The people in Jerusalem never asked Jesus what he meant by “other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16). They thought he referred to the Gentiles and were satisfied with the answer they’d come up with in their own minds. So they never asked more. Had they asked, He would have told them. But they didn’t ask. They thought they knew the answer (3 Nephi 15:17-21).

Have you ever wondered how many things we “think” we know that we really don’t? How many times are we satisfied with the answers our own minds concoct instead of asking if there is more? What if there is more that God would like to give us, but because we do not ask, we do not receive?

Have you ever been reading the scriptures and run across something you don’t quite understand. You glance at it for a second, perhaps make some cursory judgment as to what it might mean, and then move on — forgetting all about it. I’ve done that a thousand times. But what if we stopped and took the time to ask? It’s in there for a reason, isn’t it?

Do we really believe the prophets wrote things as “filler?” Did they have a quota of pages they needed to fill and some of it was just fluff to get to the right word count?  Quite the opposite for the Book of Mormon. Mormon and Moroni were super conscious about how much ore they had. They took time to think about what they included and made sure everything served a purpose. If that is the case, then why do we gloss over some passages that we don’t understand … never taking the time to ask?

The very essence of Joseph Smith’s ability to receive revelation was his willingness to ask. His experience in the sacred grove began with a question. The Word of Wisdom came from a question. Most of the doctrines restored to earth came as Joseph was translating the Bible and had questions along the way. There’s Paul’s question “why are they then baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all?” which led to the restoration of that principle (1 Corinthians 15:29, D&C 128:16). The entire section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants about the degrees of glory came from Joseph’s observations from the Bible, “It appeared self-evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body, the term ‘Heaven,’ as intended for the Saints’ eternal home, must include more kingdoms than one.”

Repeatedly the Prophet Joseph showed us the way to dig, ask questions and get answers for ourselves. Why then, are we satisfied with mediocrity in our scripture study or in studying what modern prophets and apostles have to say? Do we assume answers are only given to prophets? Are they the only ones entitled to insights and answers? While it’s true that prophets are the only ones who declare official church doctrine, it doesn’t mean that the rest of us should be lazy bums and not search for answers on our own. We shouldn’t go about declaring our insights as doctrine, but there are so many wonderful truths to be had that can enrich our lives and give us peace. But we have to ask!

Joe J. Christensen in an article entitled, “Toward Greater Spirituality: Ten Important Steps” from the June 1983 Ensign said,

“What a blessing it would be if all of us would receive more spiritual strength and personal revelation than we do. President Brigham Young said, ‘There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to God’s people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord to signify to him his will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises. I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges.’ (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. and arr. by John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1973, p. 32; emphasis added.)

So why do we settle, when all we have to do is search, ponder and ask?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 2:45 pm and is filed under lds beliefs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.