Except the Lord doth chasten his people – Helaman 12:3 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize and Commentary
“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.”
This is so sad and yet so true. We tend to remember the Lord more often when we are in need of His help and blessings. We can and must flip that around in our lives and remember the Lord always, especially since we covenant with Him every week as we partake of the sacrament. When we flip that around, instead of our trials, afflictions, and chastisements serving as a means for us to remember Him, they will begin to be a catalyst to draw us evermore closer and closer to Him. They will be a means of purification and sanctification and help us to become like Him.
Neal A. Maxwell has many powerful talks helping us understand this concept. I will quote just two today. The first is from his talk, “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” where he explains it this way:
“Consecration is thus both a principle and a process, and it is not tied to a single moment. Instead, it is freely given, drop by drop, until the cup of consecration brims and finally runs over.
“Long before that, however, as Jesus declared, we must “settle this in [our] hearts” that we will do what He asks of us (JST, Luke 14:28). President Young further counseled us “to submit to the hand of the Lord, … and acknowledge his hand in all things, … then you will be exactly right; and until you come to that point, you cannot be entirely right. That is what we have to come to” (in Journal of Discourses, 5:352).”
I love how he says, “consecration is thus both a principle and a process.” As we understand this, we not only submit to the process but welcome it.
The second comes from his talk, “Plow in Hope,” where he said:
“The Lord is always quietly refining His faithful people individually anyway, but events will also illuminate God’s higher ways and His kingdom (see D&C; 136:31).”
We want to be a part of His higher ways and His kingdom, and for that to come to pass, we must be refined like gold. To learn more about the process of refining gold and how it applies to us, click here. The bottom line, is that we need to always remember the Lord, our God, and then will our trials, afflictions, and chastisements will serve to refine us and prepare us to serve Him, like we never have before. We will go forth boldly, in His name, armed with His light, His glory and His power and we will be the means of bringing many souls unto Him.
Craig
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