David and Goliath

I have felt like David many times in my life. I actually remember as a little kid running out into the waves of the ocean and standing beneath the biggest ones as they crashed on my head. I imagined that's what it was like for David to face Goliath. As I grew up I got a better taste for what David must have felt like, but on a spiritual level. I have faced many challenges that seemed like giants to me, things I thought I could never overcome, but here I am. If anything, my own personal experience and that of David's as recorded in the bible, have taught me to have faith in the face of fear. As long as you trust you are doing what God wants you to do and that he will take of the rest, you will always defeat Goliath.

I got super #pitted 😉

A photo posted by matt monahan (@matty_fatty) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:49pm PDT

Rise from the rubble

Every city and people who have suffered death and destruction by way of war has faced the task of rebuilding and trying to prosper. In the Bible there are a few accounts, one of them being of Gideon. In these moments of destruction and great trial I have found myself asking “why this, god?” Even the prophet Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father this question. We see Gideon ask the same question, the answer he receives is so great! The Lord responds to him. “And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” I interpret this as God explaining that the extreme hardship that Israel was suffering after their defeat was meant as a humbling and inspiring experience to pave the way for Gideon to truly save Isreal. Similarly the answer to “Why this, God?” has always been, “for your good”. The point is, God sometimes allows for our lives to be seemingly destroyed, he knows, and expects us to rise from the rubble and fight to move on and prosper.

Sacred Vs. Secret

Recently I was reading in the book of Numbers. In the particular chapter God gives detailed instruction on how to cover the sacred things of the tabernacle. Certain things were to be covered with a specific type of material and a particular color etc. of course all having rich symbolic meaning. That left me asking, in modern times what is that we find sacred enough to cover with great care? In every religion there are things held sacred and typically out of regular public view, treated with a great amount of privacy and respect. With that in mind I see that we all revere our bodies as sacred, our most precious religious symbols and knowledge sacred, our families, our feelings, our love and much more. I just would like to add my opinion, it is easy to divide what is held sacred vs. what is held as a secret. It's all in the motivation of the action. Things we keep secret typically are things we just don't want the world to know for whatever personal reason, things we hold sacred we keep from being skewed, mocked or harmed by those who would oppose us. Lets be respectful of the things others hold sacred.

This week I did a lot of pondering on how I live by the Ten Commandments. Of course this led to the realization that I am the farthest from being perfect. Where I feel the whole of humanity fails is In the worshiping of other gods. These gods come in the form of celebrities, politicians, artists and sometimes religious leaders. It is something we all may be found guilty of if we do not acknowledge the false gods in our lives. I see how I personally fail in this department and am glad I know have discovered where I fall short so I can be better.

Run!

In Genesis 39 Joseph finds himself recently favored and entrusted of Potiphar. He was alone in Potiphar's house when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him. Joseph did not delay in literally running away from this pretentious situation, so fast that he left his clothes. I have always admired Joseph for running away from sin and love to remember what he did when sin presents itself to me, that is that I follow Joseph's example and I "run" away.

In Genesis 24:12-14 Abraham's servant is commanded by him to find a wife for Isaac. The servant offers up a prayer to the Lord and specifically asks that the Lord show him the correctwoman by specific signs that he asked. I have found in my own life, that when I am seeking an answer from God, it is important to implement this same practice of asking specific questions and for specific signs. While God may not always answer our prayers in the way that we desire, it has helped me to receive clear answers when I ask the Lord specific questions with specific signs, just like the servant of Abraham

In this day and age, I feel that we are constantly getting distracted by meaningless things and forgetting our eternal perspective and the blessings our Heavenly Father has promised us, our birthright. In Genesis 25: 29-34 Esau sells his birthright while he was hungry, to his brother for a bowl of pottage. This of course was a very rash decision. On a daily basis many of us sell our birthright (exhalation) for pottage (sin) but the Lord is always willing to give us our birthright back when we take the necessary steps of repentance.

Scripture Insights

Noah and Adam are two exceptional examples of obedience. They both did amazing things for all of humanity without questioning the things they were being asked to do. I asked myself while studying, how did they do it? What I saw is that they understood three things. God exists, he loves us, whatever he tells us to do is in our best interest. Knowing and trusting in these facts has already helped me become more obedient.

Moses 5 and Genesis 8 talk of two of the greatest prophets in history, Adam and Noah. In Moses 5 it talks about how Adam began to offer up sacrifices, when asked why he was he responded that he didn't know why except that God commanded him. Then in Genesis we see how Noah was exactly obedient to all of God's commandments. The result of both of their incredible faith and obedience is our existence today. I only hope to possess the exact obedience they both did. Blind faith like we saw with Adam and Noah is very commendable but most definitely not easy for most of us and that is okay. It is important that we study out why the Lord commands us to do a certain thing, the commitment involved and the blessings we will receive. Often we cannot find the answer to why we should obey a certain commandment, that is when our faith is really tried and we must step up to the plate like and Noah did just do it. When we are obedient in such a way, is when we receive the greatest blessings and see the greatest of miracles.

Here's one of the greatest examples of obedience in my life, my father. He is a man of great faith and continues to remind me to remain obedient to God's commandments