Did the Creator create evil?

The Great Creator did not create all things.

• The Creator did not create dark, he created light. Dark is merely the absence of the light God created. 
• The Creator did not create cold, he created heat. Cold is merely the absence of the heat God created. 
• The Creator did not create agency, it is co-eternal with God. The Creator did not give us agency, he simply acknowledged that we have it and promised to never remove it or violate it.
• The Creator did not create evil, he created love. Evil is not a creation of God, it is a creation of people who have rejected God's love. 

Light and heat are physical forces that have physical limitations in the physical universe, and thus we may see places of darkness and cold where the Creator's forces do not reach.

God's love, on the other hand, is infinite and eternal. It can reach every corner of the universe and penetrate every human heart.  With their agency, people create places that are dark and cold by erecting walls and barriers to block light and heat. With that same agency, people create evil by erecting walls and barriers around their hearts to block God's love.

We cannot blame the Creator for darkness or cold or evil. We can blame only ourselves for using our inalienable agency to build the walls that keep God's beautiful creations out.

My prayer is that the Creator will show me the walls I have built around my heart so that I can tear them down and let his light, warmth, and love shine brightly in my life, and that I can bring a measure of light, warmth, and love into the lives of others.

The errand of all those who know the Creator's love is to shine His light into the darkness, radiate His warmth into the cold, and share His love where it is absent.

Living life Upside Down

No one will argue that everyone has struggles. We are all different, and we all have our own struggles, but it is a universal truth that we all struggle. That is why we are here on earth, to "prove [us] herewith, to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us]" (Abraham 3:25). God tests us with life in mortality and a world full of wonderful and distracting things, not so much so we can prove to him what we can do, but to prove to ourselves what we are made of.

I struggle to get out of my own way and let the Lord’s hand work in my life. I struggle with pride and vanity and letting other people shine without worrying about how their brilliance reflects on me. I struggle to learn simple lessons and then to implement what I have learned instead of just doing the same old thing the same old way.

When I was young and starting out, I focused on getting my temporal life in order: education, career, marriage, family, house, furniture, reliable cars that had to keep expanding as the number of car seats increased, and a reasonable amount of entertainment. The Church was really a hobby. I kept the commandments, read the scriptures, paid tithing, went to church, did my home teach most of the time, filled my callings (unless they became totally inconvenient), went to ward temple night most months, and so on. I did the essential things, and I said that once I got established in life, and I was not so busy with the temporal demands of this telestial existence, I would focus more on the spiritual things. I would go to the temple more, get serious about family history research, really study the scriptures, bake more loaves of bread for my neighbors, get anxiously engaged in a good cause and do good works of my own free will, figure out what the temple covenants really mean, pray more diligently, ask for the gift of charity, align my life with the will of the Lord, and so on.

What I am learning is that all of that temporal stuff was, and still is, a distraction. I focused on the stuff of the world for forty years, and now I am finding that those habits do not just fall away when I decide it’s time to get serious. It is all upside down and backwards. Life is the distraction that keeps me from seeing what is really important. In my old age, I see that faith and service are the stuff of existence, and temporal pursuits are the hobby. The Book of Mormon teaches repeatedly that if we keep the commandments of God, we shall prosper in the land. For so long I lived as if the Book of Mormon said, “if ye prosper in the land, ye shall be able to keep my commandments.” I have had it all backwards, and when I try to turn it around, the old habits of thought and practice are hard to break.

When we are ready, however, the Lord humbles us. He has promised that if we ask him, he will show us our weaknesses. I have put that promise to the test, and I can testify that the Lord delivers, for I see weaknesses all over the place in my life. He has also made a related promise: He will make weak things become strong unto us (see Ether 12:27). I'm anxious to see how the second half of the promise pans out for me. I've got the weakness part down pretty good. Now I'm waiting for the strength part to kick in. The older I get, the more I hope that it gets here while I can still remember what I asked for.

