In listening to the Jim Rohn materials, I gleaned some insight that at first seemed at odds with Alma 32. In further examining it, i find it is in perfect harmony. Rohn suggests that we are not given what we need, we are given what we deserve. I believe I may have used his analogy elsewhere, but it applies here, especially. You can't go out to a barren field and say to it, "I'm hungry, I need food," and expect that the field will deliver food to you. There must be planting, nourishing, weeding cultivating and harvesting before we can enjoy the fruits of our field. That is why we call it "fruits of our labor."
Yet it seems, sometimes, that we petition God for fruit that we have not planted or cultivated. We get frustrated when we don't get immediate answers to prayers and assume he has not heard us, He does not care, or He does not exist. We fail to see our role in all this.
It doesn't take much to realize our desires, really, though it may seem like it while we are in the process. It always, however, takes faith. If we want any blessing from God or from the earth, for that matter, faith is always required. Alma 32, unlike the scriptures (such as Hebrews 11) that describe faith, describes how to acquire faith. Like everything else in life, it begins with a desire. It must be a sincere desire and not just a wish to have some supernatural experience.
While it begins with a desire, it does not end with the desire. We don't get what we need, we get what we deserve. Therefore, we must let the desire work in us and nourish it. Like a seed, the initial care has to be constant and intense. Once the plant matures, it still must be nourished, but with a modicum of care. The mature plant cannot be taken for granted or neglected, but fed and nourished with prayer, study, teaching, writing, bearing testimony, service, magnifying callings and being constantly mindful of the need to subject our will to the will of God.
The other aspect of desire that is not often expressed is that God desires to bless us. He desires for us to believe (v. 22) and is merciful to those who do. He amply supplies His word through various means including angels (v. 23). Of course, Satan also desires to have us that he may sift us as wheat.
Thus, we have agency. We choose between them whose agent (worker) we will be. Both desire us. Only one loves us enough to support, sustain and love us through the difficulties of growth. The other only entices us (very successfully at times) with empty promises and insatiable appetites, eventually leaving us having accomplished little of eternal significance. Logically, it should be easy to follow the only One who truly desires to bless us, but we do little by logic, unfortunately.
I have learned over and over in life that God wants to bless us. I know that is true.
ReplyDeleteI read Alma 32 quickly after reading your thoughts and I have a new excitement for exercising faith in God's word. Alma 32 talks about a lot of different ways to hear God's word, but the way I'm thinking of it now is faith in Christ.
The difference between The Plan of Happiness and Satan's plan is the Savior and His power and ability to forgive, heal, and even perfect each of us if we deserve it. I want to deserve it! By putting my faith in Christ. By believing God's word that He would provide a Savior for us so we could do everything He asks of us. In and through Christ is how our desires turn in to great realities.
I often think about faith in God because I have responsibility over the Activity Day girls and the point of that program is to nurture Faith in God. Right now I think that faith in God means knowing His love for me and His plan for me and acknowledging Christ in that plan.
I listened to Elder Oaks' April 2011 conference talk just yesterday (because maybe I have some desires I want to change :)
Desire. Labor. Faith.
How do we change desire? Vision. Assurance. When we have a vision of what we can be our desire and power to act increase enormously. I have glimpses of visions in the temple. That's one reason it's important for me to go often because I feel like I'm just beginning to have these glimpses of visions and I need practice with them to understand it.
God's ways are logical. I agree that we don't naturally do things based on logic, but if we put our faith in Christ we really can change our ways to God's ways and become something like Elder Oaks talked about, through Christ.