Exodus 14-18 - Parting the Waters

That was I mean the the days pre-CGI that was some incredible special effects party in the Red Sea you just picture your audiences aghast like how did they do that? Well, when the Lord did it, it wasn't special effects. Okay. It was, it was a God of miracles. the God of the plagues now became the God of the parted waters. And allowing Israel to move forward, I mean, there's such great symbolism uh within the Red Sea that here's this boundary.

Separating your past from your future. Will you be able to cross it? Will you be trapped in your old life and never fully be able to be free of it? Or will God somehow open a miraculous way of escape? So that you can be fully delivered by him. And be able to march forward with faith toward your land of promise. Oh, there's incredible things about the story that we're going to be studying today. Uh so if we can get past Charlton Heston.

Which w made a great mob Moses, I'll admit. In fact, I I sometimes wonder, I hope Charlton Heston was a good person, a good upstanding moral man, because My age and older, that's what Moses looks like, at least in our minds. And so if he only made it to the terrestrial kingdom, I feel bad for anyone else who's there and they're like, What m not even Moses made it to this alleged kingdom? Man, no wonder we didn't make it either.

Well God Moses definitely made it to the Switcher kingdom. I'm hoping Charlton Heston did too. More importantly, I'm hoping that you and I get there. And if we will trust in the God of deliverance, that we're coming to know through these stories in Exodus, then he'll definitely lead us home. The promised land lies ahead. The Mount Sinai with its with its commandments and laws that are meant to sanctify us.

Well, to get there, we're going to have to cross what seems an uncrossable barrier, but with God's help, all things are possible. Now, one other word before we we jump into the story. Uh when I was in college, this is one of the what the highlights of my life, I did a semester studying abroad in the Middle East. We live in Jerusalem for five months. But we went on field trips all over the place, including down to the Sinai Peninsula.

so that we could hike Mount Sinai. We got to the base of the mountain in the middle of the night and then started hiking in the darkness so that we could be on the top when the sun rose, and it was breathtaking. Uh didn't need a burning bush. It was an incredible experience.

Uh, but uh on the opposite extreme of the experience was something that happened the day after. We were staying at this kind of hotel sort of thing, uh on the shores of the Red Sea. So how could we not think about Moses partying the waters, right? Well, there was all kinds of stuff going on. We're just having fun there on the on the shores. And well, I'll put it this way, I'm a city slicker, uh, but I've always dreamed of like riding horseback into the sunset. And I got my chance there.

Yeah, I was go there was this Egyptian family that had a bunch of horses and they were going around kind of offering rides. I mean, first a little bokshish, a little money, uh, you can do just about anything. And And this is my chance. I I can gallop on horseback across down the shores of the Red Sea. This is gonna be like Lawrence of Arabia meets the Ten Commandments. It's gonna be epic.

Uh well, not quite so much. When I first laid eyes on the horses I was like, um, should I ride them or should they ride me? Because these are not exactly the sturdy beasts that I had that I had pictured, uh so skinny, like uh ribs poking out from under the the the hide. Well, we jumped on anyway and started to to ride. In fact, started to gallop. It was exhilarating. Until I realized that I had no control over this horse.

I was trying to get it to go to the left and so I reined in that side and it turned its head and kept galloping forward. Like that's not how it's supposed to happen. I turned it to the right and it turned, but it's kept galloping forward. I finally said, Forget this thing and I pulled the reins in. And it lifted its head up and just kept galloping forward. Thought this is not how it's supposed to go. Well it It's definitely leading the show. And it starts galloping straight toward

all of my friends there on the beach and I'm like, oh great, I'm gonna trample a classmate today. This is not what I pictured. Uh it veered off thankfully, but then it aims straight for like this beach uh volleyball. set, uh the net, and I'm like, Oh, I'm going to get clothes lined, uh, by this horse. Then it veered off from that and aimed towards a beach umbrella.

that had a metal ring around the outside, uh, to hold things up and it was right around neck high. And I'm like when I'm on horseback and I thought, Oh, it's going to decapitate me. I'm not liking either option. Trample a friend, get clothes lined on the volleyball net, or get my head uh decapitated by by a beach umbrella.

Well, it finally ran out of steam and stopped. The little Egyptian boy that was following us is like, You want to keep going? I'm like, No, no, no, no. I'm good. I am good. I'm going to get off and quit while I'm ahead, or at least alive. uh and and end things and that was my my red sea experience. Now the one that Moses and the Israelites were going to have in some ways felt similar in terms of there's no good options here. Uh what uh what are we going to do?

And yet the miracle that unfolded for them. I hope it reassures us of the miracles that await you and me as God is bringing us out of Egyptian bondage and toward a promised land. Oh good times ahead. So let's begin. Exodus chapter 14. If you remember the end of thirteen, they're beginning their journey and they have had a pillar of fire, a cloud of smoke that has guided them.

