It's too late/early in the week for me to do a Sunday Soliloquy, but that's basically what this is.
This morning I finally put into effect my long-planned goal to start a new scripture study journal and read a brand new, unmarked Book of Mormon all the way through.
Since my mission, I've been good about reading the scriptures, but I've been getting pretty lax about searching, pondering, and praying about them. So today I went out on my front porch, away from all distractions, and read the scriptures while the sun rose.
It felt amazing--the perfect start to my day, and the perfect start of a new goal.
I didn't start from the very beginning of the Book of Mormon, though. I've read 1 Nephi so many times that I just couldn't make myself start there today. It carries this reputation of false starts, in my experience. I must have read 1 Nephi a hundred times, and the rest of the Book of Mormon only four or five times.
Instead, I started in Mosiah, and that ended up being a very inspired decision.
Mosiah 1:3-7 is all about the scriptures and why it's important to study them continually.
Why having scriptures is a blessing
* "Were it not four these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God" (vs. 3). If it were't for these records of God's people and His works on the earth, our society would have dismissed God and religion LONG ago.
* "It were not possible that [we] could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to [our] children, except it were for the help of these plates" (vs. 4). The scriptures make it easier for us to pass on our knowledge of God accurately and powerfully.
* They put "[God's] commandments always before our eyes" (vs. 5), thus helping us do the Lord's will and live knowing that we're doing the right thing.
Why we need to continually study them
* "That thereby [we] can teach them to [our] children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God" (vs. 4). It's a commandment to raise our children in righteousness, and the scriptures help us to do that.
* "That we might read and understand [God's] mysteries" (vs. 5). The scriptures give us a sure foundation, to help us understand why things happen the way they do in our lives. For example, were it not for my knowledge of God's Plan of Salvation (which I learned through the scriptures), it would have been infinitely harder for me to lose friends and family.
* We need to continually remind ourselves of the commandments we're supposed to be keeping (vs. 5). I can feel my spirituality and obedience fade away the longer I go without studying the scriptures. It's the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. Hence my new goal.
* They contain so much knowledge that we can use even in our secular lives (vs. 7). Questions of how to treat our fellowmen, how governments should be run, how we should have a good work ethic, how to raise families and the like are all addressed in the scriptures. There's a reason why our nation has flourished so long--because it was founded on principles of Christianity as found in the Bible. The more we give up those principles, the more our society will fall apart.
* Finally, it's a direct commandment from God to study the scriptures (vs. 7). In Leviticus 25, the Lord commands Joshua, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Obviously, since Leviticus is found near the beginning if the Bible, God was referring in this instance to the Law of Moses, but it can be applied to the rest of the scriptures that have been recorded since Joshua's time.
Most importantly for me, reading the scriptures reminds me of this promise, also found in Leviticus 25: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
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