Pioneer Day thoughts

We have concluded another Pioneer Day weekend. The Latter-day Saints share a common heritage of hardy and faithful pioneers who left their homes and often all of their material belongings and sometimes even their most cherished loved ones to honor the call of a Prophet to gather with the saints in Zion. Whether we are direct descendants of these brave men and women or simply thrilled at their stories of sacrifice, hardship, and heroism, they are our spiritual forefathers. I appreciate them, though I am not directly descended from them, because where and how I live is directly attributable to their heroic efforts.

In a way I had never thought of before, I see Heavenly Father as the Great and Eternal Forefather. He surely must have sacrificed and labored greatly to pave the way for the life we enjoy as his spirit children. Without him, we would be disorganized intelligences floating about in a universe of chaos. Through his heroic efforts, he brought organization to the universe, clothed us in spirits, gave us this earth, provided a means for us to obtain physical bodies, and made a way for us to return to him and become like him. I owe him everything.

Second, I hold the happiness of many generations in my hands. My ancestors, who accept the gospel in the Spirit World and are worthy to receive saving ordinances, cannot be happy until I do the work for them so that they are sealed together and to God. My posterity depends on my example and my efforts to ensure that they have a righteous lineage in which to be born so that they, too, will be sealed in this family and to God. Both groups of spirits are very near and are anxiously watching. If I squander my time and fail to live up to my responsibilities, they will be highly disappointed and terribly frustrated. In the end, I know that God’s mercy and justice will put everything in its proper order, but I would hate to be the missing link that he had to work around to save his children.

The Formula of Enough

I have been pondering on C. S. Lewis’s discourse in The Screwtape Letters on acting in accordance with our knowledge. Satan does not care how much we know about righteous principles as long as we do not act on them. He likes us to be satisfied with knowledge for knowledge’s sake and feel no compulsion to do anything about what we know. I am very much like that. I love to learn, but my actions are far below my knowledge.

For instance, I have learned that I should pray for others, and I have gotten good at praying for family and neighbors and acquaintances who are afflicted and struggling, and I think my duty is done. Praying is better than being oblivious, which was my former condition; but prayers without actions are not truly effective. I do not reach out to those I pray for, see how they are doing, and look for ways to help. I just pray for them and forget them as I get into my busy daily routine. If I really loved those I pray for, I would make a few minutes each day to contact at least one of them in a meaningful way, let them know that I thought about them, and lift them in some way.

As I thought about this, I recalled another statement by Lewis that if we were in the physical presence of God, we would want to be constantly active in his service and would feel disappointed if he told us to take a half hour off to go amuse ourselves. I pondered what it would be like to be truly in Christ’s presence and to serve constantly with him. It would be thrilling and deeply soul satisfying to receive a command from him, go about his business, and then return and report success and receive his approval.

Now, in this mortal world, unless we are specifically called on a mission or to some position in the Church in which we are required to forsake all and serve full time, we are expected to work to clothe ourselves, obtain our daily bread, provide for shelter, maintain our health, care for our property, and earn an honest living. Our physical bodies in their current state demand that we eat and sleep and operate within the confines of the physical limitations of our strength and age. All of this physical living takes up a good deal of our time – but not all of it. Especially in middle class American society, we still have a good deal of discretionary time.

In addition, God has given us phenomenal bodies with five senses that can bring us much pleasure in many ways. He has also created a spectacular earth with which we can interact with our bodies. These are gifts that he expects us to enjoy and appreciate. He is pleased when we find joy in the gifts he has given us. “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). Without our physical bodies, we cannot have a fullness of joy (see D&C 93:33-34).

God did not place us in such favorable circumstance, however, only to make a living and accumulate wealth, only to adorn ourselves, only to eat, only to relax, only to amuse ourselves, and solely for pleasure. When we do anything to excess or beyond what is needful, we are gluttons, and the Lord is not pleased with gluttony. Balance is good, gluttony is sin.

