Divine Signatures by Gerald. N. Lund

Author:Gerald. N. Lund [Lund, Gerald N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2010-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

Divine Signatures That Fortify Faith

In the scriptures, we are warned against trying to establish faith by demanding some kind of evidence beforehand. So-called “sign seeking” is condemned by the Lord. On two different occasions, the Savior said that it was “an evil and adulterous generation” that sought after signs (Matthew 12:39; 16:4). In a modern revelation, the Lord was even more specific:

There are those among you who seek signs, and there have been such even from the beginning; But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe. Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God. . . . Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith. (D&C 63:8–10, 12)

Yet there are examples where the Lord asked something of a person that was so overwhelming, or so beyond their limited abilities, that they felt they could not succeed. In those cases, the Lord chose to give them specific signs to fortify their faith. When Moses was overwhelmed with the thought of delivering Israel from Egypt, the Lord strengthened his courage with three miracles—his staff was turned into a serpent and then back to a staff; his hand was turned leprous and then restored; and water from the river was turned into blood (see Exodus 4:1–9).

Gideon was asked to deliver Israel from the iron hand of the Midianites. It seemed such an impossible task that Gideon bargained with the Lord, asking for evidence that this request was really from Him. He first asked that a fleece of wool on the floor become wet with dew but nothing else around it. When that happened, Gideon asked that the opposite happen—that the floor be wet but not the fleece. Surprisingly the Lord did not chastise him for this lack of faith, but did as Gideon suggested (see Judges 6:36–40). Once fortified, Gideon went on to destroy the Midianites with only three hundred men.

Such examples seem to run counter to what God has said about sign seeking, but in the case of both Moses and Gideon, the signs given were done to fortify faith as they were asked to undertake a very difficult task for the Lord. I have come to believe that sometimes this is true in our modern world as well. God knows all things. He knows the hearts of each individual. Sometimes what the Lord asks of people may be so difficult that they need a special witness so their courage will be strengthened.

Stake Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland

Just a month after my wife and I arrived in England, I was assigned to travel north to Edinburgh, Scotland, for a stake conference. As part of the conference, I was to release President Stephen C. Kerr as he had served a full term of service as stake president. Then we were to reorganize the stake presidency.

We wanted to start interviewing the stake’s priesthood leadership early Saturday morning, so my wife and I drove up to Edinburgh on Friday afternoon.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.