1/23/2019 - Section 133:52-74

January 23, 2019

Section 133:52-74

Lord’s Love and Closeness to Us, Draw Near Unto Me, Priorities Our Highest, Sanctification, Return to the Lord, Repentance,

What wonderful verses to start out with this morning: v 52-53 “And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.    In all their afflictions he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; and in his love and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old”  This verse is addressed to those who are redeemed by Christ. It’s my goal to recognize his loving kindness and the times he carries me NOW. I want to be able to express my gratitude NOW. I want to be aware and feel his loving touch, and be humble enough to not think it was by my power, but to know and feel and be thankful that it was his power. This means my relationship with him must be a close relationship and that is determined by frequency of interactions and depth of interactions. And that is something that I can quite easily (if I stay focused on my priorities of scripture study, prayer, and a yearning to be better) and significantly influence.

The study manual (p342) spoke of Christ’s second coming (V 56) with a detail I don’t think I had realized: “Elder James E Talmage commented: “It is expressly asserted that many graves shall yield up their dead at the time of Christ’s advent in glory, and the just who have slept, together with many who have not died, will be caught up to meet the Lord.” [see 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16)” I went back and read in Thessalonians v 13-18 and found that I had written Death: Grieve, but sorrow not. I have a feeling, that that phrase that came to me so long ago, and opened my understanding just a little more, will at some time come back to me and lead me into the state of Comfort in Difficult Times. I have felt that before and am forever grateful. And I want to live so that I will feel that again in difficult times to come.

V 58 says these words are to “prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth….” I certainly fall into that category, and I am so grateful for that. I want to be one of the weak who, grace by grace, becomes spiritually strong. V 62 explains that path simply: “And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth (in Dutch to make holy) himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life.” Fortunately, the Lord gave us out entire lives to work on this. Spencer Kimball, In April 1978 gave us a few example of things that can direct our attention away from this, our highest priority of sanctifying ourselves and returning to Heavenly Father: “…there are various excuses for rejection [of the Lord’s plan]….the cares of the world, the honors of the world, and looking beyond the mark are all determined by a persuasive few who presume to speak for all…”  Returning to the Lord step by step is turning to the Lord step by step. This is what has brought me peace and comfort and growth in difficult times, and happily, also in the calm, smooth good times.