Looking for the path to safety in the counsel of prophets makes sense
to those with strong faith…the choice not to take prophetic counsel
changes the very ground upon which we stand. It becomes more
dangerous. The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to
take inspired counsel in the future. The best time to have decided to
help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked. Each time he
asked after that, each failure to respond would have lessened
sensitivity to the Spirit. And so each time his request would have
seemed more foolish, until the rain came. And then it was too late.
~ Elder Henry B. Eyring
I really love this quote from Pres. Eyring. Following the prophet will keep us safe because he will always exhort us to follow God's commandments.
ReplyDeleteI had a rather profound message from the Spirit along these lines which immediately came to me following the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco. I was in our home in Walnut Creek with our two young kids (ages 4 and 1) while Darrell was preparing to travel home from his job in San Francisco. I remember looking down the hallway while the earthquake was happening to see it waving just like the top of an active ocean, and I wondered how the house could still stand after moving like that. Almost immediately after the last rolling motion stopped, while I was kneeling with my arms around my children, the Primary song "Keep the Commandments" came into my mind. I thought it was a prompting to sing it to my children, so I did:
Keep the commandments, keep the commandments, in this there is safety, in this there is peace. He will send blessings, He will send blessings! Words of a prophet - keep the commandments. In this there is safety and peace.
The message sank deep into my heart and I've never forgotten it. Is my motivation greater to follow the prophet because of that experience? I feel a renewal of that commitment even now as I remember the force of that moment. And I can testify that the power that comes from doing so includes peace and assurance that one can then handle any challenge that life brings.