God also expects us to get outside of ourselves. It is okay to love ourselves, but we must also love our neighbors. He did not say to love our neighbors to the exclusion of ourselves, but to love them equally with the love we have naturally for ourselves.

There is the challenge. In the world dominated by Satan’s formula of “always more”, we have to learn to recognize when we have enough for ourselves and can turn our attention to others. When we have fed ourselves enough, we give the rest to others. When we have worked enough to take care of our needs, we work for others. When we have used enough time to keep ourselves fit and healthy, we give time to others. When we have loved ourselves enough, we give the rest of our love to others. We need to find the balance in the “formula of enough” to know when we have means – goods, energy, time and love – to serve others.

The formula is different for each of us, and it is defined by God. We must go to him to learn the parameters and the calculations. The formula contains variables that change with time and circumstances according to our needs, the needs of others, and God’s will. Thus we must be constantly in tune with the Holy Ghost, whose role it is to teach us every day how to work the formula. He gives us the day’s variables and we work the formula to produce the desired result, which is to please God. True happiness is found, not in gluttony, which is Satan’s equation of “always more”, but in God’s “formula of enough”.

When a funeral is a good thing

In April our stake president attended our ward sacrament meeting and instructed us on the proper observance of the ordinance of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. He said that we should treat sacrament meeting as the Savior's funeral. Now, that statement could be taken in a very morbid, macabre way, but that is not how he meant it. In fact, proper Latter-day Saint funerals are not morbid. They can be some of the most spiritually uplifting events we can attend. The same should be true of sacrament meetings, when we come in the proper spirit.

I have been to many funerals. The first thing I notice about a funeral is that everyone comes prepared. No one just drops by casually. All come with a purpose in mind and with a sense of what is going to happen. I am always struck by the sense of reverence that prevails over the congregation and over the very place where the service is held. We come seeking peace and assurance and solace. We share a common bond as a congregation - a love for the person who has passed on or for the family who has been left behind. That bond creates a unity of purpose and feeling, which invites the Spirit of the Lord to be present.

Such can also be our feelings when we enter sacrament meeting. If we all come with a purpose, seeking peace and assurance and solace for our sins, with an intention to repent and improve, if we come with love for the Savior and in reverence for the sacrifice he made for us, we as a congregation can be united, and that unity will bring the Spirit of the Lord.

Loss and Mourning

Common at a funeral are feelings of loss and mourning for being separated from the ones we love. During the sacrament we can recognize the feelings of loss for our separation from Christ because of our sins, and we can mourn the price he had to pay to overcome our sins.

The purpose of a funeral is to reflect on, remember, respect, and celebrate the life of the deceased. During the service we typically recall the fine and good things the person has done, and we hear others who knew that person well talk about their experiences with him and how they felt about him. We do the same in a sacrament meeting. We speak of Christ's love, his miracles, his matchless life, and his supernal sacrifice. We reflect on how his Atonement has impacted our life.

I have been to funerals where I did not know the person well. Rather, I go to support a friend who has lost a loved one in keeping with my covenant to "mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort." I have been fascinated by the things I have learned about this relative stranger. Similarly, I love learning about the Savior in sacrament meeting from others who know him better, or at least differently, than I do. When I listen carefully, I always come away with new knowledge and an increased understanding of Christ.

Bearing Testimony

I particularly enjoy the monthly testimony meeting. It is, or should be, like the funeral in which those who love the deceased take turns telling about their fondest memories of the departed loved one and how he or she changed their lives. Those who rise to speak focus on the individual and what he or she meant to them. They express gratitude for the service and kindness the person showed them. They speak personally, intimately about their relationship with the deceased and what they will most remember about the person.

Such should be our testimonies in sacrament meeting. We are taught to avoid thank-imonies and travelogues and sermons. The stake president counseled us to say nothing in sacrament meeting that would not be appropriate at Jesus' funeral. I think this is what he meant.

