Threads, Cords, and Chains or Freedom, Strength, and Peace- Isaiah 5:18

"Woe unto them that pull iniquity with words of falsehood, and sin with a cart rope.”  (Isaiah 5:18)

With this verse Isaiah painted for me one of the first vivid word pictures I understood; one that affected me so much I came back to see what else he might be able to help me understand.  At first, I saw a picture showing that a person with access to the truth, like Israel, who decides on iniquity (a twisting of the truth to justify what they want to do) is doing spiritually to themselves the equivalent of a person tying themselves, or yoking themselves, to a heavy cartload and pulling it around with them everywhere they go.  That was my first picture, and it was very useful, but thanks to Nephi, a person very close to the language and culture, I was able fill in some eternally important details.  He refers to this verse in 2 Nephi 26, where he is talking about how people are entrapped by the adversary, the devil: (H)e leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever. (2 Nephi 26:22) 

It helps to understand that a “flaxen cord” is literally a thread and “strong cords” happen when many threads or strings are woven together to make what we would call a rope.  Nephi is likening spiritually something recognized in most cultures.  For instance a Spanish proverb says, “Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.” (http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6811)  I found it enlightening to learn that ancient rabbi’s reflect a similar interpretation of Isaiah 5:18.

The Septuagint renders it, 'Woe to those who draw sin with a long cable;' that is," one sin is added to another, until it comes to an enormous length, and the whole is drawn along together. Probably the true idea is that of the ancient interpretation of the rabbis, 'An evil inclination is at first like a fine hair string, but the finishing like a cart-rope.' At first, they draw sin with a slender cord, then they go on to greater deeds of iniquity that urge them on, and draw them with their main strength, as with a cart-rope. They make a strong "effort" to commit iniquity. (Barnes' Notes on the Bible as quoted in http://bible.cc/isaiah/5-18.htm)

The verses immediately following this one tell us a lot about how the “flaxen cord” that leads to this “strong cord” is formed.  It has primarily to do with the how we approach the Lord, as reflected in our words to and about Gods. In verse 19 God is accused of not proving himself to them-  if God is real, he should prove it in a way obvious to their eyes.  In the next verse the “fact” God did no show Himself as instructed is then used to justify replacing His commands with their own self-proclaimed cleverness. The long and short of it, a steady theme we see throughout Isaiah, is a prideful insistence on not being a student, or child, of the Lord- but, at the very least, seeing yourself like an equally wise, if not equally powerful, partner who has every right to insist the Lord prove his worth, or get out of the way. (See also 2 Nephi 26:20,29 2 Nephi 9:28-29,45,51, see also themes 1 and 3 in “Prefacing Isaiah,” 3/22/2012)

Alma, another Book of Mormon prophet who knew the words of Isaiah well, calls these “strong cords” the “chains of hell” and describes how” they form- note how it all begins with hardness (bitterness, anger, it doesn’t apply to me) towards some portion of God’s word:

It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.  And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.  (Isaiah 12:9-11)

Immediately two scriptural examples come to mind that really illustrate the kind of iniquity or “twisting” that leads to a hardening of the heart and to being chained down.  The first is the Lord’s answer, in Isaiah 58, to Israel’s accusation that though they “afflict their souls” with fasting and doing what he said, he is not giving them the prosperity he promised. (Isaiah 58:3) This prosperity, in their minds, includes using fasting as a tool to order up His power, despite the fact they are paying very little attention to the first two commands- to love God and their fellowman.  (This picture illustrates how the Lord describes them in Isaiah 58:9) In short, if they are contending with (fighting) and accusing each other and God (remember Satan is The Accuser), they might be depriving their bodies of food, but they are not fasting according to the Lord’s fast.  The Lord’s fast was meant to focus them on making sure all are provided for with the resources the Lord has given them- to work with the Lord to “break the yoke ” for all men - including the yoke these angry, hungry children are laboring under in accusing each other and taking delight in the idea of God smiting someone else . To answer their fast and prayers the way they demand would be to strengthen their chains of spiritual bondage, and that is something the Lord will never do. 

Which brings me to the words of the oft quoted words of the Savior; - 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)

These verses come at the end of a discussion prefaced by John the Baptists’ disciples coming to Christ with an request from the imprisoned John than Christ affirm whether he is, indeed, the promised Messiah.  Christ does affirm he is the Messiah, and testifies that John was sent to prepare the way for him.  He then says, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” (Matthew 11:6) 

The word “offended” means literally to “trip up” or “to cause to stumble” or “to entrap.”  In other words, “blessed is he, whosever” does not do as Luke describes, “laying in wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him.” (Luke 11:54)  Although the “him” in that scripture clearly refers to the Savior himself, I love the use of a general pronoun because the Savior also taught “inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)  And, just for good measure, lets add Isaiah’s clear words (also quoted in Nephi’s commentary on Isaiah)- “All they which watch for iniquity will be cut off.” (Isaiah 29:20, 2 Nephi 27:31) In other words, if you see yourself in an exalted enough position to judge and accuse others, you are being bound by The Great Accuser.  You might say the great choice in this life is whether you want to walk the path of The Advocate of mankind to eternal life, or the many paths leading to nowhere which all have one thing in common- savory, self-righteous accusations. 

