Day 23 ~ Stone of Israel (Gen. 49:24)

Israel is a country of stones. Anybody who has visited the Holy Land has seen the miles and miles of rocky landscape that covers much of the territory. There are some garden spots to be sure. But there is much that is not really what you would call prime real estate. It is a testament to its sacred history that mankind has fought over that little piece of stony earth so vehemently down through the corridors of history.

One of Israel's unique characteristics are the tels. You may have heard of Tel Aviv or Tel Amarna or any of a bunch of cities in Israel which start with Tel. A tel is simply an ancient city mound. Throughout history, when a Palestinian city began to fall down, its residents simply knocked down the walls and built on top of the rubble. They didn't clear the spot because what was under was just as stony as what was on top. So it didn't matter much. Over the centuries the level on which a city is built rises on this mound or tel. The city on top literally sits upon its ancestors. There are approximately 50,000 known tels in the Middle East. These tels are wonderful for archeologists. All the scientists have to do is dig down through the tel, and the stones underneath tell (no pun intended) the story of the place.

Perhaps Jesus had these tels in mind when He said "I am ...the stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall." (D&C 50:44.) Christ is the stone foundation upon which all men must build. When Jehovah came to Abram, He promised Abram many blessings -- peace, priesthood, posterity and property. God changed his name to Abraham and gave him the land of Israel and promised him a great posterity. The two ideas are inseparably connected. Both are sacred as both are gifts from a generous God to a childless wanderer upon the earth. Abraham set up stone altars as memorials of the promise throughout the land.

The Old Testament contains many other instances of stones being put up as memorials to sacred events. The stones were to tell the story of the place. In many cases the stones were to represent the children of Israel, such as the monuments left at the crossing of the Jordan River. It was kind of a natural thing since the word for stone in Hebrew (abanim *ah-bah-neem*) is nearly the same as the word for children (banim). Altars were to consist of stones of certain dimensions. Houses were built of stone. The land was stony, but it was sacred. Stones represented land and children, the promises of God. The banim were tied to the abanim. The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to inherit the land of Israel.

One day as John the Baptist was ministering in Jordan, the Jewish leaders came and questioned his authority. They were angry that the people were coming to John and not them. John told them to "think not to say within yourselves, We are the children of Abraham, and we only have power to bring seed unto our father Abraham; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children into Abraham" (JST Matthew 3:36). Usually, bible expositors say that John was referring to the Gentiles standing around. Maybe, but I don't think that's all of it. The usual derogatory designation for the gentiles (which actually means "nations") was as dogs, used even by the Master to the woman of Canaa. "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." (Matthew 15:26-27) To belittle someone as stone would have been more of a gentile attitude and not a Jewish one. I believe that John was referring mostly to the poor Jews (the people of the land) who came out to see the new prophet the Lord had raised up.

John's words were a rebuke of the Pharisees' and Sadducees' attitude towards their fellow Jews. The leaders were wealthy, therefore they thought they had God's blessing; they were powerful, therefore they had been made judges of the people; their attitude was condescending. John's words would have called up all the sacred symbols and images impressed upon the Jewish mind. It was a rebuke of pride and a reminder of Israel's humble and unsophisticated past with Jehovah. The covenant was for all of the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was not the leaders who offered salvation. They held no monopoly. It was a gift from God. They weren't exclusive agents.

Christ renamed Simon, "Cephas" or stone. Peter is a testament to Christ's work. Peter called those in the kingdom "lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:6) As children of the Kingdom, we are to be memorial stones of God's goodness and mercy, built upon Jesus Himself "the stone which the builders rejected, the same [which] is become the head of the corner" (Luke 20:17-18).

Day 22 ~ Immanuel (Doctrine & Covenants 128:22)

In the middle of the night came the news that all but one of the West Virginia miners were still alive. Reporters broadcast the happy news as the families celebrated in the background. A few hours later came the sad news that the initial reports were wrong. Ecstasy turned to disbelief and despair as it was discovered that it was quite the opposite. One was alive, the rest were dead. In the face of the bitter news, some of the family members became angry. A minister trying to comfort the families called upon them to turn to God for peace. One grieving relative angrily cried out "Where was God today?"

Sometimes that is our question - where is God? Is He even out there?

