After almost 40 years of wandering in the desert, the ancient Israelites under Moses were, at last, very close to the promised land. They still had in front of them, however, several kingdoms to pass through (or conquer). After a particularly victorious battle, they asked permission for the king of Edom to let them pass through his land. He refused, which meant they would have to travel quite a bit out of the way to get to where they needed to be. They became discouraged. And then the fiery serpents came. They were very poisonous and killed whomever they bit. The people cried out to Moses to save them and the Lord gave Moses an answer. He was to create a brass serpent and put it on a pole. When people were bitten all they had to do was look up to the serpent and they would be healed. (Numbers 21:4-9)
Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon prophets shed a bit more light on this story. We learn that the brass serpent was a representation of Jesus Christ who would be lifted up on the cross (John 3:14). We also learn that although many were healed by looking at the serpent, many died. They refused to look because of the simpleness of the way (Alma 33:19-22).
There is an illness that is becoming rampant among us today. We all may be inflicted with it at one time or another. For some it passes, while for some it becomes fatal. That illness is despair, discouragement, and depression.
Like ancient Israel in the wilderness. we have experiences during our mortal lives that test us. In fact, we are living in that prophesied age when "men's hearts shall fail them" (D&C 45:26). Clear back in 1987, President Ezra Taft Benson gave a talk entitled "Do Not Despair", where he wrote, "As the showdown between good and evil approaches with its accompanying trials and tribulations, Satan is increasingly striving to overcome the Saints with despair, discouragement, despondency, and depression." If that was true then, it seems even more true now.And yet, with all the great troubles of our time, the promises are greater. Pres. Benson in that same address says, "We as Latter-Day Saints should be the most optimistic and the least pessimistic." Why? Because we know that good always overcomes evil. We know that the Lord is on our side. We know that as we make and keep our covenants we are promised power from on high. We have the promise that as we look to the Savior we will live.
LOOK AND LIVE
In the life and words of the Savior we see over and over again the word "come". "Come and see." "Come, follow me." In the Beatitudes the Savior speaks to the poor in spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (3 Nephi 12:3)
COME UNTO ME
The essence of the gospel can be summed up in these phrases. The solution to ALL of our problems can be summed up in these phrases.Elder Holland, in his April, 2006, conference address, said, "My desire is for all of us - not just those who are poor in spirit, but all of us - to have more straighforward personal experiences with the Savior's example. Sometimes we seek heaven too obliquely, focusing on programs or history or the experience of others. Those are important but not as important as personal experience, true discipleship, and the strength that comes from experiencing firsthand the majesty of His touch. Are you battling a demon of addiction? Is your marriage in trouble or your child in danger? Are you searching for self-esteem? Do you - or someone you love - face disease or depression or death? Whatever steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven's promises."
What does this mean? To me it means that when we are facing trials and despair we FIRST turn to prayer. We FIRST ask Heavenly Father for help. I know that often we don't feel like talking to Him. We often feel distant from Him. We often feel like we are being punished by Him. But we pray anyway. Just that simple leap of faith is often enought to feel His presence again. We humble ourselves enough to ask for His help and guidance - and listen when He answers. Because sometimes His advice is to repent. And sometimes it is to forgive.
We also remember our covenants. Sisters, too often we take the sacrament for granted. We are concerned that so many sisiters are not attending Sacrament Meeting. We can find great spiritual strengh in partaking weekly of the Sacrament. We can find great direction from the Holy Spirit as we attend our meetings, often in least expected times and places.We can also find great strength in the temple. If you haven't made those temple covenants yet, or if you haven't attended in a while, please do so. When we attend the temple and partake of the sacrament we are charging our spiritual batteries. When we don't we can drain down and lose energy.We need to fill our lives with light from the right sources.
I would encourage you to read Pres. Benson's talk and Elder Holland's talk for inspiration on where that light should come from in your life. We may need to examine the friends we keep, or the amount of service we give. We may need to examine our health habits, or live the law of the fast in a better way. The Spirit will whisper the solutions as we turn to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.We live in an age where we will be overtaken and die spiritually if we don't tap into Heavenly Father's light and power. We don't have to die. All we have to do is LOOK AND LIVE and COME UNTO ME. It is that easy. We have a choice.I testify that, as it says in Helaman 5:12 "Remember, remember, it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