Which explains why those who find “rest unto (their) souls” are those who seek to learn of the Savior and accept his help and atoning strength in learning how to become, like him, meek and lowly of heart.  I find that “rest,” as it pertains to navigating life perfectly captured by Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

The meek are filled with awe and wonder with regard to God and His purposes in the universe. At the same time, the meek are not awestruck by the many frustrations of life; they are more easily mobilized for eternal causes and less easily immobilized by the disappointments of the day.  (“Meekness-A Dimension of True Discipleship,” Ensign, March 1983)

I love that quote because it illustrates for me that meekness and repentance are irrevocably intertwined.  As I noted before, the actual word “repent” doesn’t occur much in the Old Testament, but phrases like “return” or “turn back.”   However, the word repent is used frequently in the New Testament, and looking at what it means in Greek is powerful.

When Jesus said “repent,” His disciples recorded that command in the Greek language with the verb metanoeo. This powerful word has great significance. In this word, the prefix meta means “change.” The suffix relates to four important Greek terms: nous, meaning “the mind”; gnosis, meaning “knowledge”; pneuma, meaning “spirit”; and pnoe, meaning “breath.  Thus, when Jesus said “repent,” He asked us to change—to change our mind, knowledge, and spirit—even our breath. A prophet explained that such a change in one’s breath is to breathe with grateful acknowledgment of Him who grants each breath. (Russell M. Nelson, “Repentance and Conversion,” Ensign, May 2007; Mosiah 2:20-24)

In my experience the moments I do “breathe with grateful acknowledgment of Him who grants each breath” are also the moments I am “filled with awe and wonder with regard to God and His purposes in the universe.”  And the more moments like that I have, happening with, I admit, increasing frequency, the more I am drawn to and find importance in things, like the words of Isaiah that used to just frustrate and anger me.  The more I am filled with further awe as those words open up for me and expand my still limited view of the infinite depth and breadth of all that has been done for mankind. The more I comprehend the tragedy of rejecting God’s infinite gifts- even in part.  And the less I disregard the Lord’s chastisements as meant for others, something I now see as a thread of accusation - and instead see them meant for all his fallible children, including me.   Now my greatest concern is how much I want to ponder and organize and remember in each chapter.  I mean this note only covers one verse!  Perhaps I am glimpsing what the Lord calls the “riches of eternity.”  Perhaps Isaiah’s great message is just illustrating, expanding and illuminating this promise:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.  And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more. (Doctrine & Covenants 78:17-19)

Cause and Effect - Isaiah 2-4

Cause and effect.  It is one of the first things we learn.  We drop a toy off our high chair and it falls- every time.  We shake the rattle and it makes a noise.  We fall down and it hurts.  We smile and other people smile back.  It is how we learn to navigate the world and it is the underlying principle for how we discover what we consider scientific truth.  However, our experiences here are finite and often we come up with stories for explaining cause and effect that later, when we’ve gained more information, prove to be untrue.  For instance, in the mid-19^th century, scientists and doctors “knew” that infections were caused by miasmas in the air.  So hospital wards were aired out periodically to try and mitigate infection spreading.  However a doctor by the name of Ingnaz Semmelweis noted in the 1840’s a marked difference in mortality rates between the two maternity wards he oversaw.  One, run by midwives had a much, much lower rate of infection and death than the one run by student doctors.  In fact, he noted, women who gave birth on the streets had a better chance of not getting an infection!  He began looking for any differences between the two wards that might be the cause of the higher infection and mortality rate.  He isolated each difference to see if it was the cause, but the disparity in mortality rate continued.

In 1847 a friend and coworker died from an infection after cutting himself with a scalpel used to autopsy a patient who had died from what appeared to be the same infection.  There was no doubt the cut itself was the origin of the infection.  It occurred to him that the scalpel had somehow transferred the infection, and if so, hands could also be a medium for transferring infection.  The one difference between the two wards he had not considered or changed was that student doctors did dissections on deceased patients as part of their medical training.  He had those student doctors wash their hands with a solution with similar properties to our chlorine bleach prior to tending to the patients in the maternity ward.  Mortality rates immediately dropped to below 2% and, as long as the washing procedure was followed, did not rise.

Of course, Semmelweis was excited to share his discovery- just think of all the patients that could be saved!  But, despite the evidence, the idea that there were “corpse particles” too small to be seen on unwashed hands was considered ludicrous by the medical community.  He wrote letters asking doctors to just try hand washing and telling them they were, in fact, murderers if they insisted on ignoring his findings.  Semmelweis’s frustrated insistence and the derision it drew, eventually led him to breakdown and his wife and contemporaries committed him to an asylum where he died, ironically, from an infection.  After his death, others, including Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister were deeply influenced by his work.  But despite the fact that everyone who experimented on what Semmelweis’s conclusions found them to be accurate, it was well over half a century before the medical community in general accepted that their hands could indeed be the cause in transmitting infection.  Which brings me to another important concept, rhetoric.

