While I attended the temple, I wanted to learn more of how to draw closer to God. So, I turned to one of my favorite verses on the subject in Deuteronomy 4:29, which reads,
But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
I pondered on it for a time, and I received enlightment on how to develop my relationship with Him. But then, I continued to read that passage, as I could not recall the context:
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou shalt keep
therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this
day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee,
and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.
At this point, I was a little caught off-guard. This all spoke directly to me! I then went to check if the verses prior to verse 29 were likewise valuable:
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger:
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
After all this, I was quite excited. What I previously took to be a feel-good verse about our access to God changed into a discourse on living in Zion when born in Babylon.
To give a little more background, this is Moses teaching the Israelites how they are to live. He prophesies that they will eventually turn to the sinful ways of the World, but he impresses on them that God will always lead His children if they will but reach for Him.
The United States of America is a special country. We were given America as a land to worship God in freedom. Our Founding Fathers fought for our liberties and started the United States of America. The Constitution was designed by men under the inspiration of God for this exact purpose; that we may all fulfill the Plan that God has given to each of us while we are here on this earth. It is a choice land, a promised land much like Israel. The Book of Mormon continuously discusses how this is a land above all others, so long as they follow their God (Ether 2:12 is one example).
But, alas, this will not always be. Verses 25-28 describe the less-than-ideal state of the children of God within the World today as well as in times past.The United States as we know it has been around for over 230 years. It has been quite some time since George Washington.
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children...
Now, America is home to roughly 300 million citizens; many have ancestry that goes into the Pilgrim times, where many others are new immigrants. Due to the natural course of events, many ideas have been introduced, most of which are contrary to the original foundation America enjoyed.
Ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves...
With the introduction of vile practices such as abortion, homosexuality, and imposing on the freedoms of the American, our government is "do[ing] evil in the sight of the Lord... to provoke him to anger..." But the government cannot take all the blame; the government, after all, is composed of a bunch of individuals like you and me. We voted them in! We are just as responsible! We are at risk of being "utterly... destroyed"!
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children...
Now, America is home to roughly 300 million citizens; many have ancestry that goes into the Pilgrim times, where many others are new immigrants. Due to the natural course of events, many ideas have been introduced, most of which are contrary to the original foundation America enjoyed.
Ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves...
With the introduction of vile practices such as abortion, homosexuality, and imposing on the freedoms of the American, our government is "do[ing] evil in the sight of the Lord... to provoke him to anger..." But the government cannot take all the blame; the government, after all, is composed of a bunch of individuals like you and me. We voted them in! We are just as responsible! We are at risk of being "utterly... destroyed"!
In verse 28, it continues on with the many "gods" that we will serve. Back then, they were idols that could be served with little-to-no sacrifice; maybe a token payment here and there, but no commitment or consecration was demanded. What are the gods of today? Money, entertainment, power, atheism, secularism, apathy, even the very Devil. Satan leads the battle against Christianity and their liberties; look around! The Devil's servants actively oppose open worship, much like the days of Daniel; we are quickly being forced to serve their "god", which is no god. Atheists and those that have been deceived into their ploy of "fairness" and "separation of church and state" are in open rebellion against God and His commandments. The world is quickly devolving into a world of cheap thrills, entertainments that do not outlast the night, and an utter ignorance of our Creator.
Now, don't get too comfortable. Before you say, "Well, that's them, I am an active member of my church!", remember Moses' primary audience: not the heathen Canaanites, but the children of Israel. So, not only can this apply to us, but it is completely directed to us! We are guilty for allowing the world to reach this pitiful state, and it's only getting worse. When it describes the "children's children" that were beget by the Israelites, it is talking about us. We were born in the World, and unfortunately, even if we were raised in active families, most of us were raised with much of the World's influence over our lives.
But, not all is lost! God is faithful; He has provided a way for us to overcome the World and return to His presence, even in this life!
This leads us into the original verse I had found. God wants us to succeed. Even though we will be raised with the taint of Babylon, we can be cleansed. "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord, thou shalt find him!" God is waiting for us; in spite of our faulty vision, we are blessed with powerful testimonies, and with those testimonies we can remove our taints and seek the Lord; but, it must be "with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul." It cannot be a casual thing; if we expect to be the Lord's, we must become the Lord's, and this requires complete commitment.
This is a good stopping point. I think I will continue tomorrow. Upcoming in verses 30-40: what we can do to more fully "seek the Lord"!
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