And about a week into this journey Chapter fourteen begins. Verse one, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel. That they turn and encamp before Paihachiroth, between Migdal and the sea, over against Baal Zephon, before it shall ye encamp by the sea. Now I have no idea if I pronounced any of those in places correctly, but oh well.

I used to joke with my seminary students way back in the day, I'd always have them read verses like that, with place names or the names of people in Hebrew and obscure stuff and they were just squirming like, I don't know how to say this and I'd always laugh, going, Well, why do you think I asked you to do it? I don't know how to say it either.

That's not the point of scripture. Uh, but what is, let's see what it's happening here. God is guiding them, telling Moses uh to tell the people this is how we're going to go along our path. Now this one's gonna seem a little strange, especially to Moses, because Moses has been to Mount Sinai.

He's coming back to it and from then on to a place he's never been, namely the Promised Land. But if he's been to Sinai, which he has, then he knows this isn't the right way. There's a more direct path to get to the Holy Mountain, and it's not through these places. In fact, We're going to get stuck because we're headed to we're too far south. We're going to we're going to hit the Red Sea and not be able to to progress.

Now, evidently Pharaoh was going to feel the same thing. And so God tells Moses in the next verse, for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land. The wilderness hath shut them in. And evidently that's what God wanted Pharaoh to think. To me it's interesting that Following the Lord's ways might seem like a dead end to those who are following the ways of the world. If you are seeking pos prosperity and prestige and power and popularity and all those Ps,

then following God does seem like you're lost. You're not gonna find those things on your journey, to which we can say, well that's not what I'm looking for. I'm not going the world's way. I'm going the Lord's way. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And so wherever he's leading me, even if it seems like I'm going in circles, in your opinion, or heading in a dead-end direction, so be it.

I I do love the language though, as Pharaoh's pondering, they're gonna be entangled in the land. They have no idea where they where they are going or where they are. The wilderness will shut them in. Because the irony is, actually that describes you, Pharaoh. in your worldly wickedness. Talk about a will a wilderness that is shutting you in. You never had the eyes to see what was happening all around you.

you never changed and began to follow the Lord and going in the right direction. Entangled in the land, you were so entangled in your own pride, in your own obstinacy, your own hardened heart. Talk about being wrapped up in the cares of the world, even when your world is falling apart all around you. No, if there's anyone entangled, it's being entangled in sin. Anyone shut in. It's not feeling the freedom that can come through the deliverance God offers each of us.

Now in verse four, the Lord says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. Now by now we should be expecting a JST to fix that, and sure enough, there is one. Pharaoh will harden his heart, that he shall follow after them, and I, the Lord says, will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. Now that last line should ring some bells too. How many times did we see it last week? Plague after plague, that they may know that I am the Lord.

Well, even ten plagues later, they still don't quite get it. They have forgotten already. And so here's Pharaoh, we should follow after him. What? Are you kidding me? We're finally free of them. Why do you think we gave them all of our jewels? We let them plunder the riches of Egypt. We

I'd just rather survive this whole experience. We barely did. And yet talk about a dog back to its vomit, or a swine a sow back to it wallowing in the mire, Here's Pharaoh saying, let's let's hunt them down, let's follow them. Well, as far as the Lord's concerned, that's fine. I will be honored upon Pharaoh. I will give him one last display of my power. And people will know who I am.

In verse five, it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this that we have let Israel go from serving us? Seriously? Do you not remember why you let Israel go? Why have we done this? Why would we let them leave? Uh, does Nile turn to blood ring any bells?

Uh how about frogs and lice and flies and uh pestilence, boils, blanes, dead cattle. No, none of that ringing any bell okay. Um locusts? There's nothing left in Egypt. Darkness? Surely you remember death. A great cry that went through all of Egypt. Still hanging in the ear in the air. It's still weighing on your heavy heart. Why did why have we done this? Because of everything your unwillingness to let your sins go was doing to you.

There's something about sinfulness that brings a certain degree of stupidity with it. Sherry Doo used to say that. Sin makes you stupid. Uh if if that's too strong of a word, at least it makes us forgetful. It's what Nephi was saying to Laman and Lemuel all the time. How could you have forgotten so quickly all that God has done for us? In Pharaoh's case, all that God has done to us. No. There there seems to be Picture sin like a syringe that Satan is trying to stick into us.

Well, there always seems to be a little anaesthetic mixed in with the poison. And it's that anesthetic that deadens us to the pain the consequences of our own poor decisions. And and that anesthetic also brings a bit of amnesia to the point of it it's hard for us to remember fully just how bad we had it. Before we repented.

No, we start to wonder, why did I ever change? Why did I say I was never going to do that again? We saw that so many times last week. When things were hard, I'll let the people go. But as soon as the plague passes, what was I thinking? No, you're still stuck. Even to the point of massive death and destruction, and he's still wondering yet again, why would I ever let them go? I hear this sometimes from my wife and son working with addiction recovery patients.