Rhetoric is effectively using language to persuade.  It can be an effective tool for sharing discoveries and truth, but it can be just as effective in spreading lies or fighting against the acceptance of an unexpected or unwanted truth.  For instance, there have been several philosophers over the years that have written quite persuasively that if a person seeks their own happiness above all else society will prosper.  People who aren't restricted by duty and commitment are free to be creative and that creativity will mean a vibrant, increasingly powerful society.  Interestingly, most of these philosophers lived in what anthropologists call declining societies and they overwhelmingly blame the decline on traditionalists who stifle, or hold back, the society and cause conflict – in today’s rhetoric they are less evolved.  Perhaps one of the most interesting individuals to espouse this type of theory was an English anthropologist by the name of Joseph Daniel Unwin.  Prior to 1935, he espoused, very persuasively, that marriage was an antiquated social construct that at best was irrelevant, and at worst harmful to the building a truly powerful and vibrant society.  Being an anthropologist he decided to use evidence from past civilizations to prove his point.  He studied 86 civilizations and when he stood before the British Psychological Society to present his findings he said,

“The evidence is such as to demand a complete revision of my personal philosophy; for the relationship between the factors (man/women marriage with complete monogamy and cultural prosperity) seemed to be so close, that if we know the sexual regulations a society has adopted, we can prophesy accurately the pattern of its cultural behavior...This type of marriage has been adopted by different societies, in different places, and at different times.  Thousands of years and thousands of miles separate the events; and there is no apparent connection between them.  In human records, there is no case of an absolutely monogamous society failing to display great (cultural) energy. 

I do not know of a case on which great energy has been displayed by a society that has not been absolutely monogamous….If during or just after a period of (cultural) expansion, a society modifies its sexual regulation, and a new generation is born into a less rigorous tradition, its energy decreases…If it comes into contact with a more vigorous society, it is deprived of its sovereignty, and possibly conquered in its turn.”  (Sexual Regulations and Cultural Behavior, Joseph Daniel Unwin, Ph.D., in and address given to the Medical Section of the British Psychological Society.  Library of Congress No. HQ12.U52)

What I found most fascinating when I read Dr. Unwin findings was that I was well aware of the type of theory he wanted to prove- I had read it as “proven” with great rhetoric in academic writings, taken for granted in sitcoms and dramas, and praised as a sign of our society being evolutionarily advanced. What surprised me was to realize how far back there was truly credible, empirical evidence that it wasn’t a new, untried theory and that in every case it had proven false.  The first time I saw Dr. Unwin mentioned, it was to credit him with being one of the European liberal thinkers who helped start the cultural and sexual revolutions in Europe.  He wrote two books in an attempt to make his findings more widely known.  But, if not for groups who have formed to present a unified defense of the traditional family, what is contained in those books would be unknown.  However, the persuasive rhetoric he originally, freely espoused before and during his study- that was so appealing to what the scriptures call the “natural” of “fallen” man that it flourished- just like it flourished in many of those “less advanced” societies, until shortly after the third generation (roughly 75-100 years), when a combination of internal economic and social turmoil and outside pressure led to what historian’s refer to as the “fall” of a civilization.  However, Dr. Unwin also noted that the reverse would also be true- three generations of a “return to virtue” could bring vibrancy back to a civilization. (See "A Return to Virtue," Elaine S. Dalton, Ensign, November 2008) 

For instance, did you notice the amount of time that passed between Dr. Semmelwies findings and the medical community accepting what he had discovered as truth?  The established elite of the medical community shunned and ridiculed him.  But he had student doctors, who had participated in his study, and they quietly adopted the practice of hand washing in their practices.  Other young doctors paid more attention to his study, and some, like Joseph Lister, were able to use social influence to weather the abuse of the establishment when they became convinced he was right.  It helped that those, like Lister, who did try Semmelwies’s methods didn’t have as many patients die.  After all, patients prefer a doctor with a low mortality rate.  The next generation heard lectures and read academic works by these untraditional, but successful doctors and – well truth prevailed. 

And God is truth and he is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He knows what builds and destroys both individuals and societies.  He also knows perfectly what deadly spiritual infections are highly contagious and exactly how we can purify ourselves so that we don’t become instruments in spreading them to others.  Helping us understand and act on truth is why he calls prophets.  It is a main reason we have the words of Isaiah.  Like many prophets, Isaiah teaches us what actions we need to take (the cause) to obtain joy, hope, and knowledge in this life and eternal life in the world to come (the effect).  He uses a mixture of historical examples (which anyone can verify with the basic 5 senses) and prophetic promises (which do require humble inquiry of the Lord in order to receive spiritual confirmation of their truth.) Isaiah 2-4, if looked at as one “conference talk,” is a perfect illustration.  It opens and closes with a hopeful true glimpse of the most vibrant and successful society possible- Zion.  (Isaiah 2:1-5, Isaiah 4:2-6)  One of the most important “plain and precious” insights from the Book of Mormon on this topic is found in Nephi’s commentary on Isaiah in 1 Nephi 22:26:

And because of the righteousness of his people Satan has no power; wherefore he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.

