Dear Reader: With yesterday’s post, I felt to conclude with some brief personal input today, but have since realized that would be inappropriate. . . that there is still much to learn from this (Chapter 10 ‘Going Home’) in Elder Eyring’s book “To Draw Closer to God”. It’s presumptuous on my part to make a comment when Elder Eyring has much in clarity yet to say. The ‘new habit’ I suggested in the last post is covered by him in what follows. . .
From yesterday’s post: “Each week you and I can hear in the sacramental prayer the promise we so much need to see fulfilled: “and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them.” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77)
Continuing he also wrote: “That might well raise a question in your mind. You may now be reading the Book of Mormon diligently, daily. You may be praying often and with real intent. That may have led to such faith in Jesus Christ that you remember him with love. And that surely will have both led you to broken heart and to seeking forgiveness for past sins and a determination to keep every commandment. But you may still say, “With all that, I don’t seem to get promptings of what is true as easily as I think I should if I really have his Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to be with me.”
The Prophet Joseph Smith once faced a test of patience beyond what most of us have endured. He was locked in Liberty jail, and the Saints were suffering. He pled in prayer for immediate action. God granted him, in answer to his prayer, something more than he asked for. He told him how he would pour knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Saints. He talked about the priceless knowledge of knowing how to act so that the Saints could be servants of God, worthy of his power. And then he told him and he told you and me, how it will feel as knowledge of truth comes. Here it is, at the end of section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever.(Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46.)
You and I need to be patient and for a reason. A quick reading of the Book of Mormon, a few prayers, a shallow attempt at repentance, a casual regard for the covenants we’ve made—of course, that is not enough. The scriptures use over and over again the word “steadiness” to describe faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. When faith and repentance and diligent efforts to live the commandments have gone on long enough that virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly, then the doctrine of the priesthood, the truthful answers to questions that really matter, will distill upon us as the dews from heaven.
That’s been my experience with seeking confirmation of truth by the Spirit of God. I have at times sought it by singular effort, in times of great need, and it has come. Investigators have that experience when they reach the point where they must know if the Book of Mormon is true.
But far more often for me, I notice the Spirit’s presence in quiet confirmations at times when all I seem to have done is plod on in diligence, doing the simple things—searching the scriptures with a prayer in my heart and with more concern for others, and therefore less time for pursuits that let Satan, the father of lies, entice me. It’s in periods of that steadiness that I notice the Holy Ghost, almost in the way that you’re surprised to discover that your shoes are wet from the dew formed on the grass overnight, and I look up and realize that my mind has been enlightened and my heart has been enlarged.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole process is not to keep going but to begin. That’s true with many projects we face, but this most important project involves an added difficulty. It is that you have a skilled adversary who both lies and urges you to lie.
Of all his falsehoods, perhaps none is so commonly used and so frequently successful as this: “No one knows, so wait to repent.”
conclusion tomorrow…
