Eric Poulin

Posts Tagged ‘scriptures’

But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness. (1 Nephi 5:5)

Here – Lehi is responding to complaints from his wife Sariah who was obviously worried that her sons had perished on their journey back to Jerusalem. It probably took weeks. I love Lehi’s faith language here. He says “I have obtained a land of promise.” Now, they are in the wilderness… that was definitely not the land of promise. But, he knew the Lord’s word was good and so in his mind, he had already obtained it by his obedience and his obvious commitment to continued obedience.

We should also speak thusly about our goals… as if we have already obtained them – its just a matter of time, obedience and action to achieve them.

I changed the scoring mechanism in the Book of Mormon Game yesterday. Its now much easier to play, telling you when you have the right book, and then when guessing the chapter, tells you you need to guess higher or lower until you get it right.
There is a 20 second penalty for each incorrect guess, so it remains competitive for those who really know their stuff, but “playable” for anyone who wants to sharpen their skills and get to know the Book of Mormon better.
Also, the reading tab is going to be updated soon so you can have a place to track your reading and auto-start where you left off.I’m hoping to complete that in the next 2 weeks!

"but time and chance happeneth to them all"

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

The bible dictionary explains that the first verse in this citation is not a doctrinal pronouncement that after death there is nothing –rather, this is a worldly view – people “under the sun” believe that.

This scripture tells us that whatever vocation we choose (whatever we do with our hands) we should do our best, and put our energies into it. It also explains that no matter how smart you may be, how hard or fast your work, no matter how skilled or what brilliant ideas you may have, success comes and goes as a matter of chance. A friend of mine believes that wealth is a blessing of the Lord that is given to certain individuals and not to others, whether you strive for it or not. He explains how some wealthy, with the craziest bumbling ideas you can imagine, seem to make a tidy fortune despite themselves. alternatively, I’m sure we all know others who seems to have brilliant ideas and excellent work ethic, but never quite attain to any financial success – and teeter on the edge of poverty for their whole lives.

I personally agree with this line of thought to the extent that the Lord does bless some of us with wealth and other not. I believe that as we are obedient, more often than not, the Lord does bless us with prosperity, which often manifests itself as financial success, but this is not a hard and fast rule. In the general this applies, but specifically the case may be different, depending on what the Lord has planned for you.

The Book of Mormon Game interface

Today I launched the Book of Mormon Game (http://bookofmormongame.com), a new, completely free, online audio scripture chase game.

It’s a fun and competitive game which reads the Book of Mormon to you from a random place and you have to find where its reading from and race against a timer. Your scores will show along with ward/stake members. This game can help you become more familiar with the Book of Mormon and is a fun way to get in your daily scripture “reading”.

1 Nephi 17:45-46

"...he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder..."

“Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
And ye also know that by the power of his almighty word he can cause the earth that it shall pass away; yea, and ye know that by his word he can cause the rough places to be made smooth, and smooth places shall be broken up. O, then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?”

Nephi is speaking to his brothers. He and his brothers are Jews, part of the chosen people. We should liken this to the Prophet of our day speaking to us, members of the church. Probably we have not seen an angel, but today, more than ever, we do hear the voice of God and His servants often, through conferences, magazines, scriptures, internet and at church. But, have we become desensitized?

Its interesting to note that thunder is caused by a bolt of lightning. The heat from the lightning forces the air away from the source, then when it is gone, those masses of air rush back together and we hear the CLAP of lightning as these air masses crash into each other from all directions. When the Lord shares His light with us, by speaking to us, hopefully we see the light. But if we don’t notice (are past feeling), the thunder will surely get our attention.

Having the wrong balance when it comes to money is always a curse to our spirituality. If we perceive ourselves as having too little money, this can become an obsession. We look at everything as an opportunity for income, not necessarily for intrinsic value. Service can diminish into jobs, and the constant “worry state” can cause us to ignore or not be able to feel the promptings of the Spirit. If we have a lot of wealth and perceive ourselves as totally self-sufficient, we no longer see a need for God to care for us, since we seem to be doing such a good job “on our own”. If a sentiment like this overtakes us, pursuit of Spiritual things will end, we will not be motivated to serve God and again, the Spirit will not reach our ears as readily.

In both of these scenarios, it is not the amount of money that affects us, but how we perceive our situation about money. If we have a proper balance in our minds, it will change our entire outlook and actions, and can allow us to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. If we are “past feeling”, the Lord sometimes will speak to us “like unto the voice of thunder” so He can get through to us. But, if we don’t change our ways one of two things may happen.