The difference between a funeral for an earthly loved one and for Jesus is that the temporary, mortal sorrow of Christ's death has already been swallowed up in the joy of his resurrection. We already know how it turns out. Because of the Atonement, we may attend the funeral of a righteous loved one with peace tempered by mourning. And so we also come to sacrament meeting rejoicing that death is temporary, that the grave has been overcome, that he who was dead now lives. And because he lives, we shall live.

Thus sacrament meeting, like a good funeral, is solemn but not somber, sobering but not depressing, respectful but not morose. We can be sorry and celebratory at the same time. It is a paradox, the likes of which God seems to be very fond.

Conclusion

My feelings about sacrament meeting have changed perceptibly in the months since President McKay came to our ward. I hope to continually attend and partake of the ordinance of the sacrament with the same spirit that President McKay taught me that day.

Lifting burdens, strengthening weaknesses

It is my weekly privilege to lead a Sunday school class of marvelously faithful and inquiring high school juniors and seniors. It is a true blessing to me to be a part of this class and to learn with them through the Spirit as we discuss the gospel. Note that I say that I lead the class but I do not teach it. We teach each other through our discussions, and I always come away from our sessions feeling like I have learned at least as much as anyone else in the class.

For the past couple of weeks we have been discussing mortal burdens and weaknesses and how the Atonement of Christ helps lighten our loads. One thing I have learned from these young men and women is that the youth in Davis County, Utah, have plenty of challenges and burdens. Growing up in faithful families in a predominately LDS community does not provide these youth of Zion with a free pass to endlessly carefree lives. Challenges and difficulties are necessary to growth, and these young people need to grow just like everyone else. No one is exempt from the extremities of life. How we react to those extremities, and how we help others with their burdens, are the lessons we are sent to mortality to learn.

And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life— Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you? (Mosiah 18:8-10)

One of the covenants we make at baptism is to help others bear their burdens, to mourn with them, and to comfort them. The Apostle Paul taught the saints in Galatia the same principle when he wrote to them, "Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Christ's law, also known as the Law of the Gospel, is to bear each other's burdens.

We covenant weekly to take upon us the name of Christ and always remember him and keep his commandments (D&C 20:77). Our goal is to become like Christ. Through the Atonement, he bore the burdens of all mankind. To become like him, we must learn to bear the burdens of others.

Necessary and Unnecessary Burdens

We experience two classes of burdens in our lives:

1. Positive - Duties, obligations, responsibilities.
2. Negative - Liabilities, encumbrances, problems, or difficulties.

Both classes of burdens are necessary to our growth and development. As we learn to bear up under our burdens, we become strong and develop endurance.

Another way of classifying our burdens is:

1. Necessary - burdens that strengthen us.
2. Unnecessary - burdens that weaken us.

The purpose of life is not to avoid all burdens. We need burdens to grow and progress and gain strength, just as an athlete needs resistance to build muscle and endurance. I recall a summer of very difficult conditioning in high school as our football team prepared for the season. I spent the whole summer pushing and pulling against weights that were far beyond my capacity. I could not budge them from their stands. I ran bleachers until my legs gave out and wind sprints until my lungs burst. I hated that summer. I sprained my ankle in a practice early in the season and did not play much. But I continued the weight training regimen. In the spring I joined the track team in the shot put event, which required more weight training.

The next summer, when it was time for football conditioning again, I went back to the same barbell stations, which the previous summer had been immovable obstacles for me. This time, I could lift them all with ease. They were no longer heavy enough to give me the workout I needed. Those weights and bleachers were necessary burdens for me.

