A MORE RELIABLE GUIDE

Four hundred years had passed since the Lord through Joseph brought Jacob and his sons out of Palestine and into the fertile lands of Goshen. That ancient Pharaoh who had befriended Israel had long since perished and there had come unto Egypt a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, a Pharaoh who feared the vastness of the people of Goshen. The passing centuries had provided ample time and opportunity for the cruel hand of power to drive independence and individuality from the hearts and minds of the descendents of once mighty shepherd kings who roamed the Palestinian plains.

The might of Supreme intervention was able to break the bonds from the arms and legs of enslaved Israel, but removing the shackles from the hearts and minds of this broken people would prove to be much lengthier and more difficult than the changing of a land to dwell in. The whip of the Egyptian guards had done its work and the independent, proud people of Israel had been domesticated and converted into a nation of slaves. Once Jacob’s posterity was removed from the demeaning dominance of the slave masters, the Lord was faced with the daunting task of removing the fetters from the understanding of Israel and placing them once more on a path which would build them to the point where they again would be worthy of wearing the crown and sitting upon the throne.

With heavenly bread and sweet flowing water He gave them sustenance and quenched their ever-present thirst. With a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night He guided their weary steps and patiently brought some illumination to the desert darkness and into the dimness of their minds. For forty years the Master Guide led the wandering nation, the Master Sculptor chipped and polished, honed and sanded. Unwaveringly He labored to prepare a people to enter the Promised Land which was eternally flowing with milk and honey.

In spite of all the nurturing, all the chastening and all the guiding, the new generation of Israel crossed the Jordan, not as a perfected people, but as a collection of individuals whose agency caused them to act in never ending verity, a neophyte nation whose faltering steps remained in need of abundant nurturing and constant teaching.

As I read and ponder the biblical account of ancient Israel and attempt to distinguish and assimilate the guiding principles the Lord distilled upon that meandering nation, I find that the task of identifying all the preponderance and variety of lessons becomes as difficult as trying to determine the number of potential apples in a single seed.

If I concentrate upon the patient guidance of the Lord, I may understand more clearly the multitudinous roles and responsibility of parenthood.

If I see the story as a type of my own wanderings in the wilderness of mortality I may have a greater vision of what I yet lack to qualify for entering into the Eternal Promised Land.

On examination of the trials which come with being a slave in Goshen, I might be able to understand more deeply the processes whereby I might begin to free myself from those shackles which hold me captive and beaten, controlled by ever-present earthly masters to whom I have yielded my agency.

It doesn’t take long before I am struck with the realization that the direction the scriptures can take me and the lessons they can teach me are uncountable and infinite. I also quickly understand that the principles are at once applicable individually and universally. The vastness of wisdom flowing from the scriptures makes me wonder way we so often find ourselves struggling in vain, despairing over the seeming unanswerable questions of life? Why can't we just accept that that same loving Father who guided His children over the burning deserts of the Sinai has also given us a cloud to guide us during our days and a pillar of fire to lighten our nights? It seems the root of our struggles and problems during our mortal quest lies not in the absence of inspired guidance, but in the absence of honest seeking and diligent following of the counsel of our loving Heavenly Father.

President Harold B. Lee stated: “I say we need to teach our people to find their answers in the scriptures. But the unfortunate thing is that so many of us are not reading the scriptures. We do not know what is in them, and therefore, we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in the scriptures themselves. I think therein is one of the biggest dangers today. (Ensign, December 1972 p.3)

The light is endlessly luminous, the pages are saturated with solutions and the answers to life’s endless questions are imbedded therein. All that is required is that we daily open our scriptures, read, ponder and pray for understanding. With the passing of time we will discover truth being added upon truth, understanding will be added to understanding, life will gain meaning, problems will be solved and our days will begin to be filled with joy.