Becoming Greater

"So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him" (1 Chronicles 11:9)

Now, I know that I go on and on about King David, but look! here is the key, the reason, the explanation to his success: he didn't begin great.

I mean, from what we have David was a good boy, maybe even exceptional for his age and time, but not great. No, great came later. And greater came later still. To me, this means hope for myself. I'm not great, but through the Lord apparently I can wax greater and greater. I mean, even when David had committed his great sin and was seeking forgiveness, he had the spirit of prophecy and music (see Psalms). That's how great he was. And we can be that great too.

This verse about David is echoed about Christ: "the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom," (Luke 2:40); "saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace" (D&C 93:12).

Mortality is a growing experience, for everyone. If we are not where we want to be, then like David, we have to do it through the Lord. In fact, I don't know if anyone great has done it another way. And, if we are amazing already, God can always make us greater.

Temple View

"And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them"(1 Chronicles 9:27)

My husband was home-schooled, him and all his siblings. This was his mom's desire, who hadn't had the best time as a child in public school. Now, his mother, besides home-schooling her children, had another dream: she wanted to live in a house with a view to the temple. For various reasons, this never happened. But, aware of, and sharing their mother's dream, this family gave their "home-school" the name Templeview.

When I was reading 1 Chronicles about the different Levitical duties concerning the temple, I read about how some where to live by the temple and keep watch over it, and was reminded of Templeview. Some of us are physically able to do this, our backyard views opening up to a gorgeous view of a temple of God.

Others of us have to make our homes temples. And yes, that includes cleaning and organizing and not watching bad movies, but it's more than that. Our temple-homes can include genealogy and work for the dead, can be a place of prayer and holy communication, can even have off-key heavenly choirs.

Let's narrow this further: WE can be walking, talking temples. We can be a house for that third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost. We can constantly have that "temple-view".

Now, the scripture above said that this was their "charge". Let's take a look at what Moses originally intended for Israel: "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation"(Exodus 19:6); "would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets" (Numbers 11:29). And that was the idea when Israel was first founded, I would like to think we are able to meet, and succeed, these expectations nowadays.

We are part of Israel. We have temples. Many of us are priests, and prophets, holy men and women. Let us not forget our charge, let us always seek after obtaining that "temple-view"

Genealogy, Again

"So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies" (1 Chronicles 9:1)

So, I've said it a bazillion times, so here goes bazillion-and-one: genealogy is important. Books were devoted to it. Yes, it helped because when the Israelites came back from Babylon it helped to know what tribe you were from, or if you could serve in the temple or not. It helps Jews nowadays who are returning to Israel to know the same thing. Genealogies help gather God's people.

But, let's not make a mistake, an individual is worth more than their ancestors. So, why was Israel "reckoned" by genealogies? Remember, Israel wasn't some city that Abraham started, it was a family. He didn't seek out to set up a church or state, but a family that would grow so big it was its own nation. That was the covenant of Abraham, not that he would help build Zion on earth, but that he would start an eternal family of righteous men and women. Family was the special covenant, genealogy was a record of God keeping His covenant.

Also, let's think for a moment: if family is important, and where we come from is important, then let us go back all the way to our first family, to where we first came from. If we trace our genealogies back to the beginning, we find God. And so we are "reckoned" by our divine ancestry, which yes, implies a divine potential.

If we go all the way back in our genealogies, we find God; if we go all the way forward in our genealogies, we find ourselves.

How Will You React?

The first weekend in October brings General Conference, a gathering and sharing of latter-day prophets and holy women prophesying of Jesus Christ. Through them God may ask us to do something, or through the whisperings of the Spirit answers prays with a call to action.

Either way, we can accept or reject these promptings and instructions. How will we react to the Word?

Let us not be like the Pharisees and other wise men who rejected Jesus: Bible Video-Jesus declares He is the Messiah

Let's prepare now to be humble, and accept that we are before God's eyes, and He has a work for us.

Preparing For Conference

This upcoming weekend is the LDS General Conference, a meeting of prophets like Samuel to speak to the world. It is amazing. Maybe the Bible is hard because it was written for people thousands of years ago, so imagine how the Word of God is if spoken today!

The conference can be seen on the BYU channel, or online at lds.org.

So to prepare to listen to the words of the Lord's prophets, I'll post some past talks and a few quotes that should get up pumped up.

"You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you."

~"Trust in God, Then Go and Do" Elder Eyring, October 2010 General Conference

A Time For Singing

"And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order" (1 Chronicles 6:31-32)

David made part of the priestly worship singing? No surprise there, a very David-esque thing to do. And God seemed to be okay with it. In fact, the scriptures that Jesus quoted most often were from Isaiah and the Psalms.

But, when Solomon's temple was built, it appears that the 'service of song' stopped, and the men resumed the normal priesthood administrations of the Levite order. This can be compared to the latter-days and Joseph Smith, to whom God said that baptisms for the dead were okay to perform in rivers until the temple was built. With the temple, ordinances done in rivers was no continued.

From a mortal perspective it looks like God is inconsistent with His instructions. But really, it is just the divine trying to work with imperfect mortals. There is a time for rivers, and a time for temples, a time for singing, and a time for silence. One is not necessarily more right than another, God allows for our limitations and confines, and for our expression of rejoicing.

Maybe this is what God means when He says that His house is a "house of order" (D&C109:8)--that he puts people and priesthood into order, like filing away papers into a folder, organizing them. He can choose to order a different way for different times. This would explain why there are different orders of the priesthood.

Just remember, even though there are places and time of reverence, God also enjoys times of singing. Song can make prophets of us all.

Did God Just Call Me A Prostitute?

"and they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land" (1 Chronicles 5:25)

Israel went after other gods, and so God allowed Assyria to take them away. I've mentioned this before, in the Books of Kings they described it this way: "and sold themselves to do evil" (2 Kings 17:17). Selling ourselves feels like slavery, that to get those things we think will make us happy we are willing to sell our freedom. The writers of Chronicles are adding a new twist to the idea.

What is our relationship with God? We are God's children, His sons and daughters, everyone. But beyond that, to lay claim to that relationship, we enter into a covenant relationship. A covenant relationship is like the marriage commitment: we promise to love Him, only Him, forever. So, when we go after other gods that's an obvious breach of commitment. This could mean other religions, other gods, other beliefs and philosophies that don't worship the Father. It could also be TV, sports, clothes, money--anything that is putting God second, or third, or fourth.

And when we do that, yes, we're whoring ourselves. We are selling ourselves, our time and effort and money, or very souls, for something else. Something that we think will make us happier. And, isn't that usually the case when someone leaves a marriage? They aren't satisfied with their current happiness, and so look for someone else they think can make them happier.

The only problem is, if the one making the relationship not all it can be is you, then no matter who you hitch your wagon too you'll never be happy. But a covenant relationship with God is more than just two people living together, it is a relationship designed to make us better, heal us, make us all we can be. No other relationship, or person, or thing, can save us, can through the burdens of life away. So when we seek after something other than our Father, we are selling ourselves cheap, for someone who doesn't know our real value, who won't be able to release the god within us all.