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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

2 Nephi 7

Summary: Isaiah speaks Messianically. Messiah shall have the tongue of the learned. He shall give his back to the smiters. He shall not be confounded. (Compare Isaiah 50)
This chapter is not easy to understand! I will give it a shot tho.
Verse 1 is very powerful, and I think we can all relate to it. There are times in our lives when we feel alone--like the Lord has cut us off. But what He is saying here is that He has done no such thing. He would never abandon us. But perhaps, sometimes we make poor choices contrary to His will that cause us to lose the Spirit. But He will always be there, waiting for us to come back. I believe, in verse 2, when He says: "Wherefore, when I came, there was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer," God is saying that He tries to reach us when we stray, but sometimes we ignore Him. That is such a testimony of God's love for us. When we stray, God comes looking for us and hopes to pull us back in. Even, and perhaps, especially, in our darkest hour, He is there. We must never forget that. I learned something new in conference last weekend. I can't remember whose talk it was, but he said that, for a moment, Heavenly Father had to leave Christ totally alone while He suffered so that He might know what it felt like. I always thought that Christ felt alone, which idea itself is incredible to think that He could have felt alone. But the beauty of Christ suffering something so great, alone, is that He can be there for us. He understands what that feels like, so are we ever really left to suffer alone? Perhaps Christ suffered that so we, if we stay on the path of righteousness, never have to. We know we can turn to Him. Not everyone has the comfort of knowing this. We are so fortunate that we do.

In verses 4-7, I get the impression that Christ is speaking. He is telling us that He suffered pain and humiliation for us so that He could be a constant companion unto us. Everything that Christ suffered and accomplished on this earth was for our benefit. He came to this earth knowing that His life was not about Him--it was about us. It was about making the plan of salvation possible. Realizing this makes me realize how much I need to fix. I am a very selfish person. If only I could be strong enough and humble enough to be as selfless and steady as Christ.

Verse 11 is another great verse. To me, it is saying: Those of you who have the Gospel, and who have been blessed with the light of Christ, do not be afraid to embrace it and share it, that it may grow. Hope is one of the greatest gifts of the Gospel. We have hope for a better tomorrow and a glorious eternity, which hope gives our lives so much meaning. We need to share that hope, that light, with others. How great will be our joy when we see the joy the Gospel brings to others because we were not afraid to share?

1 comment:

Elise said...

Do not be afraid to share it. . .this is something I need to work on. Sometimes I think about giving someone a pass-along card, but not very often; I don't really know people outside of our ward. I think the key for me is to get out of my shell and get to know people and then be close enough to the Spirit to know what to do. Does anyone else have this problem? Chelsea, your thoughts are so great, and they are always so Christ-centered. I love it.