these spies came into the city, the king tried to capture them.  Fortunately a woman in the city hid the men from the king, and then helped them escape.  Before they departed she declared she knew the Lord had given the land to the children of Israel and asked to be spared when the city was taken.
     I want to speak for a moment about the faith of this woman.  This woman probably grew up in a land that didn’t know God.  She wasn’t with the children of Israel witnessing the miracles of the Lord.  And she had made lifestyle choices that went contrary to the commandments of God.  Yet she and the people of the land of Jericho had received word of the power of the Lord God in preserving the people of Israel.  While the king chose to stand against the armies of Israel, this woman recognized who was at the head of these armies.
     Part of what amazes me so much about this woman is the choice she then made.  While her king and her country prepared to stand against the armies of Israel, she chose to aide these armies.  She undoubtedly knew that the Lord had spared none of the armies of Egypt from destruction in the Red Sea, so she had no reason to believe any in the city of Jericho would be spared.  Yet she knew the Lord God was at the head of the armies of Israel, so the armies of Jericho couldn’t prevail.  She probably knew her only hope of being spared came through the God, and she chose to put her hope and faith in that possibility.
     Think about the risk this woman was taking.  She was defying her king.  She would probably have died if he found out.  She lived in a house that must have been along the outer walls of the city, or she wouldn’t have been able to help the spies escape as she did.  This means she would have known her home was in a dangerous place for an invading army.  So it was very likely she would have died in the attack.  She would have also known there was a possibility, even though the men promised to save her and her household, that something would have gone wrong and the armies of Israel would fail to spare her should they prevail.  Yet she believed God was her hope for salvation, and she followed that hope.
     Jericho was taken by the armies of Israel.  When the city fell, none of the inhabitants of the city were spared except this remarkable woman and her household.  Her faith was rewarded.
     There is an incredible parallel in our lives.  We live in a time when the powers of good and evil stand against each other.  This world has become a battleground for the souls of those living here.  Nobody on this earth can stand free of the battle.  All of us must make a choice between good and evil.  That which is good is anything that stands on the side of God.  That which is evil is anything that stands against Him.
     Ultimately good will prevail against evil.  It doesn’t matter how big and powerful the walls are that surround evil.  They will fall.  It doesn’t matter how much strength evil carries into the battle.  Ultimately that strength will fail.  God will prevail.
     We have but one hope in this battle between good and evil.  We have only one chance for salvation.  Ultimately that salvation can only be one salvation, and that is eternal salvation.  Only through Jesus Christ can we hope to achieve it.  Only through the power of His Atoning Sacrifice can we have the blessings of eternal salvation.  Our very souls depend on Him.  And only through exercising faith in Him can we achieve it.
     Thousands of years ago, war and battle would have claimed the life of a woman in Jericho.  She chose to exercise faith in the One True God, and as a reward she survived the battle and had a longer life.  Today the battle between good and evil threatens to tear eternal life from us.  If we choose to exercise faith in the One True God, eternal life will be ours.