My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Exodus 1-6 in a lesson titled “I Have Remembered My Covenant.” The lesson was introduced by the following information.
The invitation to live in Egypt saved Jacob’s family. But
after hundreds of years, their descendants were enslaved and terrorized by a
new pharaoh who “knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). It would have been natural for
the Israelites to wonder why God allowed this to happen to them, His covenant
people. Did He remember the covenant He had made with them? Were they still His
people? Could He see how much they were suffering?
There may be times when you’ve felt like asking similar
questions. You might wonder, “Does God know what I’m going through? Can He hear
my pleas for help?” Israel’s deliverance from Egypt answers such questions
clearly: God does not forget His people. He remembers His covenants with us and
will fulfill them in His own time and way. “I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm,” He declares. “I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from
under [your] burdens” (Exodus 6:6-7).
The scripture block contains numerous principles, including
(1) God can work through me to fulfill His purposes (Exodus 1-2); (2) Jesus
Christ is my Deliverer (Exodus 1-3); (3) I can show reverence for holy things
and places (Exodus 3:1-6); (4) God gives power to people He calls to do His
work (Exodus 3-4); (5) The Lord’s purposes will be fulfilled in His own time
(Exodus 5-6). All of the principles are worthy of discussion, but I feel
prompted to discuss principle #3 about showing reverence for holy things and
places. The scripture verses that are applicable for this principle are as
follow: Exodus 3:1-6.
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his
father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of
the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and,
behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside,
and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned
aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said,
Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put
off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground.
6 Moreover he said, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And
Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Have you ever experienced an awe-inspiring experience? How
did you react when feeling awe and wonder? Could you describe the emotions you
felt?
Moses first wondered why a bush would burn without being
consumed, so he climbed the mountain to look closer. Once he arrived, God spoke
to him out of the burning bush and told him that the ground where he stood was
holy ground. After the Lord introduced himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, Moses responded by hiding his face because he was afraid to look
upon God. What connections do you see between his actions and reverence for sacred
things?
While reading these verses, think about the holy things and
holy places in your life. Why are they sacred to you? How do you treat them
differently from things that are common?
In his October 2017 General Conference talk titled “Exceeding Great and Precious Promises” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 91-93), Elder David A. Bednar taught the following information about sacred things and sacred places in the section of his talk “Remembering the Promises.”
President
Lorenzo Snow warned, “We are too apt to forget the great object of life, the
motive of our Heavenly Father in sending us here to put on mortality, as well
as the holy calling with which we have been called; and hence, instead of
rising above the little transitory things … , we too often allow ourselves
to come down to the level of the world without availing ourselves of the divine
help which God has instituted, which alone can enable us to overcome [those
transitory things].”
The
Sabbath day and the holy temple are two specific sources of divine help
instituted by God to assist us in rising above the level and corruption of the
world. We initially may think that the overarching purposes of keeping the
Sabbath day holy and attending the temple are related but distinctive. I
believe, however, that those two purposes are precisely the same and work
together to strengthen us spiritually as individuals and in our homes.
The Sabbath
After
God created all things, He rested on the seventh day and commanded that one day
each week be a time of rest to help people remember Him. The Sabbath is
God’s time, a sacred time specifically
set apart for worshipping Him and for receiving and remembering His great and
precious promises.
The
Lord has directed in this dispensation:
“That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted
from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy
sacraments upon my holy day;
“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest
from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High.”
Thus,
on the Sabbath we worship the Father in the name of the Son by participating in
ordinances and learning about, receiving, remembering, and renewing covenants.
On His holy day, our thoughts, actions, and demeanor are signs we give to God
and an indicator of our love for Him.
An
additional purpose of the Sabbath is to elevate our vision from the things of
the world to the blessings of eternity. Removed during this sacred time from
many of the regular routines of our busy lives, we can “look to God and
live” by receiving and remembering the great and precious promises whereby
we become partakers of the divine nature.
The Holy Temple
The
Lord always has commanded His people to build temples, holy places in which
worthy Saints perform sacred gospel ceremonies and ordinances for themselves
and for the dead. Temples are the most holy of all places of worship. A temple
literally is the house of the Lord, a sacred space specifically
set apart for worshipping God and for receiving and remembering His great and
precious promises.
The
Lord has directed in this dispensation, “Organize yourselves; prepare every
needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of
fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of
order, a house of God.” The principal focus of temple worship is
participating in ordinances and learning about, receiving, and remembering
covenants. We think, act, and dress differently in the temple than in other
spaces that we may frequent.
A
principal purpose of the temple is to elevate our vision from the things of the
world to the blessings of eternity. Removed for a short time from the worldly
settings with which we are familiar, we can “look to God and live” by
receiving and remembering the great and precious promises whereby we become
partakers of the divine nature.
Please
note that the Sabbath day and the temple, respectively, are a sacred time and a sacred
space specifically set apart for worshipping God and for
receiving and remembering His exceeding great and precious promises to His
children. As instituted by God, the principal purposes of these two divine
sources of help are exactly the same: to powerfully and repeatedly focus our
attention upon our Heavenly Father, His Only Begotten Son, the Holy Ghost, and
the promises associated with the ordinances and covenants of the Savior’s
restored gospel.
Our Homes
Importantly,
a home should be the ultimate combination of time and
space wherein individuals and families remember most
effectively God’s great and precious promises. Leaving our homes to spend time
in Sunday meetings and to enter the sacred space of a temple is vital but
insufficient. Only as we bring the spirit and strength derived from those holy
activities back with us into our homes can we sustain our focus upon the great
purposes of mortal life and overcome the corruption that is in the world. Our
Sabbath and temple experiences should be spiritual catalysts that imbue individuals
and families and our homes with continual reminders of key lessons learned,
with the presence and power of the Holy Ghost, with ongoing and deepening
conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and with “a perfect brightness of
hope” in God’s eternal promises.
The
Sabbath and the temple can help us to establish in our homes “a more excellent
way” as we “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” What we do in our homes with
His sacred time and with what we learn in His sacred space is pivotal to becoming partakers of
the divine nature.
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