There are times where things are so far gone that and people so forgetful of what they've done to themselves that you almost have to sit them down and say, You're either going to go into recovery or you will die. Uh, there's you're at that point. And Pharaoh was now at that point, but refused to remember, refused to repent. In verse six, he made ready his chariot, ready to launch headlong into this.

He took his people with him. He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. Makes me wonder where he found all the horses to help guide or to drive all those chariots. Remember back in the plague of hail It not only destroyed the crops, it destroyed all the flocks and herds. Ooh, except for the ones that were brought inside. You remember Moses had told them the night before this is gonna happen tomorrow?

And this gives you the opportunity to listen and prepare. In fact, Pharaoh, it'll give you the chance to see just how m much control you are losing. Because people who who bring their animals in obviously trust us more than they trust you. And they fear the God of Israel more than they fear the gods of Egypt. And sure enough that night Pharaoh's own servants were bringing the animals in to protect them.

Well, nothing's going to protect them from what's about to happen. So Pharaoh gathers all these chariots, he's ready to head head off. In some ways it's again, for Israel to be there Yeah, and this dead end. No, this is going to be one final blessing for them, because you will get to see the final destruction not just of Egypt. You've already been there done that, but the destruction of the armies of Egypt.

Can you imagine the rest of their existence in Canaan wondering when's Pharaoh gonna marshal the troops and come back after us? No, we already saw Egypt destroyed economically. Here they will see Egypt destroyed militarily. And that will bless Israel moving forward.

Now verse eight, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Nope, JST corrects it. Pharaoh hardened his heart, it's always on him, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand. Sounds like they don't know that they're being followed yet. They're out with a high hand. They're other translations speak of this being going boldly or defiantly.

G we have finally been freed by a God of Deliverance. And here they are, marching with head held high.

But how long is that going to last? Verse 9: the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea. Which like we're seeing is exactly what the Lord intended. Verse ten When Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. Can't blame'em. The children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.

Well not quite as bold and defiant as they were or a verse or two ago. It's no longer their hand they're holding up, it's their it's their eyes that are looking up, and then their heads that are bowing down, and what's going to happen to us? But they cry unto the Lord. That's a good thing. Or is it? You see, I guess there's two ways to cry unto the Lord. One is out of faith and the other is out of fear.

You can cry unto him for help, or we can cry out in complaint, murmuring about the situation we find ourselves in. Well, based on what you know about Israel, any guesses which of those two options they took? Verse eleven They said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?

So there they are, imagining a worst case scenario. We're just gonna die. And if we're gonna die out in the wilderness, we might as well just have died back in Egypt and saved ourselves the trip. What were you thinking, Moses? No graves in Egypt, huh? Wow, this again, hardened heart. It wasn't just Pharaoh that was guilty of that. Actually makes me wonder if Israel had been reduced to such subservience through all of those centuries of slavery.

that they really didn't see any other option. They didn't see the value of freedom and and the reward that was worth all of this risk. Where was the give me liberty or give me death kind of courage? It wasn't there. Instead, it was simply a thought of there's nothing we can do now. Talk about washing their hands of it and just kind of fatalistic, we're gonna die. And and there's no avoiding that.

In verse twelve they continue their complaint. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Better off? As slaves in Egypt? D are you not remembering what it felt like to be under the lash of the whip, to be under the all-seen eye of the of the overseers?

No, don't you remember crying to God in the anguish of bondage? Why do you think I sent Moses in the first place? I heard your cries then. I'm hearing your cries now. I delivered you then. I will deliver you now. Trust me, you are not worse off. You're so much better. But it's interesting what they said. Didn't we tell you, Moses, to just leave us alone?

Wow, I'm trying to help? And you don't want that helped? Yeah, I I'm trying to deliver you and you're just, no, just leave us alone. This is starting to sound like codependence. Uh, where you have been reduced to victimhood for so long that you can't imagine any other life out there. And rather than rock the boat and speak out against the perpetrator, you'd rather continue to be victimized.

That's not faith speaking, that's fear. And that is wanting to be left alone when in reality you've been begging for a long, long time for deliverance. When Moses did say to Pharaoh, Let my people go, and Pharaoh said, Uh remember this is at the near the beginning, when he said, Oh, you got all this extra leisure time that you're seeking sacrifices in the wilderness? Oh, I can give you some extra things on the to-do list.

Why don't you go find your own straw for the mud breaks? That did make their lives their lives worse for a while. But what about through all those other plagues when they were in the eye of the storm? You weren't saying to Moses, Leave us alone then. When you were marching out of Egypt triumphant, hands held high, you weren't saying leave us alone then. I think it's interesting that when we feel trapped by sin and we are seeking forgiveness. Lord remember me

Like Joseph said to the butler, You're getting out, I'm still stuck here. Please help. Please don't leave me alone. But sometimes on the other side of our deliverance, when God begins making demands of our discipleship, Or when membership in the church can sometimes be hard. Is it then that we start second guessing ourselves and thinking, I just wish you would have left me alone back in my old life? Well, again, that's part of that amnesia, some of that anesthetic that Satan slips in.

