Why should you keep a journal?
I keep a journal for multiple reasons. First, we’ve been told to keep records of important spiritual things that happen in our lives. Second, I do not have the memory I had before having children. I find that if I keep a journal I can remember so much more of my life. There are many things I could write about. I like to have a diary of the regular daytime activities and then a journal where I write how I have been inspired, what special things my daughters have done, what experiences I have that I learn life lessons from, what trials I go through and how they resolve, etc. I heard recently that after 3 generations you are forgotten, so I hope that maybe my journals will help my posterity to know what I was like.
“Now behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain (v. 1); But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers (v. 2)—Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents (v. 3).” I could not even imagine having to engrave my journal upon plates. It was time consuming and difficult, so naturally what is included in the scriptures is what was the most important things for us to read. I love writing in my journals and I hope that my family will enjoy seeing them someday.
How to gain unshakable faith
Thinking of the miracles that the Savior did, such as calming the sea, I asked myself if I thought I could do this. I believe that if I was in the right spirit and it was what God would want me to do than I could. I have learned that I can do the things the Lord wants me to do, but I need to continue to work on hearing the promptings of the spirit.
“For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us (v. 4). Jacob wanted his family to know that they believed in Jesus Christ.
“Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son (v. 5).” The Nephites kept the law of Moses because they worshiped Christ and God so they obeyed his laws. Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses and now we follow the gospel which has been restored in its fullness to the earth.
“Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea (v. 6).” The Nephites followed the prophets of old and gained personal revelations from God. It we do this as well, we can have this promise that we could calm the seas in the name of Jesus. We have many witnesses of the truth of the gospel. Some include the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. We also have the general authorities who share their witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. We also have our own personal revelation which is a witness from the Holy Ghost to our hearts of the truth. The more we read the witnesses of the prophets found in the scriptures, we can have a stronger faith in their witness. I think that if I was unmovable in the faith, I could do many miracles. ”Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things (v. 7).
What does it mean to counsel the Lord?
“Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works (v. 10).” I think when I read this that to “counsel the Lord” means to bargain or haggle with the Lord. We should follow the Lord’s counsel because “the Lord God showeth us our weakness (v. 7)”, “great and marvelous are the works of the Lord (v. 8 )”, “it is impossible that man should find out all his ways (v. 8 )”, and “By the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word (v. 9).” The Lord truly knows what is best for us. If we have been inspired by the spirit, then we should do that thing and not the things that come from our own understanding.
Where did the actions of the Jews lead them?
I think “looking beyond the mark” means looking pass the thing that we should be targeting or understanding. We often look beyond the mark when it comes to the savior. He is there for us all the time, to help us and to show us the path to God. Often times we look right passed him to other “authorities” or idols and we use them as the examples of the path we should take.
“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 (v. 14).” The Jews wanted the mysteries of God and not the simple truths of the Gospel. We learn from the examples in the scriptures that if you ask God for some things many times, He will give them to you even when they may not be what is best for you. He does this so that we can learn from our mistakes. The Jews were given the mysteries, but without understanding the simple gospel, they are a stumbling block to their knowledge.
“And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation (v. 15). But behold, according to the scriptures, this stone shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build (v. 16). And now, my beloved, how is it possible that these, after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner (v. 17)?” We have seen that the Jews of old until today, have focused on the rituals of life, but they have missed the most important part of God’s plan, which is the gift of the Savior and His atonement. We need to believe in Christ and use the atonement in our lives. This is how we can build on the safe and sure foundation.
In this chapter, Jacob records why he wrote what he did on these plates, even though it was hard to do so. He says in verse 3 “…we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.” He continues in verse 4 “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.”
As I was reading this, I remembered a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland regarding what our children may think regarding our testimonies. It was called “A Prayer for the Children” given at April Conference 2003. At the end of this talk, he states: “Nephi-like, might we ask ourselves what our children know? From us? Personally? Do our children know that we love the scriptures? Do they see us reading them and marking them and clinging to them in daily life? Have our children ever unexpectedly opened a closed door and found us on our knees in prayer? Have they heard us not only pray with them but also pray for them out of nothing more than sheer parental love? Do our children know we believe in fasting as something more than an obligatory first-Sunday-of-the-month hardship? Do they know that we have fasted for them and for their future on days about which they knew nothing? Do they know we love being in the temple, not least because it provides a bond to them that neither death nor the legions of hell can break? Do they know we love and sustain local and general leaders, imperfect as they are, for their willingness to accept callings they did not seek in order to preserve a standard of righteousness they did not create? Do those children know that we love God with all our heart and that we long to see the face—and fall at the feet—of His Only Begotten Son? I pray that they know this.”
Jacob writes that he hopes that his brethren and his children know that he has a strong testimony and he reinforces this hope by writing his testimony on the plates, which are lasting.
Elder Holland counsels us to: “Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. Give priesthood blessings. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own. The prophet Nephi said near the end of his life that they had written their record of Christ and preserved their convictions regarding His gospel in order ‘to persuade our children … that our children may know … [and believe] the right way.’ ”
As we go about our lives, it sometimes may seem that there are dangers around from which we can’t protect our children. The prophets in the scriptures and our living prophets today teach us that if we keep the commandments and put our faith in Christ, we will prosper. Heavenly Father wants His children to be happy.
Elder Holland writes: “For that baby’s future as well as your own, be strong. Be believing. Keep loving and keep testifying. Keep praying. Those prayers will be heard and answered in the most unexpected hour. God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child—and to the parent of a child.”