1. Like a person who requires strong medication, the body adapts to the medication, and stronger and stronger doses are needed to do the same job. If we ignore or don’t change our thinking and actions, the Lord may speak “like unto the voice of thunder”, then move to earthquakes, and then worse to get our attention. Consider the amount of natural disasters that have been increasing in magnitude and frequency around us. Surely we, as a society, have need to be humbled.
2. He may stop speaking to us altogether. If we are so past feeling, sometimes, by our agency, we no longer want to hear the Lord or His Spirit and He will simply give us that wish. This is truly a tough place because then typically the Lord speaks to others on our behalf to try and help… to get us back. Faithful home teachers, friends, Bishops often fall into this category.

Application of these ideas is not solely fitted to money of course, but I think you can see how it clearly does apply to how we think about money. Let us keep our hearts and minds soft so we do not require the Lord to take drastic measures to communicate with us. Whether rich or poor, keep a balance regarding how you think about money, and in the long term, the Lord will bless you with what you need.

1 Nephi 17:44

“Wherefore, the Lord commanded my father that he should depart into the wilderness; and the Jews also sought to take away his life; yea, and ye also have sought to take away his life; wherefore, ye are murderers in your hearts and ye are like unto them.”

Quick recap:

1. The people in Jerusalem had become wicked and were about to be destroyed because the Lord would not protect them.
2. Laman and Lemuel are like the people in Jerusalem.

Sometimes the bad comes with the good.

But… Laman and Lemuel were not destroyed. Instead, they were given the opportunity to go along with the righteous (kicking and screaming) to the promised land. Sure, they had moments of repentance, but, in the end, always showed their true colors of jealousy, pride and selfishness. They didn’t merit their opportunity. They merited destruction like the rest in Jerusalem. However, because they were related to some righteous people, they were granted something they didn’t deserve. Even if their hearts were in the right place at the beginning, they quickly became “murders in their hearts”, but still managed to ride the coat-tails of the righteous part of Lehi’s family.

How often have you seen this? A righteous wife who is struggling to do her best with a lazy, disobedient or half-hearted husband who just slides by. A husband who is trying to balance his job, calling and role as parent, trying to honor his priesthood, but his wife just doesn’t try to do her part, doesn’t support him, and complains about the time he takes to serve others. A family who has a rebellious son or daughter who pulls the whole family unit down or makes it very difficult to do what’s right. I’m sure you can name examples like this fitting each of these and more scenarios.

The same happens in money related scenarios. Some employees are hard-working and others just do the bare minimum, and do a poor job at it. Sometimes in a marriage, one spouse is trying to balance the budget while the other spends uncontrollably with reckless regard to the family finances.

Why are the less righteous or wicked permitted to do this? Well, father Lehi teaches us that there is “opposition in all things“, which makes part of our testing ground here in mortality. The Book of Mormon also teaches us that the Lord permits the righteous to go through strife, adversity and even death at the hands of the wicked, in order that the wicked may be justly judged. This of course requires an eternal perspective to understand and appreciate.

We know the Lord wishes us to be prosperous as we obey His will. Sometimes our righteous agency will bring the disobedient to prosperity. Sometimes the unrighteous agency of people will bring us to poverty. But, in the grand scheme of things, on a societal basis and not necessarily on an individual basis, the Lord prospers the righteous. Financial safety comes with obedience to the gospel, along with all other attendant (and more important) blessings. Don’t worry about the justice of the disobedient who seems to prosper. They will have their reward. Rather, focus on your obedience, service and love for the Lord and His children, and you will find all your needs met and prosperity more likely to greet you.

1 Nephi 17:43

Jerusalem Falls

“And now, after all these things, the time has come that they have become wicked, yea, nearly unto ripeness; and I know not but they are at this day about to be destroyed; for I know that the day must surely come that they must be destroyed, save a few only, who shall be led away into captivity.”

Nephi, writing this at about 591BC, is very close regarding the Babylonian Captivity, which occurred at 586BC – just 5 years later (remember time counts towards 0 on the BC scale). As we can recall, this captivity was the reason Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. Lehi tells us this destruction and captivity was due to the wickedness of the people. Nephi reminds us about this prophecy here. There are some interesting reasons we can review (after the fact) about why the Lord spared Lehi and his family from the captivity and brought them to the promised land in the Americas.