 Did you get that?  The effect is the Satan has no power and the cause is the righteousness of his people.  That is why Zion in not just a place or a people, but it is also an individual state.  The scriptures do give us a couple of tantalizing glimpses into civilizations that, at least temporarily, reached this state, but the Book of Mormon also gives us several examples of individuals who lived through war, civil strife, and persecution because of their faith in Christ – in short, times when the choices of the others around them meant Zion as a nation they were not!  But such circumstances didn’t prevent one such individual, Moroni, from becoming such a man the“if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” (Alma 48:17)

I feel such a deep conviction that the example of Moroni, as well as those “no less serviceable unto the people,” are meant by the Lord to be considered, no devoured and deeply internalized, in conjunction with verses like Isaiah 3:10- Say unto the righteous, that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” (Alma 48:18)

The rest of the material in Isaiah’s “talk” lists the causes (the wicked choices of the people) and the increasingly growing evidence of the effects of those choices.  As, I wrote a few weeks ago, Isaiah 2 is all about “Jacob” delighting in worshiping “his” own wisdom, the work of his hands, riches, and those more sensually pleasing gods next door.  The first two words in the King James Version of Isaiah 3:1 read, “For Behold.”  In other translations it is translated as “Even, now” or “See, now.”  In other words: you don’t have to wait until “the day of the Lord” to experience the effects of these choices; (but everyone who intentionally chooses evil will feel the full effects then) you are even now experiencing the chaotic effects of evil choices. 

First, they lose “stay and staff.”  The “stay,” as it illustrates in verse 1 are the most basic necessities of life- food (bread) and water.  Weather (yea, they did tell the Lord to keep enough distance they could party in the groves like a Philistine and when he withdraws so does the organizing power that brings the rains, which in turn affects the harvest), war and pure greed on the part of the “upper class” has combined to rob many in the population of any temporal security. 

Next, the choice of previous generations to encourage a  “less rigorous tradition” as far as what was considered  moral and obedient to the commands of Jehovah, meant there are no Moroni’s to rise to the occasion and serve their people.  Moroni is described as “a strong and a mighty man of perfect understanding; yea, a man who didn’t delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery…a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.” (Alma 48:11-12)  Those are the type of individuals who are described as the “staff” (symbol of legal, righteous power and authority) that is also being taken away.  (Isaiah2:3)  Instead positions of political, legal, military, and religious leadership are held by childish and selfish men.  They use their authority to “eat up the vineyard” or use the resources of the nation for their own selfish ends, which includes “grinding on the face of the poor.”(Isaiah 3:5,9,14-15)  Things are getting so bad that someone with a decent set of clothes is begged to take on leadership, but he refuses, stating he can hardly take care of his own house.  (Isaiah 6-7)

Nor is it just the men.  After all, women are generally half of the population and, as Ghandi noted “when you educate a women you educate a nation.”   Nor is he alone in noting this.  Brigham Young was once asked if he could only educate boys or girls, whom would he choose.  His reply was, in essence, that he would choose the girls because they would be the mothers and teachers of the next generation and then only one generation would suffer the effects of lacking education. But, that only holds true if that education, both temporal and spiritual, runs hand in hand with motherhood, whether they marry and have biological children of their own or not, being a worthwhile and honorable goal for women. 

No wonder Isaiah spends almost half the verses in Isaiah 3 talking about how women valuing being proud (stretched out necks), sexy,(wanton eyes) and beautiful (Isaiah 3:17-18 are a list of beauty and fashion accessories) as primary life goals is an equally contributing cause in the collapse of their society.  Historically speaking, Isaiah is pinpointing the primary effects of that collapse on the women.  More men than women will die in both civil war and foreign invasion (Isaiah 3:25).  More women will become captives and slaves, with all that it can entail- including their fine clothes being ripped away to be replaced with slaves clothing and the customary shaving of the head.  (Not only was glorious hair a great source of pride, so shaving a captured slave humiliated them, but it was also practical because a bald head doesn’t make a good home for lice. )

Isaiah 4:1 is a continuation of this list.  It deals with those not taken in slavery.  Those who survive now do desperately want to focus on building a family, but there is a dearth of men. They promise to take care of all the responsibilities of raising a family if a man will just give them his name (give them a standing in society so they are not considered low or base) and take away their reproach (this refers to being childless).  Isaiah uses that phrase “in that day” at the beginning of this verse and again at the beginning of verse 2.  This is the signal that he has presented the “case studies” so to speak and we now can apply it to our day.   A few weeks ago I heard two statistics on the evening news that made me think of this verse and think of these effects and how they are already showing up in our society.  The first was that over 40% of women under 40 in our nation have never been married.  Women interviewed in connection with this story commented that not marrying is now a choice with no stigma attached and that there is a dearth of acceptable marriage partners.  The second one was that over 50% of children born in our country last year were to unmarried women. (Also see M. Russell Ballard,"That the Lost May Be Found," Ensign, November 2012, p.98)