Do you not remember how bad you had it then, and how desperately you were seeking deliverance?

Well verse thirteen Moses responds. He says to the people, Fear ye not. Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. I wonder about that last phrase, if Moses is venting just a bit of frustration there.

tell me to leave you alone? What just hold your peace, will you? Just be quiet for a moment. In fact, stand still and see the salvation of God. This is one of the ultimate halftime speeches that you'll find in Scripture. Stand still, see the salvation of God. God will leave you safe, secure, and speechless. Safe is see his salvation. Secure is you'll never see the Egyptian army again. And speechless is hold your peace.

What God is about to do for you will be unforgettable. So sit back and grab some popcorn and watch it unfold. This is going to be epic. Now it's interesting because when Joseph Smith and Zion's camp was trapped. Against their own Red Sea. Uh the fishing river. Now they'd come down to redeem Zion and they were being pursued by enemies, and it's a lot like what's happening here. And a certain moment of great alarm, Joseph Smith basically channels his inner Moses. And quotes this as

He says to Zion's camp, Stand still and see the salvation of God. And they did, and he did. He revealed his salvation. There was a storm like they'd never seen, and the waters came down at such intensity that the fishing river rose to a point to protect the camp of Israel. Well, what's interesting about this story, the original in Exodus,

is it doesn't quite go according to Moses' plan. Here's the irony. We we always we quote that verse, stand still and see the salvation of God and think, yeah, there you go, Moses, pump up speech. There we we got it. But that's not how the Lord responds to it. In fact, notice the next verse. The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.

He just totally did an about face on Moses. Moses full of faith and says, brethren, come on, we can do this. Stand still. Look at God. And he looks to God. And then God's like, what are you looking at me for? Where else am I supposed to look? Well look at the people. Uh I don't want to'cause they don't really look very happy with me right now. Well, be that as it may, why on earth would you tell them to stand still? No, you gotta move forward. Tell them to keep on going.

Now it's interesting here because Moses Moses got the right promise. He just didn't get the right process. In other words, he knew the destination, but he didn't understand correctly the direction. Let me see if I can explain this. Was God going to deliver them that day? Yes. was that were they going to no longer see Egypt anymore forever? Yes. And Moses was filled with that reassurance. And so he expressed it. He reassured the people.

But how is it going to come? By standing still and letting God do all the work? No, Moses, that's not how it's going to come. I will give you success. But you're gonna have to join me in the work here. You see, this is another contrary to prove, like is always the case. Between agency and inspiration, between how much God does and how much we do, it's this tension between stand still and see the salvation of God versus

Be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness because the power is in you. You're an agent unto yourself. We're always caught between those two poles. And there are times where we're thinking we have to do it all ourselves. And that's when God says, no, you need to stand still and see my salvation.

And there's other times where we are standing still and we're like, we're waiting for the salvation to unfold. And it's like, no, actually, you need to get in involved here. It's why Jacob said, Because of faith and great anxiety, there's the great uh combination there, a wonderful contrary to prove. Moses is expressing his faith.

Uh maybe he needed a little more of the anxiety that the people shared. I'm sure he's feeling it. But the anxiety to do something himself, to tell the people to do something themselves. Like I said, there's depending on how you're wired. Uh if you're more the anxious type, then lean into your faith. If you're more the faith, but I'm you just get God's gonna take care of it without me, then lean more into your anxiety.

Moses, I love that he has the faith to just stand there and watch God work, but that wasn't the marching orders for that moment. Which is why we always need to be open to the Holy Ghost, even when he offers us some course correction, gentle or otherwise.

In this case, notice verse sixteen Lift thou up thy rod, stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. So that is what that that answers Moses' question, which would have been, what do you mean? Go forward? Where are we supposed to go?

We got surf on one side and sand on the other and soldiers coming off in the distance and it was like me on the horse, right? There's three options here and they're all bad. Uh trample my friends or get decapitated or clothes lined. Well, what are we gonna do? Do we drown or die? Because I'm not seeing any other option. Well, the Lord just gave him the other option. The only problem is it's an impossible one. What divide the sea? Just go through on dry ground. Seriously?

Well yes, seriously. What I love about this is God Who does the impossible is giving Moses his impossible companion? It's like, come on, Moses. W since when have I been telling you things that make any sense logically? Uh turning the Nile to blood, now that wasn't natural causes either.

Haven't you had ten rounds of reassurance that I do the impossible? Trust me. Tell the people to move forward. It actually reminds me of of Peter walking on water. There's some beautiful similarities here. Cause you're not supposed to be able to walk Through water on dry ground, nor are you supposed to be able to walk on top of water. Either way you're crossing water miraculously. But think about it in the Peter example. It might shed some light on the Moses one.

Because in Peter's version, we always get this wrong. We always think that it was Jesus testing Peter's faith and saying, Peter, come out and walk out to me. But it wasn't Jesus' suggestion. It was Peter's. It was Peter's idea. That blows me away every time I read it.