What we sometimes look for is for God to be the Genie in the bottle. We want to rub the bottle and have Him perform for us. But that makes us Lord and him the servant. What He promises is that He will be with us. He will walk with us and stay beside us. He has promised, "lo, I am with you always (pasas tas hemeras - literally, all the days, i.e., day by day) even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). He is with us but we are not always aware of what He is doing behind the scenes.

He said to us: "Fear not for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you and uphold you by my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). But sometimes we won't see. Life presses down until we are beaten, discouraged and tattered. Being downcast we keep our eyes upon the ground - even though over us is the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not see Him because we will not look to Him. We won't look up.

Joseph sat alone in an Egyptian prison. He must have felt abandoned for a time. But God was preparing to move dramatically in his life. Elijah felt alone in the cave. He went into major depression. But God was still with him, and eventually Elijah was confronted by the penetrating still small voice. God even told Elijah that He had many who still had not bowed the knee to Baal. One of the saddest passsages in all the scriptures are the words of Moroni. "I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not" (Mormon 8:5). Yet, Jesus was with him and Moroni yet wrote beautiful things to our generation.

We are never alone. Eyes are always upon us. We have companions who walk unseen beside us. And they are pulling for us, even when they are forbidden to help us for our own good. Only One was ever alone. His cry from the cross "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" is the only true moment when in the balance was the chance to truly lose everything. But He endured it willingly so that we will never have to do the same. He says to us, "I am with you." He is bound to us and will never forget us because we are engraved upon the palms of His hands. His life blood spilt for us.

We never know what the Lord is doing unbeknownst to us. I'm sure He gets a lot of blame when really He should receive praise. Sometimes it takes a long way down the road before we can see the majesty of the scene behind us. And there are times when we don't ever see it at all.

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He began to pray feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried, "Why wouldn't you save me from this disaster!" He eventually fell asleep with despair in his heart and accusation in his thoughts. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

Day 21 ~ The Just One (Acts 22:14)

One of those mom-isms goes, "If you won't listen, then you'll have to feel." Now even if you've never heard that gem before, you have a good idea what it means. If you don't obey then there will be consequences; unpleasant consequences. Most people my age and older know all about those consequences. It was a common practice. In fact, it was a traditional practice going all the way back into the mists of antiquity for nearly every single culture on earth. If you were naughty, you were punished. Throughout history the same applied to adults as well. The annals of nations are full of accounts of crime and punishment. Consequences followed acts. Not every consequence was rehabilitative. Sometimes you just had it coming because justice demanded it.

As to parenting, somehow in the past few decades somebody had a meeting somewhere (I missed it) and decided that corporal punishment was a bad thing. A lot of people decided that we could do with less of it and we could discipline in other ways. I don't think that's a bad idea - the punishment should fit the crime. Problem is - parents don't seem to be that creative. The traditional way was automatic. No thought involved, no creativity required. The new way involved effort and thought - it was kind of hard. So instead of putting forth greater effort, many just kind of did nothing. There was nothing to fill the void of the former way. The parents weren't disciplined enough to discipline. The problem is self-perpetuating as now we have generations growing up with no idea of what it means to be accountable for your own actions, and are teaching their children the same. We have children who know no shame for misbehavior, feel no guilt over their sins, and take no responsibility for actions. They want rights without responsibilities and feel indignant if anyone tries to hold them accountable for their actions. The Apostle Paul warned that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (2 Timothy 3:1-2). Societies which permit anything will eventually lose everything.

Justice is the idea that there is a right thing to do, an immutable law. Obedience to that law brings reward and blessing, disobedience brings consequence and punishment (2 Ne. 2:10). Justice teaches accountability. It applies to all, rich and poor, young and old. Justice is void if it is haphazardly applied. One parent commented to me that she didn't believe in punishment, it was too harsh. She believed in rewards and "positive parenting." I listened to her as she proudly proclaimed that she was raising a kind and loving child, uninhibited by hang-ups and guilt. She was taking the pleasant and throwing out the unpleasant. In effect, she wasn't teaching justice at all, for in taking the half she had destroyed the cohesion of the whole. I could only think of Paul's words and feel sorry for her child as she unwittingly set her daughter up for a lifetime of unfulfilled disillusion.