These stories, stuck with me because I grew up the oldest daughter in a family of 10.  I loved books and learning and had some resentful feeling about being called away from my books to help with family responsibilities.  I found much of the rhetoric that has influenced these trends in our society inviting.  In fact I know I was very clear with my young women leaders and parents that I had better things to do with my life than change diapers and wipe snotty noses.   In short, I know if I hadn’t grown up surrounded by the gospel, and if others in my life hadn’t made the choices they did- especially the incredible man I married and some very special "sisters" – I have no doubt I wouldn’t have the joy in the gospel and my family I do now.  I have watched the same miracle happen in lives of women from a variety of backgrounds.  And I begin to see what Isaiah meant when he taught of the Lord “wash(ing) away the filth of the daughters of Zion.” (Isaiah 4:4)  To me it means a conviction that has grown bone deep that, as President Gordan B. Hinckley declared “mothers can do more than any other group to reverse todays sobering trends.” (As quoted in “Are We Not All Mothers,” No One Can Take Your Place, Sherri Dew, Deseret Book 2004) 

And, as Sister Dew, an educated, successful business woman who has never married or had children, wrote, I too am sure:

As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord’s secret weapon.  Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning.  In the premortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children.  I wonder if we shouted for joy (see Job 38:7) at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom.  The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will.

Climbing Up

Along the border between the country of Nepal and China lie the Himalayan Mountains, and the world’s highest mountain, which we in the western part of the world refer to as Mount Everest.  Its summit is over 29,000 feet high and was first reached, with the aid of scuba tanks, in 1953.  Since that time, attempts numbering in the several thousands have been made to reach the summit.   Most succumb to the high altitude and have to turn back before the final ascent. Over 2000 individuals have succeeded, some several times, and most within the last 10 years.  Government regulations, high fees (estimate for the budget contentious start at $40,000), small portable oxygen, and expert expedition organizers have made it much less dangerous to try and make the climb.  Still there has never been a year without at least a 4% mortality rate.  Most of those who do die, die above 26,000 feet, where the oxygen is so thin expert mountaineers often need oxygen tanks, so many who have died on the mountain remain there.  One thing is certain, those who sign up to climb Mount Everest do not expect it will be cheap or easy. In fact they expect it to be, physically and mentally, one of the hardest and most time consuming things they will ever prepare for and do.

So how did I get from the words of Isaiah to climbing Mount Everest?  Well it all started three weeks ago when I found myself on the floor, unable to move without excruciating pain beginning in my lower back, waiting for the rest of the house to wake up and help me.  Having experienced it before, though not quite so extreme, my first thought when I felt the pain and my legs giving out, was “Please, no, I have too much to do!”  And then I sincerely prayed for help and listened, and almost immediately, much to my dismay, there came into my mind’s eye the picture of Nephi, hands bound, praying for increased strength to handle his circumstances.  It was an illustration used in the April issue of the Ensign, for the reprint of Elder Bednar’s address on “The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality.”  I also remembered, as clearly as if I was rereading it, the words I had underlined,

It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray to have his circumstances changed.  Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances.  And I believe he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew, understood, and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement….

(The Savior) felt and bore our burdens before we ever did…He can reach out, touch, succor—literally run to us – and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying only upon our own power.

I also thought of President Monson’s expressing the same principle in a quote I have memorized and often pondered, "Do not pray to tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks.  Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle. (“Three Goals to Guide You”, Ensign, November 2007)

I admit, for many of my waking hours I have been hard pressed to see the eternal benefits of the last few weeks.  As I’ve said, I’ve had something like this happen before, and I have worked hard to not let it happen again.  So, I admit to battling intense feelings of fear, frustration and anger as the days passed by and the pain and my lack of ability to do for myself or others was more extreme and lasted longer than ever before.  But those first few moments of this particular “celestial training session” have combined with my past experience, which has taught me that those feelings are best thrown out as quickly as possible. One of the best tools to accomplish that, and open my mind and heart to the Lord’s teaching and purpose, is to spend time in His words. It did not change the pain, nor how slowly this healing process seems to be going.  But it did change the way it feels- at least part of the time.

It was a few days after my back gave out, and I could, with a lot of huffing and puffing make it the short distance by myself.  I had been optimistically preparing a lesson for the next Sunday- which I didn’t get to teach.  But as I slowly made my way, I was thinking, tongue in cheek, that to hear my breathing you would think I was climbing an “exceedingly high mountain” and it hit me. (1 Nephi 11:1)  There is one very obvious, readily understood meaning behind the symbol of the temple being called “the mountain of the Lord’s house” that we are often culturally inattentively blind to.  My labored breathing indicated that I was working- working hard, like I have on some steep hikes I’ve taken in better days.  Bottom line--nobody “ascends” a mountain without effort.  And the more “exalted” the mountain the more time, resources and labor that is required.  And this is very much an aspect of the ancient symbol of mountains being temples – I’ve read it several times, but never once talked of it or passed it on.   Why?  As I mentioned, I think it was a bit of spiritual inattentional blindness.