1. The captivity lasted quite a while (until 537BC – a total of 49 years). It wasn’t until Persia overthrew Babylonia that the Jews were given permission to return to Jerusalem. Over this period of time, many of the Jews intermingled with the locals; traditions changed, even the religion changed somewhat. When they returned to Jerusalem almost 50 years later, 2 generations had passed and they had a really hard time restoring things back to the way they were. In fact, things were never quite the same, as much of the traditions evolved while in Babylonian captivity. Lehi’s family were removed from this situation and continued their religious worship unblemished by the captivity.
2. When the captivity happened, many were killed and the rest were taken to Babylon. The Jews did not bring their homes and riches with them. They were captive, not treated quite as a traditional slaves, but they certainly had their wealth taken from them with no promise of that status changing any time soon. Lehi’s family, on the other hand, left their wealth voluntarily, being led towards a promised land. They were not captives; they were free. While there is no doubt they toiled on their journeyings they were never slaves and they all had hope that the promised land was coming.

Lehi’s family, by heeding the commandments of the Lord were spared the great toils of captivity. Even Laman and Lemuel, who pushed back so many times, were spared captivity. We too can be spared many pitfalls in life by heeding the commandments. Many of the things we’ll be spared will be spiritual challenges, but also many things we can be spared from are physical things, enabling us to obtain our promised land in due time.

Moses' Brazen Serpent

1 Nephi 17:41-42

“And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.
And they did harden their hearts from time to time, and they did revile against Moses, and also against God; nevertheless, ye know that they were led forth by his matchless power into the land of promise.”

Debt is slavery

1 Nephi 17:40

“And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.”

Some historical refresher… Before the Exodus, the Israelites had been in Egypt for 400 years after Joseph had Jacob’s family move in. At some point during that time, the Israelites became slaves to the Egyptians. Many believe the Israelite “slavery” was not nearly as bad as is commonly depicted in major motion pictures. How did they turn into slaves? Among the reasons, debt is high in the list.Interestingly, modern-day prophets refer to debt as slavery – even the Lord refers to this as he instructs Martin Harris to “Pay thy debt… Release thself from bondage” D&C 19:35.

The evocation of the Moses story was a powerful lesson to Nephi’s family – to any family, even in our day. We will do well to remember that the Lord will deliver us from bondage and slavery as we are consistently loyal and obedient to him. We need to be careful about our debts, yes; but sometimes we fall into financial bondage without much choice in the matter. We can be delivered from our debts, but in the Lord’s time. The scripture says the Lord “remembered the convenants” he made. Clearly he didn’t forget, but they were fulfilled unto the Israelites after many years of slavery and unanswered prayers. We too many need to spend time, even years at a time in our personal bondages, even in debt, before we too are delivered. Our delivery will likely be less miraculous than a deliverer bringing us on an Exodus from our debtors. Rather, small graces must be taken advantage of. Rather than spending unexpected income on frivilous items, pay down your debts. Over time, the Lords tender mercies will add up to our deliverance.

Economic Interchange

Helaman 6:7-9

“And behold, there was peace in all the land, insomuch that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land they would, whether among the Nephites or the Lamanites.
And it came to pass that the Lamanites did also go whithersoever they would, whether it were among the Lamanites or among the Nephites; and thus they did have free intercourse one with another, to buy and to sell, and to get gain, according to their desire.
And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north.”

Helaman 6:11-14

“And behold, there was all manner of gold in both these lands, and of silver, and of precious ore of every kind; and there were also curious workmen, who did work all kinds of ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich.
They did raise grain in abundance, both in the north and in the south; and they did flourish exceedingly, both in the north and in the south. And they did multiply and wax exceedingly strong in the land. And they did raise many flocks and herds, yea, many fatlings.
Behold their women did toil and spin, and did make all manner of cloth, of fine-twined linen and cloth of every kind, to clothe their nakedness. And thus the sixty and fourth year did pass away in peace.
And in the sixty and fifth year they did also have great joy and peace, yea, much preaching and many prophecies concerning that which was to come. And thus passed away the sixty and fifth year.”

Free trade makes for a wealthy society. Common belief in society fosters commerce and makes society as a whole wealthy. Part of this has to do with specialization in industry. Specialization makes for higher quality products and services, and so long as everyone is contributing effort and work, that society will fluorish.

This points to another theme covered in previous posts about the value of networking. It was only by intermingling with other poeple that the society as a whole became “exceedingly rich”. As we individually intermingle with others and enlarge our network of contacts, friends, associates we a also more likely to “fluorish exceedingly”.

There are networking organizations whose sole purpose is to bring together people who have a common interest of passing leads to each other (I’m thinking of BNI). Personally, I know of the power of networking. Opportunities arise as you put yourself out there for people to know who you are and what you do. I’ve found a particularly helpful tool is connecting with people who are “hubs”. You know people like this… people who seem to know everyone or can easily become friends with everyone in a room. As you connect closely with people like this, they can help introduce you and your ideas around and help make opportunities.