Personal Online Journal

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

"Many things which they cannot understand"

I wrote in January that I did not want to stumble.  I found the following passage from Jacob 4:14 very interesting.
But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
The Jews desired for many things that they did not understand.  The Lord provided these things to them that they may stumble.  I remember reading that before and thinking how foolish they were to seek for things that they cannot understand.  I have been guilty of this.


I must be seeking for that which satisfies.  Nephi prayed that he would be strict in the plain road.  I know that satisfying understanding comes from following what I know to be true.  I am confident that those things that I cannot understand will be answered eventually.

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Love it. Crazy how time and perspective change the meaning and application of scripture passages. They are such an amazing blessing from Heavenly Father.

Papa D said...

That principle is one of the reasons I am wary of "excessive" intellectualization - of picking something apart so much that it's impossible to put it back together, even in a different, more acceptable form.

I'm all for gaining an intellectual understanding of everything, to the extent possible - but dissecting something does no good if it dies in the process and can't be resurrected or re-energized in a different, workable form. It's especially egregious when one person kills the faith of someone else, almost always without understanding the death they cause and blaming the person whose faith they killed.