It's the middle of the night. Jesus is walking on the water, as if he's going to pass the boat that the apostles are in. And they look out and they're freaked out because they think it's a ghost or a spirit of some sort. And then somebody recognizes what they think. No, I'm pretty sure it's Jesus. And Peter, not knowing for sure that comes up with a way of confirming the identity.

He says, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. I love that it's Peter's idea. And with that question, if it's really you, how will I recognize that? I'll know it's you if you ask me to do the impossible, and then make it possible. I love that about Peter. Lord, I I'll know it's that's how we know. Because the Lord's constantly asking us to do impossible things.

That was Moses at the burning bush. Go free Israel. Go take the snake by the tail and put your hand in your bosom and come out fine and just do it. Eighteen, nineteen year olds, go out and serve a mission. Uh people overwhelmed, take on this calling and serve. Just go make a difference in the world. How can okay. That's how I know the call's coming from you because you empower me and allow me to do things I never could have done without thy help.

I remember when my father was called to be a patriarch. Uh he gave us the news and I said, Dad, I hate to add to your burden, but man, I'm scared enough for both of us. I can't imagine a more intimidating calling. Some stranger walks in, you're supposed to lay your hands on their head and tell them more about themselves than even they know?

Whew, good luck, Dad. And he just smiled and he said, Yeah, I can understand why you might feel that way. And I was like, oh, why I feel that way? Oh, which means you don't feel that way. Okay, yeah, that's why you're the patriarch and I'm not. That's one of his great spiritual gifts. To do the impossible. In fact he let me see the instruction manual for patriarchs once. It was wild. It's so like razor thin.

Uh, and most of it's about like little logistics, like make sure there's batteries in the tape recorder and this is where you send it in when it's done. And I mean the actual instructions on how to give the blessing are in some ways are are no different than those briefest of instructions on Melchizedek priesthood blessings in general. It's like, here's the steps. State the person's full name. State the authority of your priesthood. Pronounce their tribal lineage. That's different.

And then in the Melchizedek blessings when it says pronounce a blessing as the Spirit directs, in patriarchal blessing instruction it says make prophetic pronouncements upon the head of the recipient. And then step five, close in the name of Jesus Christ. And I'm looking at that going, Oh yeah, of course. I mean, it's so simple. Just be prophetic. Make prophetic pronouncements.

I mean, if this was all fake, it would say something like, make very vague and easily generalizable statements that can be interpreted in a million different ways. No, it's be prophetic. And trust that through the power of the Holy Ghost, the recipient will recognize those prophecies as they unfold throughout their life. It's amazing. This isn't the psychic hotline. This isn't Pharaoh's magicians and sorcerers.

These are patriarchs of God. In this case, Moses, this you're a prophet of God. So go do something prophetic. Part the waters. Do the impossible. Well, he's about to, but before he gets there, a few more verses, seventeen. I, behold, I, the Lord says, will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. Well, keep an eye out for the JST. There it is. Nope. The hearts of the Egyptians shall be hardened,

And they shall follow them, and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, upon his chariots, upon his horsemen, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. There's that phrase that keeps coming up. Among people who just don't know him. Allow me to introduce myself. Before this I was introducing myself through destruction. Now you will see me through deliverance. You Egyptians on the shores of the Red Sea watching it part before you. Whoa, there it is a god has.

I that I either want to be on his side or I don't want to be on his bad side. I think I'll turn tail and go back home. Well, they don't. We'll see that in a moment. But verse nineteen. The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them, and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them.

So here you kind of in military maneuverings, okay? You have remember last time the pillar of fire and the cloud of smoke was leading Israel through the promised land? Well this time it does kind of an about face and comes around to the back. And I think that's worth realizing that God can do. There's the great verse in Isaiah where he says, For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear word.

Now that last word is what we're seeing take place here. God becomes their rear word. It's one thing to know that God will lead us where we need to go. It's another thing to believe and trust that God has our backs also. There's a phrase we sometimes use. God, He's got your back. He is your rear word. So often we picture the enemy in front of us, or the goal in front of us, and God's going to get us uh get us there. But sometimes we are being pursued by enemies that we might not even know about.

God can protect us even from our blind spots. Or perhaps though we are being chased down by enemies we are aware of. And but we don't know how to escape them. God can deliver us from those too. If it's bills you can't pay, or concerns you can't resolve, or help that you can't you can't offer. Whatever it might be that is changed. Tailing you.

The consequences of sin are always tailing us, chasing us down. Well, even for those God can be our rear word. And so I just love this mental image of the cloud and the fire. Changing position. And uh now I'll be on that side, since that seems to be your greater fear. The first was I don't I don't know where to go. Will you guide me? Okay, well here I am at the Red Sea. I don't know how to go forward, but I'm scared to death of what's back. Oh well then let me take care of that as well.