For anyone who doesn’t know,  inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object.  Experiments have been done which show a majority of people if given an assignment, like counting how many times a jogger in front of them touches his hat, will focus so much on that task they will miss a knock down drag out fight happening in plain sight.   Likewise, we live in a culture that defines “prosperity” as “thriving, successful, especially in economic success.”   It focuses on outward circumstances being pleasant.  And in our scriptures the Lord repeatedly promises that prosperity is what those who obey him will have.   So, when we are really trying to obey the Lord and live righteously, but our success, or health, or financial well-being is damaged, we are naturally tempted to cry foul.  Our focus is so solely on the idea of promised blessings and prosperity meaning the fulfillment of the “American dream” that we just block out all the evidence to the contrary.

In hindsight, I see that it was just that kind of reasoning that led to that very dark time in my life.  When I came to understand that the real problem was that I “lacked wisdom” and began to really study what the Lord teaches, I couldn’t help but notice that those who have loved the Lord have not had easy lives – fantastic, meaningful lives, yes, but not easy.  Some, like Mormon and Moroni, died alone in poverty.  Others like Abinadi, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and even the Savior himself, died gruesome deaths.  I could go on and on in naming scriptural characters whose righteous lives do not coincide with our cultural definition of prosperity.  It occurred to me that our current definition of prosperity didn’t quite match the Lord’s definition.  The word used in the Old Testament, like so many others I’ve brought up, is rooted in the idea of following the Lord’s straight and narrow path.  It literally means “to move ahead” or “to move forward on the path.”  The Lord’s promise is that if we obey him, he will send his enabling power to ensure that no obstacle, problem, choice of another, injury, illness or anything else will do other than move us forward on the path towards eternal life.    

Now, I’ve known the meaning of that word for some time, and if you’ve ever heard me speak or read what I’ve written, it’s pretty obvious I think of life as a journey.  I even once used the analogy of my mortal journey being a hike.(From Where I Stand) But for all that, I’d never put it together with the imagery of the “mountain of the Lord’s house,” or “the Lord’s mountain” or “my holy mountain,” and somehow this insight opened up the Lord’s promises like never before. 

King Benjamin’s admonition that our part is to “become as a little child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father,” melded with image the Lord uses of Him being “as an eagle (which) stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; So the Lord alone did lead “Isreal.”  (Mosiah 3:19, Deuteronomy 32:11-12, Also see “On His Wings”, April 16,2010) 

And, because that image was part of the song every Israelite was to have memorized, the learned Isaiah knew it, and he brings it together with the imagery that those who follow the Lord are those who “scale the mountain heights” and “wait upon the Lord,”  and they will eventually become beings  who “mount up with wings as eagles.”  (Isaiah 40:9,30-31)  See the progression on the path?  When Israel was led out of Egypt, he compared them to tiny eaglets – unable on their own strength and ability to ascend to the heights that their parents call home, but not without the potential to become creatures just as at home in the heavens.  The “flight” they tasted was to encourage them, when the path felt steep and difficult to “be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the lord they God is with thee withersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9) 

“It is as if men and women are given, as part of their next step in development along the path to godhood, raw physical and spiritual ingredients—“natural” resources, if you will.  Those resources are not to run rampant but are to be harnessed and focused so that their power and potential…can be channeled…(Jeffery R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, p.207)

Our choosing to “channel” those resources is our earnest attempt to do what is so difficult now and strive to keep his commands—to stand firmly in defense of the Lord’s plan and affirm that we do want to be His children and receive His instruction.  That choice is our use of agency affirming we want the Lord’s grace to strengthen and enable us to become what he, in his infinite love for us, always hoped we would choose- to be transformed through his power from beings for whom such heights are unreachable, alien and dangerous, to beings for whom such heights are a natural habitat. Like John taught:

Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”  (1 John 3:2-3)

The scriptures are filled with mere mortals who followed this path and came to know what I think I have barely tasted. Take Paul for example. Considering the beatings he took, I think it safe to say he knew physical pain well.  But, despite the fact that after his conversion his life reads like a constant cliff climbing expedition he wrote things like:  “For all things are for your sakes…for which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”  (2 Corithians 4:15-17)

I have particularly thought about that phrase “light affliction” over he past few weeks.  Particularly as I’ve continued to read Isaiah, and the “afflictions” he prophesied were coming, which would affect the righteous as well as the wicked, are heavy indeed.  But despite the heavy wading of the material, the only day I really lost it- all over my hardworking and supportive husband- was a day, when in an ill-advised rush to get my life back in order, I kept putting off my time with the Lord.  At the end of the day I was in agony (again) and so frustrated with how little I had accomplished.  I saw my open scriptures lying near and suddenly knew that this pain and the limitations it brings are obstacles, but not deciding factors in whether I can experience real joy in life.  In those moments when I forced my thoughts away from how much I don’t like this, and instead directed them to the things I was learning, my perspective widened to consider a fuller picture and purpose.  Peace replaced frustration, and, for a moment the pain actually seemed swallowed up in the joy.  I might still have been flat on my back, but my soul took flight.