God believes in rewards, too. He pleads with us to do right so He can bless us more fully and in addition to the grace that rains down on us daily. Likewise, He also believes in punishment. He pleads with us to be wise and righteous, especially though Jesus, so we can avoid the sentences of punishment. He talks of punishment throughout all of scripture. If there is no punishment then there is no God (2 Ne. 2:13). As every law has a punishment affixed there is also a "repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God. But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement (Alma 42:22-23).

The danger of consequence-less Mercy is unknowable unless the weight of justice is understood. Many parents believe that they are being merciful when they let their children "off the hook." In reality, this is not mercy but license. License is as far away from God's justice as one can get. It is reflective of the serpent whispering to Eve, "Thou surely shalt not die." It says "you can get away with this." Don't worry nothing will happen to you.

God's justice demands that the penalty be inflicted for the disobedience. Now I believe that God will inflict the least degree of punishment that He can upon us for our sins. But the truth is, He is a great and mighty God and disobedience to His Law is a great and terrible sin. It cannot be taken lightly nor allowed by His righteousness with any degree of allowance. Therefore, Christ suffered the terrible wrath of God as He wrought the atonement in payment for our disobedience.

A Just God demands parents teach their children right from wrong, to be accountable for their own sins, and to learn to appreciate the demands of justice. Otherwise, they can never truly be penitent, never understand the depths of mercy, nor ever appreciate the atonement of Christ. Parents who do not teach justice, cannot teach mercy. They may teach license. But God does not participate in license. His Just nature disallows it. And His nature will not be mocked.

Day 20 ~ Jealous (Exodus 34:14)

Every parent wants what is best for their child. They want to teach them the right things in life. I don't know a single parent who would want another person to take over their responsibility. They want to have the primary relationship with their children. They are protective of outside influences in their children's lives. Good parents guard their children. You could almost say that they are jealous. It's the same way with God – He wants what is best for us. He wants to have our primary relationship. It upsets Him when we go off and look up to another. He is a Jealous god.

Sometimes we neglect our relationship with the Lord and we don't even realize we are doing it. Our lips may say, "Lord, Lord", but our hearts are far from Him. The deal is - we all do it sometimes. Maybe the problem is that He is always there, and new bright and shiny things come and take our attention away. We forget that He IS ALWAYS there, and bright and shiny things become dull and rusty things. He is always there for us. Loyalty should count for something. Oh, but there always seems to be something new competing for our devotion over the horizon.

Chip Ingram once said that worship is like dancing with god. I like that idea. Our relationship with the Lord is like a dance. It moves and swirls as we interact with each other. It can be awkward at first, but as we become better at it, it can become a beautiful dance. Like a father with a daughter, God likes to dance with us. But like a lover with a mate, sometimes He becomes jealous when we go off and dance too much with others. He steps in and taps us on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me, can I have this dance?" And we say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm dancing with my career or with my education right now." He says, "I can see that." Sometimes He taps us on the shoulder and says, "May I have this dance?" And we say, "But I'm dancing with my house or with my car right now." And He can see that, too.

"Thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jehovah, is a jealous God" (JST Exodus 34:14). It's a commandment. It is straight from Jehovah's lips. How are you doing with the Lord? Are you sure? Examine carefully these three things to see where you are in your relationship with God.

1. Track your money. Your checkbook is probably the biggest indicator of your commitment to the Lord. Money is difficult to give up. We spend our entire lives trying to be secure and happy. Sometimes we falsely believe that money will give us that. Do we trust God or money? Do we tithe? Do we contribute to the building up the Kingdom?

2. Track your time. Do you fulfill your church responsibilities or does it take too much time? What do you do in your spare time? Are you consecrating your efforts to God? Does the tv get more attention than the scriptures? Does prayer take second place to the internet?

3. What are your aspirations for the future? Where do you find your thoughts going in those unguarded lazy moments? Do you find yourself in silent prayer? Do you think of the Lord even when you aren't engaged in church activity? Do you think of His coming, of heaven, of eternal life?

We show what we care about by what we do. We show what is important to us by what we focus on. It's true that sometimes we fail. We may not have paid a full tithe that year. We might occasionally miss our home teaching assignment. We all can do better. But look at your track record. How does it look over the long road? Where is your heart? How do you think the Lord feels when He sees our track record? How do you feel? If you feel bad, then do better.