On the other side of the coin is the story of a boy scout troop that went for an all-day hike. Each boy carried a backpack filled with the necessities for the trip - food, water, a first-aid kit, a compass, and knife, and so forth. One of the boys was a rock collector. As they walked along the trail, when he saw a particularly interesting or unusual rock, he picked it up and put it in his backpack. Soon his backpack was fuller and heavier than all of the other boys', and his legs and shoulders began to get tired. Nevertheless, there were still more interesting rocks along the path. When his pack became too full, he began to jettison other items to make more room. When the troop finally halted for lunch, the rock collector opened his pack to find no water and no food, only rocks. Unnecessary burdens are generally a result of our unwise choices or the unwise choices of others.

The obvious lesson is to recognize the difference between necessary and unnecessary burdens. We should dump the rocks from our backpacks so that we have capacity and strength for the essentials.

Source of Burdens

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)

Some of our burdens come from God. My football coach marched me through weight training and bleachers when I would rather have gone to the beach because he knew what I needed to be ready to win a football game. Similarly, God hands us necessary burdens because he knows what we need to become like him and to be ready to enter his kingdom.

Burdens may be placed on us by others outside of our control. We may be oppressed and weighed down unfairly. For example, the people of Limhi were enslaved by their Lamanite overlords.

Now they [the Lamanites] durst not slay them [the people of Limhi], because of the oath which their king had made unto Limhi; but they would smite them on their cheeks, and exercise authority over them; and began to put heavy burdens upon their backs, and drive them as they would a dumb ass. (Mosiah 21:3)

Oppression is a burden, whether it be political or social or economic. The people of Limhi were oppressed by the Lamanites as a result of the people's iniquity, greed, and pride. Their burdens came as a result of unrighteous choices of their own making as well as from the rebellious iniquity of a whole group of people.

The people of Alma, on the other hand, found themselves in similar circumstances as the people of Limhi even though they had repented and turned to the the Savior and were living faithful lives of righteousness. Just as the Lamanites had surrounded and oppressed Limhi's people, they also enslaved Alma's little band of believers. The difference, however, in how the two groups of Nephites responded to their oppressive burdens is remarkable and instructive. Limhi's people fought three bloody battles with the Lamanites to try to free themselves from their oppressors, each time being beaten and weakened until they finally submitted out of necessity. Alma's people took a different approach. Instead of depending on the arm of flesh to rescue themselves, they turned to the Lord. As a result of their humility and faithfulness, the Lord blessed them.

And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. (Mosiah 24:14-15)

In the end, both groups escaped their captors. The cost, however, was much higher to the proud people of Limhi than it was to the humble followers of Alma.

The worst burdens we carry are those we create for ourselves. Like the boyscout picking up rocks, we may be collecting all sort of interesting and attractive burdens. Now, most of us do not pick up large boulders, but we fill our pockets with a plethora of small, shiny pebbles. A little lie, miscounted change from the grocery store, an extra candy bar from the vending machine, a borrowed tool that was never returned, a plagiarized assignment for a class because we ran out of time to do our own work, a sarcastic joke at someone's expense because we wanted to look clever, an 'R' rated movie because there was "just a little profanity", a little coffee after a graveyard shift because there is just so much to do the next day, an occasional glance at an inappropriate web site, a selfish thought, an impure motive, a grudge, an unkind word, an argument left unresolved. The list of sparkling pebbles is endless (see Mosiah 4:29).

The unnecessary burdens of sin and rebellion usually result in punishment. Often the punishment is the requirement to carry the burden we have made for ourselves until we repent. Even after repenting from our rebellions, we may be required to endure the short- and long-term consequences of our poor choices. An addict is always an addict, even when he is sober. Broken health may not be restored. Broken relationships may not be easily mended. In mercy, the Savior offers to share the yoke with us and lighten our burden, but he may not remove it completely for a time. He knows what we need to help us learn humility and patience and endurance, and he will not remove the burden completely until the lesson is learned.

Lifting burdens

There is, nevertheless, hope in Christ. He never leaves us if we do not leave him.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his [the oppressor's] burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. (Isaiah 10:27)

The day will come in which the external burdens will be removed from us. This is the "great day of the Lord", which is the Second Coming. Until then, we can expect to be faced with burdens. The "anointing" is the Atonement performed by the Anointed One, who is Christ. He will remove the burdens.