It leads me to consider what life would be like if I were more diligent in my part to “always remember him,” so that I would “always have his spirit to be with” me.  (D&C 20:77,79) What an exciting—no that is far too mundane of a word—magnificent, awe inspiring, hope filled, joyous thought!

Heads Up - Notes on Isaiah 2

I have this thought that keeps running through my brain, and I know it just won’t mean on paper what it means in my brain.  I am reminded of seeing a 60 minutes interview of an astronaut in which he tried to describe what  it was like to see the earth from space and how there was no experience he had experienced here on earth he could really use to help those who had not experienced it understand.  I keep thinking of all the books, articles and commentaries I've perused on Isaiah, written by people obviously impressed by this book.  I learned from them that Isaiah was well educated, and a master of Hebrew literature and poetry. I learned that this book, The Book of Isaiah, has stood alone as a great piece of literature and is more studied and quoted from than any other book in the Old Testament.  I learned he was most likely of the upper class, possibly nobility, and obviously talented.  I knew those things, but somehow I keep thinking “Isaiah is brilliant” as if I've just discovered it for the first time.  I guess this time it is a personal discovery that has hit me powerfully, emotionally and spiritually, not  just academically.

 Isaiah is brilliant and humble.  He had to be during mortality because the positions he took were so opposite those of the elite of his time – so simpleton.  He preached a return to virtue, to living according to the commands of Jehovah, as a means to return to economic stability as well and national security.  I recently heard comments of that nature by a sincere Christian called, by a public news figure, intolerant, outdated, unthinking, and without taking into consideration the current social and political climate.  I imagine Isaiah’s words were dismissed just as contemptuously.  In fact, the Lord tells him very few of his generation will benefit from his words and inspired Isaiah to use his considerable talents so that those who diligently search see him using the historical events and places of his day to illustrate eternal patterns, but those who already dismiss the Lord’s words through other prophets find him easy to dismiss.  (Nephi makes it clear diligence is required- In my case I think the Lord’s definition of diligence is very generous to have already given so much for what I've put in. He is so good to me.)

The Lord’s promise to us is that (He) “will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations.” (D&C 52:14)  How well this promise and warning are illustrated by the words Isaiah was inspired to record in this beginning chapter.  It is a rich word picture of “things as they really are.” (D&C 93:24, Jacob 4:13) 

It begins by prophesying that the “mountain of the Lord’s house will be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.” First, the word “top” is also the word for “head”, as in he will be the head- the leader.  There are other words for “peak” or “summit.”  So this is a play on words about Christ’s millennial reign. (2 Nephi 2:2, Isaiah 2:2)  Second, did you know that in Hebrew the word translated as temple doesn’t, as in English, mean a place dedicated to worship, but just a large public building, usually a temple or palace.  But the imagery of a “mountain of the Lord’s house” would have been very clear phrase indicating what we call a temple – and not just to the Israelites. The idea that mountains were the original place God (or the gods) communed with man, and that temples were authorized buildings with specific directions given by the god to make it so man could be elevated enough to qualify for communication and learning from God, was very prevalent in the ancient world.  (For a really good, brief and understandable discussion of this follow this link www.fairlds.org/fair.../2009-the-temple-as-a-place-of-ascent-to-god.  Believe me, after what I’ve waded through, it was a find.)

But the really intriguing part about what Isaiah prophesies is the second part of that verse.  The Lord’s house will be “exalted” above all other mountains and hills.  What are the other mountains and hills?  The rest of the chapter expounds how “Jacob” has treated other apparent powers, such as nations, idol gods, wealth, their own strengths and other people, as their “head”-the power they put their trust in instead of God.

I love the word used for “exalted.” (Isaiah 2:2)  It means to “lift a load or burden and carry it.”  Which brought me to ponder, once again, on Nephi’s words about the rise and fall of nations, and the generations upon generations that would pass from his time until the time prophesied here. (1 Nephi 11-15, 1 Nephi 22, 2 Nephi 25)  And how the suffering, the rise and failing of nations would go on until “they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, which is the Son of God, and the atonement which is infinite for all mankind.”  (2 Nephi 25:16) I am struck again by how impossible it is to fathom the depth of what has been done for mankind, for me. I cannot truly comprehend it, but I can let the affirmation of its reality grow as I ponder the enormous cost to “heal the nations” in conjunction with the Savior’s words, “But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself even God, the greatest of all to tremble because of pain, and bleed at every pore and to suffer both body and spirit.”  (Revelations 22:2, D&C 19:17-18)  Oh, to be an instrument through which all that has been done can be put to good use!