Our dance with the Lord should become beautiful. He is our partner in the dance. It is a dance which lasts for life. As we learn our partner's moves, He helps us to perfect our step. There is a beauty in the relationship; it becomes a graceful ballet of life. But if we neglect our partner, we may not only not perfect the dance, we may ultimately end up leaving with a different partner all together.

Day 19 ~ The Life (John 14:6)

Mount Saint Helens belched gray steam plumes hundreds of feet into the blue Washington sky. Geologists watched their seismographs in growing wonder as the earth danced beneath their feet. Rangers and state police, sirens blaring, herded tourists and residents from an ever-widening zone of danger. Every piece of scientific evidence being collected in the laboratories and on the field predicted the volcano would soon explode with a fury that would leave the forests flattened.

"Warning!" blared the loudspeakers on the patrol cars and helicopters hovering overhead. "Warning!" blinked battery- powered signs at every major crossroad. "Warning!" pleaded radio and television announcers, shortwave and citizen-band operators. "Warning!" echoed up and down the mountain, and lakeside villages, tourist camps and hiking trails emptied as people heard the warnings and fled for their lives.

But Harry Truman refused to budge. Harry was the caretaker of a recreation lodge on Spirit Lake, five miles north of Mt. Saint Helens's smoke-enshrouded peak. The rangers warned Harry of the coming blast. Even Harry's sister called to talk sense into the old man's head. But Harry ignored the warnings. From the picture-postcard beauty of his lakeside home reflecting the snow- capped peak overhead, Harry grinned on national television and said, "Nobody knows more about this mountain than Harry and it don't dare blow up on him..."

On May 18,1980, as the boiling gases beneath the mountain's surface bulged and buckled the landscape to its final limits, Harry Truman cooked his eggs and bacon, fed his sixteen cats the scraps, and began to plant petunias around the border of his freshly mowed lawn. At 8:31 a.m. the mountain exploded.

Did Harry regret his decision in that millisecond he had before the concussive waves, traveling faster than the speed of sound, flattened him and everything else for 150 square miles? Did he have time to mourn his stubbornness as millions of tons of rock disintegrated and disappeared into a cloud reaching ten miles into the sky? Did he struggle against the wall of mud and ash fifty feet high that buried his cabin, his cats and his freshly mowed lawn -- or had he been vaporized when the mountain erupted with a force 500 times greater than the nuclear bomb which leveled Hiroshima?
Now, Harry is a legend in the corner of Washington where he refused to listen. He smiles down on us from posters and T-shirts and beer mugs. Balladeers sing a song about old Harry, the stubborn man who put his ear to the mountain but would not heed the warnings. (Billy Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, pp. 13-14.)

One day a man came to Jesus and asked "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The man replied that he had kept the law from his youth. So what did he yet lack. "Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions" (Matthew 19:22).

Jesus Christ told us that He is the Life. Usually we think of the gift of Eternal Life. But more than that Jesus calls us to live a different life in the here and now. He lived the perfect life and the most fulfilled life. He calls us to the same. We should heed His voice and come away and live as He did. Most people really don't want to leave their old life and commit. Think of how different the life of the man in Matthew 19 would have been had he followed Christ. Others, like Harry Truman, ignore the call altogether. They can't be bothered and they never see it coming.

Life in Christ is easier than life in our own wisdom. Jesus said "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly (John 10:10). Life in Christ brings hope. It brings purpose. It brings peace that the rest of the world cannot understand.

Day 18 ~ Gracious LORD* (Psalms 116:5)

                                                                 The Cookie Thief
                                                                    by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,                          He offered her half, as he ate the other,
With several long hours before her flight.                                 She snatched it from him and thought... oooh, brother.
She hunted for a book in the airport shops.                              This guy has some nerve and he's also rude,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.                 Why he didn't even show any gratitude!