When we have given all of our unnecessary burdens to the Savior, what is left are the burdens that we still need to carry, at least for a time. These necessary burdens do not have to overwhelm us. There are family, friends, home teachers, visiting teachers, priesthood leaders, and others who have covenanted, as have we, to make others' burdens light.

We are neither exempt from burdens, nor are we exempt from assisting others with their burdens. We are the Savior's hands. As the song says, "he has not hands but ours." Often he answers the desperate prayers of others through us. That can happen, however, only if we listen for the promptings of the Holy Ghost. When we are baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion so that we can constantly receive instruction and direction to help and comfort others. If we ask for it, the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see the people around us and recognize the challenges they face and the help they need. God will teach us how to keep our baptismal covenants, and he will provide us with ample opportunities to practice. We gain strength and endurance from bearing burdens - it does not matter whether those burdens are our own or someone else's.

Our ultimate help comes from him who carries all burdens, even Jesus Christ, the Redeemer.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

He does not violate our free agency. He does not force his help upon us. It is up to us to ask. The key to getting an answer is to ask the right question. Sometimes the appropriate request is to remove the burden. Many times, however, the right request is for increased strength, capacity, and capability to carry the load that the Lord wants us to bear. We often ask the Lord to change our unpleasant circumstances when those circumstances are exactly what he wants us to experience and learn from.

After the suffering handcart company was rescued from Martin's cove, three men were asked to remain with the company's belongings until the weather improved in the spring and wagons could be sent to retrieve their goods. The three men quickly ran out of food. Soon all they had available to them were leather hides. Now, most of us in such circumstances would have asked the Lord to change our circumstances. "Send us some buffalo or some stray cattle so we have something to eat," we would have logically prayed. But these three men understood the celestial logic of prayer. The Spirit inspired them to pray to have their capacities changed so that they could digest the hides. Their faithful prayer was answered. Through inspiration they learned how to prepare and boil the hides to make them chew-able, and their digestive systems were altered so that they could derive sufficient nutrients from the hides to sustain their lives. They managed in the bitter snow for another six weeks until the ground cleared and wagons could reach them.

Burdens are a necessary part of our mortal probation.  As Sheri Dew says, "This is a test. It is only a test." My daily prayer is in two parts:

1. Help me bear my necessary burdens, help me let go of my unnecessary burdens, and give me the wisdom to recognize the difference.
2. Help me to see the burdens of others, which are my opportunity to lighten in the name of Christ.

Mount up with wings as eagles

I was recently re-introduced to Isaiah Chapter 40 in the Old Testament. These days we tend to shy away from Isaiah. His Hebraic style of prophecy, couched in the vocabulary and syntax of King James' English of the seventeenth century, makes for challenging reading. Yet the prophets of the Book of Mormon loved Isaiah. They quoted him freely, sometimes whole chapters at a time.

Nevertheless, even Nephi admitted that Isaiah's writings could be difficult to understand: "For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews" (2 Nephi 25:1). But though Isaiah may not be light reading, Nephi encouraged his people - and us - to study the words of Isaiah, for they have great power and are of great worth, and his words contain an important message for all people: "And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men" (2 Nephi 11:8).

Jesus himself was fond of quoting Isaiah. He recognized Isaiah was his prophet – the Messianic prophet. No prophet in the Old Testament wrote more about the coming of the Messiah than did Isaiah. The Savior, during his ministry to the Nephites on the American continent, commanded the people to study Isaiah's writings: "And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah" (3 Nephi 23:1). Such is Christ's ringing endorsement of Isaiah.

It is true that Isaiah's writings are filled with doom-and-gloom predictions of the destruction of Israel. He enumerates their wickedness and explains their follies and vanities, and he foretells a bleak future. Obscure references to locations, people, and events of his day can make his writing obtuse and bewildering. Yet Nephi says that his words should cause us to lift up our hearts and rejoice, and the Savior himself says that his words are great.