That is the goal here- not to add to suffering and harrow up unnecessary guilt, but to encourage us to choose to “walk in the light of the Lord” so we can receive that healing and peace, first individually and eventually the whole world. (Isaiah 2:5)  Which brings me to consider further the words “Zion” and “Jerusalem.”  Zion literally means “landmark” – something that visibly marks the correct path. (Christ’s proverbial “city on a hill” from Matthew 5:14)  And “Jerusalem” means a “flowing out of peace.”  But, again the Hebrew word for peace contains a depth our current word doesn’t usually carry.  It doesn’t just mean lack of conflict.  Rather it means “complete; to be made whole by adding or subtracting; to be in a state of being made whole.” In the scriptures we are taught that Zion is both a place and a state of being.  I apply that to Jerusalem as well because the two things the Lord promises we will be blessed with, here and now, is His peace and the opportunity to be the instrument in His hands in offering that peace to others. (John 14:27, 16:33, D&C 59:23, Isaiah 26:3)

What that state of being definitely does not mean is having total leisure, or lack of responsibilities, work, and cares.  This is emphasized by what happens to the “nations” when the law of the Lord is what all nations live by.  “Plowshares” and “pruning hooks” are tools used to work- not the destructive kind of work that swords and spears do- but the ordering, planting, growing, harvesting, building type of work.  (Does anyone else fill a string of cross references coming on? I’ll spare you here.)  Also significant is the word “light,” meaning “to order or organize.”  It is the same word used in the creation story.  For us, it means to put to effective use, to build with, to profit from the gifts the Lord has given us.  The most often used word for “darkness” in Isaiah is just the opposite- it means chaos, disorder, and contention as well as dark.    

 I further found it interesting that both in verse 3 and verse 5 he uses the ,” name “Jacob,” not “Israel.”  “Jacob” literally means “supplanter” or “to hold back as by the heel.” After the invitation for the “house of Jacob to…come…and walk in the light of the Lord,” Jacob is rebuked for turning from the “lifting up” and “light” offered by the Lord and replacing it with so many other things. He, who had the opportunity to become “Jerusalem,”  and “Zion,” instead has sought to become like or “usurp” the worldly nations around him.  He seeks to “lift up” himself by making things, including weapons and armies (which explains the horses, as that was there primary use in that day), and then looking to them as the source of security, learning, strength, and salvation.  In short, instead of taking the path that leads to the “mountain of the Lord,” and helping others find it, they have actually held others back from considering the Lord and his chosen path. They were to help others see that what look like “mountains” are in reality, as history shows repeatedly, an illusion.  Instead of being instruments through which God’s reality could be seen, they have helped the human race stay chained down.  Sobering thought.

Later, in verses 11 and 17, where it says “the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” the word used for “exalted” means “lofty” or “inaccessible” and was applied to a safe, strong place of defense.  In noun form it is sometimes translated as “tower” as in “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress… in Him will I trust; he is my shield…my high tower, my refuge, my savior.” (2 Samuel 2-3)

Interesting, when one of things Isaiah says will be of no use in the day of His coming will be ‘high tower(s)”. (Isaiah 2:15)  This time the word used is the most common word used for “ high tower” and it simply means “a building of great size.”  This type of comparison between the true exaltation the Lord offers, and the things man falsely hopes and fools himself into thinking will give him “loftiness” seems to be what Isaiah wants us, for our own eternal benefit, to consider. 

Even the word Isaiah used in verse 5 for “forsaken” seems to emphasize this theme.  It is not the same word he uses every other time in his writings, and the word that is used the majority of the time for “forsake” or “forsaken” in the KJV Bible.  That word does mean very close to our word “forsake” and it is used both to describe what Israel has done to the Lord and when the Lord denies that he has forsaken Israel.  But the word Isaiah uses here means “ to remain behind” when others leave, or to “let fall away” like what happens to leaves when they separate from a branch.  Knowing that fits with the idea that “they be replenished” which means “to fill or complete.”  So they left the Lord to “fill themselves” or find fulfillment and completion in other places.

The sobering part of personalizing “Israel” to myself, is that I must also personalize Jacob.  If what I desire is peace, prosperity, wisdom, truth, order, and to be elevated to and become something so much more than I am now, there is only one way, and that is to get on and stay on the path that leads to the “mountain of the Lord’s house.”  It is also sobering to realize, as I was recently reminded in General Conference, that I cannot escape the fact my actions and attitudes do influence others.  A dear friend shared with me her thoughts and impressions from this chapter.  One thing she shared emphasized how the spirit of this book penetrates our souls, even while we grabble with the language.  It was the words of the 5^th verse of the hymn “God Loved Us So He Sent His Son.”  I was not familiar with that verse and to me the words she shared made Isaiah’s message applicable and the hope he offers accessible through the gift of the Sacrament.  As Nephi said, “I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Nephi 3:7)

            In word and deed he doth require

My will to his, like son to sire,

            Be made to bend, and I, as son,

            Learn conduct from the Holy One.