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,                She had never known when she had been so galled,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.                And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,                   She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.                               Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,                She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.                        Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
she was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,            As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye."           There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

With each cookie she took, he took one too,                             If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.        The others were his, and he tried to share.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,                           Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.                              That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

~~~~
How many times in our lives, have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true ... was not? It truly is amazing how so many of us have a tendency to miss God's blessings in our lives for what they are. It is so easy to overlook His gifts and blessings and think that what we have is through our own efforts and works
Grace is a sweet word. We don't use it enough. In theology it means "the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God." Grace is salvation in that when "we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Grace is help in our helplessness, the divine helping hand "for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace is a constant friend in time of need. Grace is a song in the heart. Grace is the outpouring of blessings in spite of the smallness of reciprocation.

There was a little boy who went to see the Master teach. One of the Master's disciples found him and noticed that the boy had some food with him. He asked if the boy would part with his food. The boy would have been reluctant. Five Barley loaves and two fishes was all he had. But he gave to the Master. And miraculously the multitude of five thousand was fed. Then the leftovers were taken up. Twelve full baskets were collected. Usually we think of the twelve baskets as going with the twelve disciples. But I think it is more likely that most of it went back to the lad who had so generously given. For the grace of God is such that when we give we receive back in "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" (Luke 6:38)

Grace falls down like rain upon us. We should be like children out dancing in it. But strangely many put up their umbrellas. How beautiful and grateful we would be if instead we set out buckets.

* Though in English the Psalm reads "Gracious is the LORD", the "is the" is not in the original text. The verse actually reads "Gracious Jehovah.".

Day 17 ~ Light of the World (John 9:5)

Sukkoth or The Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes called Booths, celebrated the time when the Children of Israel, newly liberated from Egypt, dwelt in the desert in tents and huts. It was the third of the three great annual feasts. It was considered by the Jews the greatest and most joyful of the feasts. The Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the Lord's blessings to the children of Israel during their travels in the wilderness. Every Jew was to build outside of their house a hut to dwell in for that week. The roof of the hut was to remain partly uncovered so one could see the stars. It was to remind them that Jehovah had led Israel with a pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.

Sukkoth (Tabernacles) was a feast which concerned itself with light. Anciently the Israelites would build bonfires on the hilltops during Sukkoth. The light would spread through all of Israel. Even during the Babylonian captivity they built fires on mountaintops that spread from village to village - a sign of unity for all the Jews in captivity. When they returned to Palestine, the practice spread to Hanukkah after the Maccabees took back the temple from the Greeks. But Sukkoth was the original feast of lights.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, the temple in Jerusalem was illuminated by the flames from four enormous candelabra, 75 feet high, filled with the best, first press of olive oil. The wicks for these huge lamps were made from the pants or pantaloons of the High Priest. These flames could be seen throughout the city. The light reflected through the white stonework of the buildings and illuminated the entire city. The Talmud says that "if you have never seen Jerusalem lit up at Tabernacles you have never seen beauty". It is in this setting that Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

Nothing attracts the eye like light. We are drawn to it. Light is truth for it reveals things as they are. Christ is the light of the world, "in him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not...and that true Light, lighteth every man that cometh into the world"(John 1:4-5;9). Every person born into the world brings some light with him. It is the Imago Dei (the image of God) in which we were created. The light of Christ shines in every one of us. And every person will be exposed to light and truth in the days of their testing. The test is to see what we will do with that light -- will it be kindled and fed, or will it be blown out. B.H. Roberts said, "Your very nature is to respond to the truth, the light. If you reject it, it can only be by suppressing your own ultimate divine nature - for that you are under great condemnation."

To whom much is given, much is required. We are to share the light that we receive. I watched my baby son lay in the bassinet, kicking and playing. The room was dark so I opened the curtains and pulled open the blinds. He responded by quickly turning toward the light. It attracted his attention immediately. We are to be light to those around us. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Our light will attract attention to the Author and Source of light.

We can only shine if we expose ourselves regularly to the Light of the World. Like the moon in the night sky, we only shine in the darkness if we are reflecting the greater light. I am reminded of the story of the couple who found a beautiful set of bedroom furniture while traveling in France. They were all the more impressed when the shop-owner turned off the light in the storeroom and they could see that the furniture gave off a lovely glow in the dark store. The woman decided that they simply must have them. So the items were shipped back to America and the old furniture was replaced with the new. But she soon found that the furniture did not glow in her room as it had back in the shop. She fired off an angry letter demanding satisfaction as she felt she had been taken. The shopkeeper wrote back that she needed to expose the furniture to light during the day for only then would it shine in the darkness.