So what is so great about the words of Isaiah? Well, amidst the gloomy predictions and the vitriolic condemnations of an apostate Israel are magnificent and inspiring expressions of hope and salvation. Isaiah's prevailing message is not so much that Israel is doomed as that Israel will be saved. Nephi teaches us to liken Isaiah's words to ourselves, and so we should glean the same message – though we may feel doomed, salvation is ours. The Lord will come to our rescue.

Such is the hope found in Chapter 40 of Isaiah. Listen to the powerfully uplifting words of the prophet as he tells us of the majesty of God.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. (Verses 1-2)

God tells his people to be comforted. The day shall come when the war of mortality will be over, and the battle against sin and evil will be won. We will be forgiven for our sins and mistakes if we have put our faith in the Lord and our efforts into building up his kingdom. Though we may feel like we have been punished twice over for our failings, the only real punishment is our own guilt. The Lord promises to lift us up and pardon our iniquities. Even in the midst of our trials, the promise of forgiveness is comfort indeed.

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Verses 9-11)

Good tidings await us in the "high mountain", which is the temple. Armed with power and gladness, we are to speak up and speak out with courage. Our work is to share the gospel and to prepare ourselves and others for the Second Coming of Christ, when he will come with his "strong hand" and his arm of power to rule and reign, which is his right and destiny. Contrast the strong hand and arm of the ruler with the image of the loving shepherd who feeds his flocks and gathers his lambs. He will use his strong arms to hold us to his breast, close to his heart, and to lead us with gentleness. He will care for us and our families.  But how do we know he can truly help us?

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (Verses 12, 15, 21, 22)

To understand how good God is, we need to understand first how spectacular he is. God is the magnificent, supreme Being. He comprehends the vastness of the universe. He can figuratively hold all of the earth's oceans in the cupped palm of one hand. The seas with all of their teeming life are within his grasp. He can measure the vastness of the galaxies between his thumb and little finger. He does not even need to stretch out his arms to encompass the universe. He can gather up all of the dust of the earth and put it in a measuring cup. If you were to ask him, he could tell you exactly how much the mountains and hills weigh. The great nations of the earth, even China and India with their billions today, are as an indistinguishable drop of water in a gallon of generations who have preceded and will yet come among God's children. They are like leftover dust on the scales of humanity that God comprehends. Imagine God sitting on the horizon of the earth with his feet dangling over the edge as he surveys the endless heavens before him, all of which he has created. Next to God, we are no more than pesky little insects that ignorantly consume everything before us without any appreciation for where it came from or how it got there or the destruction we leave in our wake. But that is not the end of the story. Read on!

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Verses 28-31)

Despite how far above and beyond us mortal weaklings God is, he does not get tired of us. He does not give up on his creations. Precisely because he knows us and understands us, and precisely because he can see our potential, his love does not decline towards us. He uses his limitless power, not to smash us, but to build us up. Because he does not faint, he helps us when we feel faint. Because he is endlessly strong, he strengthens us when we feel our own strength slacking. In our natural state we may tire and fall. When we serve God, however, our strength will be replenished.

The Lord then makes three promises. If we are willing and determined and faithful, he will enable us to soar like an eagle. If we are not ready yet to fly but are willing to run, he will enable us to run without fatigue. If we cannot run but are at least willing to walk, he will enable us to lengthen our stride and strengthen our gait. The point is not how fast we get to the finish line. We can fly, or we can run, or we can walk. The point is that we arrive. God sets the course. If we choose to follow it, he promises to strengthen us to the end. No one has to fail. No one has to drop out. Because God is so spectacularly powerful, he can promise immutably that he will help us. Because he will not fail, we will not fail.

That is the hopeful, hope-filled message of Isaiah. In God we can take supreme comfort.