2 Nephi 28:30 - Be Not Discouraged

This morning just before leaving the house for a walk, my daughter called quite confused over what she was listening to in the scriptures.  She happened to be on 1 Nephi 19 and she wanted to know who was writing. 

Having this discussion with her brought a flood of memories to my mind that I decided I want to commit to my “Scripture Musings”. 

I believe discouragement is one of Satan’s biggest tools.  I have vivid memories of the early years after my conversion.  I had read The Book of Mormon from cover to cover.  I did not understand all of it, but I enjoyed those stories I remembered and the lessons they taught.  It made me feel good and I kept going back for more.  This is key to getting to the point of understanding.

As I was walking this morning, I was listening to a podcast and the speaker said something about “. . . line upon line precept upon precept”, which triggered a chain of thoughts.  I came home and looked up the scripture.  It is 2 Nephi 28:30 “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”

Is this not really the way it works?  We are given bits of knowledge at a time to learn from and digest, and then we are given to know more as we seek it.  It was that way for me.  I will never forget sometime after conference when I was making my bed and pondering.  I was thinking about reading the scriptures and the fact I didn’t really have a reading schedule or goal.  I said to myself, “who do you think they are talking to when they say we need to be reading our scriptures?”  That was the beginning of my serious scripture study.  I have since been able to attend some scripture study classes which have been most helpful, but most importantly, I have given myself to serious scripture study on my own time.  I’m grateful for the blessing of being able to do so.  I realize time is a serious issue in all of our lives.  I will add next point to my ponderings of this day though.

I had an opportunity to visit with a medical student who had some amazing experiences getting him to where he was in his life.  It could make a book, but I’ll pare it down.  He had a strong testimony of the power of scripture study because of an experience he had with his little brother who is dyslexic.  They were on a trip that was halted because of poor weather which kept them in a hotel room for an extended period of time.  There wasn’t much else they could do, so he read with his brother.  He worked with his brother as he read from the Book of Mormon.  It was tedious and not particularly fun when all of a sudden the words started to appear normal to his brother and he was reading at grade level.  He noticed this to be at about 30 minutes into their session of reading.  So the next day, they read again for thirty minutes from the Book of Mormon and the same thing happened again.  It looked to him as if 30 minutes was a magic time.  From that point on, his brother was reading at least 30 minutes daily from the Book of Mormon and it was as though he had no dyslexic problem at all!

So what does this have to do with me?  Well, I was struggling more than ever to have the energy I needed daily to meet the demands that were placed on me.  I couldn’t care for my family decently say nothing about read my scriptures.  This young man’s story had not fallen on deaf ears.  I knew I needed to recommit myself to reading my scriptures.  The next day, I awoke 30 minutes earlier than usual and read my Book of Mormon.  I set the alarm for 30 minutes while I read my scriptures.  I noticed it wasn’t long before setting the alarm wasn’t necessary.  Sometimes I read longer.  This next observation was the miracle.  I noticed I made it through my day with energy to spare.  This boost to my energy allowed me to accomplish more in my day than I otherwise would have.  It truly seemed to me to be a miracle. 

These meanderings seemed to take me in a direction different from what I first intended.  I added to my scripture study ready references in the footnotes.  Most often it would lead to greater understanding of what I was reading.  I also started writing in the margins of my own book so they became my scriptures – messages for me.  This is greatly improved my understanding and ability to remember what I’ve been reading.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this:  Don’t be discouraged that you don’t understand all there is to understand today.  It is a process.  Just as Nephi said in 2 Nephi 28:30 – “. . . line upon line precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. . .”  It will come.  Just keep doing your best to add to the knowledge you have so far.  I testify it will come!