“And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.”
- 1 Nephi 14:17
How interesting and weird and scary. The Lord’s fulfillment of covenants didn’t come for the house of Israel until the wrath of God was poured out upon the earth’s wicked.
The entire world felt the effects of that – the wickedness of mankind in history has made it harder to find family history records. We see gruesome lifestyles of their time. There were no major and brilliant inventions in the dark ages of the world. Mankind had confusion to the extreme – ideas about the purpose of life and the nature of reality were completely distorted and incorrect.
But Heavenly Father has the brilliant ability to use negatives to produce positives, to use weaknesses as strengths.
As in the scripture above, the initial observation is Heavenly Father’s use of the time of wrath-pouring upon the wicked as a checkpoint for when the preparation of His marvelous work and a wonder to begin.
An example of this is illustrated in the story about two young, cheeky boys and a homeless man. This story was shared with me in my years of primary at church. I think it will always stay with me.
One day, a homeless man, enclosed in his makeshift box home and bed, prayed and asked God for a loaf of bread.
Two boys overheard the prayer, and unknown to the homeless man, decided together to trick him.
“He thinks that God exists, and will bring him bread!” said one.
“Let’s bring him a loaf of bread, and show him that God doesn’t exist.” Said the other.
So, they fetched a loaf of bread (they bought it, I’m sure) and dropped it into the homeless man’s home. They made sure the man was asleep so he wouldn’t know who brought him the bread, and waited.
Upon the homeless man’s awakening, he discovered the bread, and knelt in grateful prayer and praise for the God’s love and providence.
After the prayer, the boys jumped up in arrogant excitement, and said, “God didn’t bring you the bread, we did!”
The homeless man said, “Ah, then I guess God sent the two of you. Thank you for the bread.”
It seems to me, that in general life, diamonds shine brighter against dark backgrounds, just as the truly good people in this life shine brighter when there are trials and hardships.
Easy atmospheres do not produce professional pilots, just as an easy lifestyle doesn’t produce wise and experienced individuals.
Smooth seas don’t produce skillful sailors, just as schooling without tests and exams don’t show/give solidification of knowledge and learning.
Blunt scalpels don’t bring successful surgical operations, just as untrained individuals in following the Holy Ghost won’t know how to receive the guidance and strength they need in the harder times in life.
A Heavenly Father who doesn’t give us trials and tests in this life, who won’t place in our lives the pattern of choice bringing consequences, and who wouldn’t send us to earth as a home away from home to be tested and grow – a Heavenly Father who doesn’t do those things wouldn’t produce children of strength, quality, trustworthiness, character, and loyalty.
With tenderness in my heart, I have learned to say, “thank you Heavenly Father, for trusting me enough to go through this trial and test. Please walk with me through it. I know I can do it if I have Thee with me. Thank you for this hardship.”
I can say with full honesty and peace in my heart that I love my hardships, and I love all my past hardships.
I believe there will come a day, when we will look back upon all our experiences, and say "thank you Heavenly Father, for all of my blessings, but also for all of my lack of blessings and all of my trials. They have been a blessing."
I believe there will come a day, when we will look back upon all our experiences, and say "thank you Heavenly Father, for all of my blessings, but also for all of my lack of blessings and all of my trials. They have been a blessing."
I quoted a scripture at the beginning of this blog. I leave it as a prayerful exercise for my readers to find the answer to this question:
How does God use His wrath, being poured out among the wicked of the earth, to bring about blessings to His righteous, and to the world?
The answer to this questions is the perspective we will need to keep, as the world approaches the second coming of the Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment