Stories about oceans have been swirling about my mind this past month. I think the catalyst for this was reading a story at the beginning of the lesson about when Lorenzo Snow was on his way to serve a mission in England. He and his fellow travelers were on a ship, crossing the Atlantic, when a terrible storm arose. He did not fear because he knew he was on the Lord's errand. In recalling that experience later, he stated, "My trust was in Him who created the seas and defined their bounds. . .and, although the elements raged and the ship swayed and trembled amid the heaving billows, He [God] was at the helm, and my life was safe in His keeping."
This story led my mind to the story of Peter walking on the water. My first thought was, now that's a story that reflects that "with God all things are possible." Here's the text from Matthew 14:25:
"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear." But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it is thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." And he [Jesus] said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me." And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore [i.e. why] dids't thou doubt?"
All month those two stories hung out in the back of my mind. . . .
. . . then, my family went overnight camping for my daughter's birthday. As I left our house, I grabbed an old copy of John H. Groberg's book, "In the Eye of the Storm", thinking that it might be fun to read one of the chapters aloud as a bedtime story. I had forgotten how much I like that book. About a week ago, the book was lying on my nightstand and I picked it up and started reading the first chapter. It's the story about when, after having a particularly successful day preaching the gospel, they are on their way back to their island and a storm arises. When the weather first turned bad, Elder Groberg's comments in the book seem a lot like President Snow's. He wrote, " The captain expressed concern as he noted the heavy storm clouds ahead. I told him not to worry, as we were on the Lord's errand. I reminded him that many people had heard and believed our testimonies. We were now on our way home, and He would surely protect us the rest of the way. The captain said that the storm was directly in our path and seemed to be coming toward us; he even suggested that we turn back to the last island. I again told him not to worry. . . " But the story ended different than President Snow's. Instead of weathering the storm the boat that Elder Groberg was in capsized. He writes, "As I flew through the air, I remember thinking, "This can't be happening! This isn't right! Where's our protection?" My whole life seemed to flash before me in that instant. It was not a pleasant--or unpleasant--sensation, just factual. Somewhere between my bruised confidence and temporary complaining, I felt a distant assurance that gave me an element of peace." He goes on to tell how he survived . Some of his statements stood out to me. For example, as he fell down into the water, he described the pressure as being "unbearable." When he finally resurfaced he said that he "could see no one and hear nothing but the confused sounds of a swirling sea of madness." When he thought about his predicament he felt, "This can't be! This isn't true! I'm a missionary; this isn't supposed to happen! I'm not supposed to swim!" Finally he realized that he was there, and had "better quit complaining and start swimming." He realized that he "could not spare one ounce of effort in complaining or wondering" because he "needed to conserve all [his] energy to swim, and breathe, and keep [his]head above water."
Three stories about the ocean. All are about deliverance and, while clearly different, they are all fundamentally the same. The title of the lesson is, "With God all Things are Possible."
The story about Peter is probably the most striking example that with God all things are possible. Walking on water is not scientific in a human sense. To be honest, I can't really wrap my head around the idea. But it happened because his faith in the Savior unlocked within him the divine ability to overcome physical laws.
The story teaches several important truths.
1. Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, enables one to accomplish things that would be impossible to accomplish alone.
2. Keeping our eye single to His glory, or in other words focused squarely on Him, enables us to feel peace and keep moving forward no matter what chaos exists around us.
3. Fear makes us weak.
4. When we call out to him in our extremity, He will "immediately stretch forth his hand, and [catch] us.
The stories about Lorenzo Snow and John Groberg are interesting to compare because in many ways their experiences were similar.
Similarities between Lorenzo Snow's experience and John Groberg's:
1. Both had faith.
2. Both were on the Lord's errand.
3. Both were accompanied by those they felt were doubters.
4. Both felt peace amid the chaos around them.
5. Both were preserved.
Differences:
1. The storm increased in intensity and capsized the boat Elder Groberg was in.
2. Elder Groberg had to exert all his effort to keep from drowning and swim to shore.
Elder Groberg, looking back after many years, made the following observation:
"I have thought a lot about that experience. God was with us. He saved us. He could have brought us through the storm unscathed and landed us safely in our home port of Pangai. But for some reason, He chose otherwise. I have heard it said that sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes He lets that storm rage and calms His child. I don't know why the storm came, why we got caught in it, or why things went the way they did; but I do know we eventually arrived home safely. No matter the trouble, we were safe and alive and had experienced firsthand His saving grace." That last line deserves to be spoken twice.
He went on to state: "So often in life we think that because we have done things in a certain way, certain results should follow. But life is like the ocean. Sometimes we get caught in squalls and storms and things don't go the way we think they should, even when we think we have done right. But God can find us in the eye of a storm and give us courage to swim in rough water. We learn lessons from storms that we cannot learn from calm seas. . . . When we find ourselves in these squalls or storms, we should remember we don't have enough energy to complain and still keep our head above water. Our duty is to swim, not wonder or complain. We need to get to shore and must leave the reasons for the storm with the Lord. If all the effort we put into asking "why" were used in swimming, a lot more of us, with His help, would reach shore. . . "
With God's help, we can do anything required of us.
There are a lot of examples from the scriptures that support this statement. In fact, as I've thought about it, it seems that this is one of the great reoccurring themes. It seems pretty clear to me that God desires that we understand that He will help us to accomplish whatever He asks of us.
Some things that come to mind are as follows:
1. Enoch, when called by the Lord to preach repentance didn't feel qualified at all. His response is recorded in Moses 6:31 and the Lord's answer to that response is in 6:32.
"And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying, "Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?" And the Lord said unto Enoch: "Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good."
2. Moses, had self doubts as well when he was called by the Lord to go to Egypt. In Exodus 4:10-12 it states, "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not elogquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto they servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." And the Lord said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." When Moses still doubted the Lord provided a mouthpiece for him in the form of his brother, Aaron. Moses then went as did what he was "taught" (see vs. 15) and what transpired for the next 40 years was a generation that was literally shown that "with God nothing is impossible."
3. Nephi, when asked to return to Jerusalem to get the brass plates from a very difficult person to deal with replied in 1 Nephi 3:7, "I will go and do what the Lord hath commanded for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." It took a couple of tries on their own, before God miraculously came to Nephi's aid as he went forth,"not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do" (4:6).
4. Nephi built a ship when he'd never learned anything about ship building. I love what he said to his brothers when they taunted him. "If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles amoung the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?" (17:50-51)
In the manual, there is an excerpt from a talk President Snow gave in which he gave an example of a man who decided not to do what the Lord asked of him. Here is the story from the 19th chapter of Matthew (vs 16,1822):
"And, behold, one came and said unto him [Jesus], "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life." . . . Jesus said, "Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not stead, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The young man saith unto him, "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet." Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions."
There is a lot to learn from this story. It really isn't about how hard it is for rich people to get to heaven. The rich man is no different from all of us. His question was specific, "What lack I yet?" Jesus understood this. If and when each of us ask this question in prayer, our answer will be personal. He will ask us to do that which is the very hardest for us to do because it's really the only way that we learn that the only way to truly be free is to give our life willingly and completely to God. That concept is hard because it just doesn't make sense to the "natural man." (It's like the story of the warm fuzzies that goes around girl's camps every summer. The people are all happy because they freely give out warm fuzzies. Then bad guy enters and tells them if they keep giving away warm fuzzies they will end up without any for themselves. And we all know what happened . . .) So, what's the important question to ask with regard to this story? Well, I'd say that it would be, "What did this man give up?" It's in the invitation that Christ made to him. "Come and follow me." How did Jesus invite his disciples? This man was given the invitation to become intimately acquainted with the Son of God. If I'm not mistaken, the invitation is there for us as well. Jesus understood how difficult it is for us to give up those worldly things (or desires or habits or whatever) when he said, "With men this is impossible [to do]." But He didn't end there. He added, "but, with God all things are possible."
That's where the title of this lesson comes from. I thought it came from the story about the father and his son. When the father asked the Savior to help, he answered, "If thou cans't believe, all things are possilbe to him that believeth." (Mark 9:23) That's more a story about faith in the sense of believing. The story about the rich man is more about faith in the sense of action--to do, to sacrifice, etc.
God has promised to help us in our personal efforts to live the gospel.
Before the class starts, I think I will place a piece of paper on each chair with the words, "With God all things are possible" written on it. During this part of the lesson, I would like people to share what that phrase means to them personally. This part of the lesson is about the quiet aid that we receive from heaven as we try to overcome our weaknesses and learn to live the gospel better. These include the "tiny miracles"--the "tender mercies" that we can receive on a daily basis. I hope that members of the class will share some personal experiences about how they have felt God's help to live better.
Quotes from Lorenzo Snow:
"No man or woman should be discouraged when they feel that they cannot complete what they would like to perform, but we all should do what we can toward carrying out the grand work for which we are here."
"In and of ourselves we cannot possibly comply with all the commandments that God has given unto us. Jesus himself could not without divine aid from His Father accomplish His work. . . [I]f it was necessary for Him, our Lord, to have divine assistance, [we] will find it all the more improtant to receive His assistance. And in every circumstance and condition surrounding the Latter-day Saints, while in the performace of their duties, they are entitled to supernatural aid from the Holy Spirit, to help in the various conditions surrounding them, and in the duties that they are required to perform."
When we participate in God's work, we need God's help.
This last section is similar to the previous thought. I think the point they want us to consider is that we shouldn't forget to Ask for divine assistance and Receive it. How often does the ask-seek-knock invitation appear in scripture? Maybe it's because it's important.
"This work in which you and I are engaged can only prosper and be forwarded through the blessings of God upon our faithful and honest exertions and our determination to accomplish the labors for which we have come into this existence. When we look back upon the through which we have passed, we easily understand that our prosperity has been dependent upon our honest endeavors to accomplish the work of God, to labor in the interest of the people, and to rid ourselves as far as possible of selfishness. This having been so in the past, we can well believe that our future progress will depend upon our determination to do the will of God under all circumstances [think about the rich man] and the aid which He shall give to us." --Lorenzo Snow
"[T]he Lord's promise to us personally is that if we do what is right, He will give us peace no matter what the environment. I know that to be true. That peace may not come in the way we think or how, where, or when we think, but in the eternal scheme of things, it will come in the way best for us and we will yet praise His name for things we do not now understand." --John H. Groberg