There great verse in section eighty four that I will be on your right hand and on your left, and I will go before your face, and angels round about you to bear you up. There is no angle that God cannot come to your aid, no matter where the enemy might be coming from. Well in verse twenty, it, namely that pillar of the cloud, came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness to them, the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to these, the Israelites.

So that the one came not near the other all the night. The truth really is a two edged sword, but It cuts both ways. It condemns the wicked and preserves and protects the righteous. And that's what's happening here. Remember it's a cloud of smoke and a pillar of fire, and so it can provide both shade and illumination. And it's interesting that on the one side, the Egyptian side, it's all darkness.

Trapped, frozen in fear, we can't move forward. On the other side, even at night it is light. Even in this moment of darkness, of great alarm, the light of God is shining through. And so, verse twenty-one, the miracle begins. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

Now the verse continues, but pause there and get into the mind of Moses and what are you thinking? What are you feeling? What are you hoping? What are you fearing? I'm doing this. Am I really doing okay, I'm doing this. And he lifts his hand. He's holding the rod and he's staring out at the sea. Now there have been

scholars for years that have been fighting over this. Uh usually it's between people who believe in miracles and people who don't. So sadly their premise usually determines or predetermines their conclusion. And some say, well, it it wasn't the Red Sea, it was the Reed Sea, as they'd lost an E. That's not just the English we're dealing with. The Hebrews suggest well maybe it was Reed Sea.

Okay, that's the Hebrew. But the Septuagint describes it as the Red Sea. Stephen from the Book of Acts recalls it as the Red Sea. Hm, well f how far south is this? I mean the Red Sea's pretty wide, uh but further north uh with the Sinai Peninsula poking out into it, you have the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. That's still Red Sea, technically. Uh further north beyond that, again, where's this sea of reeds? Is it just kind of soggy marshland?

They're walking through the edge of a lagoon somewhere and It was just a little drier that day'cause it'cause the wind blew that night. Is that all it is? Now again, the the controversy sometimes is simply a matter of do you believe in miracles or not? Uh where's your faith in all of this? As far as the account is concerned, It was deep enough to create walls of water on left and right.

It was deep enough for Egyptians the Egyptian army to drown, to be swallowed up in it, which seems more than just wading through a marsh. There is something powerful going on. There is something miraculous. And I guess it wasn't just Egypt, excuse me, it wasn't just Pharaoh or his magicians that were trying to explain things away and find natural explanations and and empirical cause and effect. Well, there's a cause here.

Uh but the cause is divine and the effect is miraculous. Moses has to know this. Like waters just don't part. How do I do this? But he stretches out his hand. Now this is where you need to pause before the miracle actually unfolds and get a little help from the Doctor and Covenants.

In section eight, it describes the spirit of Revelation. Remember early doctrine and covenants, they need to understand how God speaks to his children. And so there's lots of revelations about Revelation, six and eight, and nine. Well, in section eight, listen to what Joseph and Oliver Cowdry are taught. Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart by the Holy Ghost.

Which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Oh, great. We could have stopped there. That's how it works. Revelation is is thoughts and feelings. Okay? We saw that with Joseph Smith with James 1.5. It hit him in the heart like nothing before, and he reflected on it again and again. Okay, there's so many examples in scripture, especially Doctor and Covenants, where head and heart are firing on both cylinders, and that is God trying to get your attention.

Uh, in some ways the burning bush provided the heart side of things where there's this feeling, there's this burning, this warmth. And then as he turned aside to see, to see, to think, to ponder, the mind kicks in and here comes the voice of God. Well, in this case, we could have stopped right there and go, okay, revelation is mind and heart, but the Lord goes on in the next verse. Now behold, this is the spirit of revelation.

There's the definition, and then here's his illustration. Behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. Now that blows my mind and my heart. Okay, this is revelation for us all. That's how it happens. Of all the places, uh, or all the scriptural examples I would have assumed that would fit the definition of just a mind, just a heart, a thought in his head, a feeling in his heart, and he and he moved forward.

I don't think I would have picked Moses at the Red Sea as my example. I mean, whenever we think of it, or at least watch the movie versions, it's always like some some booming bass voice from the heavens where God is saying to Moses, You shall do my wonders. Well, according to the that verse, section eight, it wasn't like that. It was so much simpler. Stiller and smaller, that voice. It was a thought in Moses' mind, accompanied by a feeling in Moses' heart. To move forward.

Now let's revisit what we've just studied then. Uh, was it s again, a vocal sort of a thing? Or was it a booming voice from above that Moses, what do you mean, stand still and see my salvation? No, you need to move forward. I wonder, right then, is it instead of He's feeling reassurance on one hand, but then all of a sudden he has like kind of this pit in his stomach and this this feeling in his heart, like, I don't know if I just gave them the right advice.

I'm feeling good that God will preserve us. I know that. Uh, and that's probably some heart reassurance and some head logic, like God didn't lead us out into the wilderness to k have us die here. I'm not gonna go down the path that they just did. I'm not gonna murmur about that. I know God better. So logically, there's no way that we're gonna die. Okay. So maybe that's his head saying, um

Okay, we're not gonna die here, so what's gonna happen? Well, logically, then God's gonna have to step in. And he'll preserve us and destroy them just like he did back in Egypt with those plagues. Of course, logically But then his heart kicks in and it's this uneasy feeling like I think I think we're actually supposed to do something here.

Well, what could that be? And as he's second guessing or revisiting that revelation, right? What is I know the the end goal is right. God will preserve us. How are we going to get there? And then according to section eight, mind, heart. Well part the waters. Go divide the sea. Go forward. Don't look at God to do the work, look at Israel. to march forward. Now, is that just a thought in his head?

Makes me wonder'cause back in Moses one, we study the beginning of our year, he's told something really fascinating. Moses one verse twenty five, the Lord says to him, Blessed art thou Moses. For I thought the almighty have chosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters, for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God. Now that definitely proved true in the case of the Nile turning to blood.

But I wonder as he's standing there on the shores of the Red Sea with sand and surf and soldiers, like I said. Does that verse pop back into his head? Does that thought, does the Spirit bring to mind, to your remembrance, all things I have said unto you? That's what Jesus said he would do in John fourteen. Does does that promise pop back in and like, wait, God told me I have power over water, that it would obey my voice as if I were God?

Well I'm feeling uneasy about just standing here and letting letting God take care of everything. I'm feeling like we need to move. And the only direction we can move is into the water itself. No, that's crazy. That's totally crazy. But then this feeling comes. I will speak to the mind and the heart. That's revelation. That's how Moses part of the Red Sea. Here's the thought. The feeling of just, no, that's right. That I can do this. The Lord has made his promise and I trust him. I believe.

So not here goes nothing, here goes everything, here goes all my faith and all my hope and all my belief. My mind is fixed on this promise. My heart is filled with the reassurance that it will work. And so Israel, we're moving forward. And I raise my hand with the rod of God. And what begins? Verse 21 continues. Then the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.

Later in history they always talk about the East Wind as a bad thing. It's this hot, dry air blowing in from the Arabian Peninsula, the desert. Well this time this wind saves them. As it parts the waters. And verse twenty-two, the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Seems a little deeper than just some marshland. No. If you remember just a few verses ago, there was a wall of fire.

that was keeping Egypt at bay, protecting the Israelites. And now as they're parting going through the Red Sea, it is a wall of water on either side, protecting them from drowning, from destruction. So what is it that protects us? Walls of water and walls of fire. That we are surrounded by these things, we are submerged in these things. Hm baptism of water and of fire. That really is what

What ultimately delivers us. The atonement of Christ made manifest through those ordinances. Here is the covenant path that I am carving out for you. Oh water and fire indeed. There's something else there too, within that understated phrase. Oh yeah, the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea.

I don't think it's just Moses exercising faith here. Can you imagine the courage of like, w are we really doing this? Um I don't know how long I can trust the surface tension of these vertical walls of water. There's actually a really fascinating midrash, which is commentary on on the Hebrew Bible. uh there's a a uh figure or character in this in the story. Uh we don't see him here, but he's really important later on. Uh his name is Na'ashon. He's a descendant of Judah.

He's actually in Jesus Christ's family tree. He's named in Matthew one. He is the brother in law of Aaron, Uh a leader of the tribe of Judah, in fact one of the first people to give offerings and sacrifice. Yeah, we'll see that a little bit later on. Now that's all we do know of him from scripture.

But according to Jewish Midrash, so this is commentary on commentary on commentary, uh, call it tradition, if you will. We don't have any evidence of his identity in this or we don't have any evidence of this story in in the Old Testament. But according to this tradition, when Moses is standing there with arms outstretched and the rod of God and

The water hasn't yet parted. And he's telling them, go forward. Okay, with God's uh thoughts ringing in his mind and in his heart. Go move forward. And you picture the Israelites going, move forward into what? Uh the water hasn't parted yet. Uh w and it can't. There's no way. Well, according to this Midrash, it is Naashon who starts wading into the water.

Now we do have an example of this coming up in the book of Joshua when the Jordan River is parted, but it doesn't start to part until the feet of the priests. are in the water. They have to get wet first, because faith precedes the miracle. And you receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. Well, in this commentary on this story, the belief is among the ancient Jews was that Naashon

is the one that exercises that faith and gets his feet wet, and then his legs wet, and then his torso wet, and then his neck wet. And according to this story, as it's told by the ancient rabbis, He just keeps walking until the water gets up to his nostrils. Even his name is a play on the word for stormy sea. And then the waters part. How deep are we willing to wade into our dilemmas?

Trusting that God will come through. Even if it's the eleventh hour, even if it's the fourth watch, even if it's our darkest day, deliverance will come. We just have to believe. We have to have faith. We have to march forward. And and whether it's exactly as those rabbis described, with this heroic figure willing to wade into the sea. I don't know what you guys you guys are taking us so long. Moses said, Move forward and we're I'm gonna do it.

Uh, whether it was nostril deep or not, there's something beautiful about that story. And like I said, we do have evidence of that principle illustrated in the book of Joshua.

In verse twenty three, then, The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses and his chariots, his horsemen. Now, if it were me, I think I'd just rein my horses in and hold back and go, Are you kidding me? Uh if I ever doubted the power of the God of Israel, uh those doubts have evaporated

That strong east wind did a lot with water, and my doubts are gone. Oh, there's this is impossible. In some ways, God has opened a path for them, and I have to ask myself, am I worthy to follow them into it? Because this is a miraculous way. And I better be willing to follow the God of Miracles.

Well, they don't have that faith, they don't have that worthiness to walk, but they march in and they've headlong. Verse twenty four, it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud. and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

We're actually going to see similar problems later on in the books of Kings, where chariots which put you at such a military advantage Become a military disadvantage because of the way the Lord levels the playing field. Uh in this case the chariot wheels are are falling apart and that it's it's going to slow them down. I honestly wonder if God isn't just trying to give the Israelites time to get across the Red Sea.

but also time to slow down this headlong rush toward destruction on the part of the Egyptians. Think about this, men, Do you understand what you're getting yourself into? Do not follow in places that you're not worthy to go. Well verse twenty six the Lord said unto Moses Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, upon their horsemen.

And so he did. Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it, but it's too little too late. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, there remained not so much as one of them. How many times did we see a similar phrase last week? After plagues ended and things got back to normal for a time.

No more frogs, they're all gone. No more flies. Every last one has been removed. Not a single locust left. Well, in this case, there's no more Egyptians. Nothing from your past can come back to haunt you anymore. And can you imagine the peace? That Israel would feel the army's gone, our oppressors have been swallowed up in this sea, and they can never pursue us again. We are finally free. I I to think of that

That Red Sea behind you. On the one end, it was the obstacle ahead that you could never cross. And so it becomes this negative symbol. And what am I gonna do? There are challenges I just can't surmount. There are problems in my life that I'll never get through. And yet with the help of God, he parts the waters. He opens the way and you overcome them.

But then on the other side of them the Red Sea becomes a new symbol, because now it has washed away your past until none of it is left, at least none of the bad part. Isn't there something powerful about repentance and forgiveness? That through the atonement of Jesus Christ, Our past is completely behind us. It's all washed away. And nothing we've done in the past will ever hold our future hostage. We are clean. Again, the water symbol there is so powerful.

Now I wanna dwell on that symbol just a little while longer. Like we saw last week, symbolism is so powerful. We saw it with the Passover, right? But when we were talking about leaven and realized that in the New Testament, Jesus uses leaven as a good thing. It rises, it helps growth, but in that moment it's being used as a bad thing because it causes decay and death or sin.

So be careful when it comes to trying to interpret symbolism. Okay? I often tell my students that uh logic will help you and truth elsewhere in scripture that's taught clearly, that will help you too. Think about everything you know about a symbol, an object, and if you come up with some kind of symbolic interpretation that completely contradicts scripture elsewhere, then you were wrong. Bag that one, okay?

But if it's logical and if it's meaningful and it helps you understand or appreciate the truth more, then you're right. There's more of s uh interpretations than one. Well, again, is the Red Sea a good thing or a bad thing symbolically? Well depends on which side of it you're on. It can be an obstacle only God can help you overcome, or it can be a washing away of past problems and marking a line. That you never have to cross again.

And you can march forward to your promised land. I was actually thinking about what one other element about that Red Sea as a as a good thing.

Uh'cause there's there okay, I'll put it this way. There is this British poet, Matthew Arnold, he lived in the nineteenth century, around the same time as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, He's in England and it was a period of great faith loss in Victorian England as well as America at the same time. In some ways the Lord timed the restoration perfectly because it was re injecting faith into a world that

was starting to lose its hold on it. Well, Matthew Arnold was realizing that, and he wrote a beautiful poem called Dover Beach, in which he talks about the sea of faith. And he describes it at kind of at low tide. These are his words. The sea of faith was once too at the full, and round earth's shore lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

But now I only hear its melancholy long withdrawing roar, retreating to the breath of the night wind, down the vast edges drear and naked shingles of the world. Maybe because I study faith and doubt all the time. Maybe because I spend so much time working with people in faith crisis. I couldn't help but think of the Red Sea as the sea of faith. Do I have the faith to enter it? Do I have the faith that it will part when it needs to?

But then I started thinking about it from Pharaoh's perspective. Because as Matthew Arnold describes, the sea of faith is withdrawing. It's in low it's at low tide, which allows the armies of Egypt to advance. And all of a sudden I pictured Pharaoh and his army almost like doubt personified. And as they see the sea of faith ebb and withdraw, that's when they come marching, rushing forward. Because we can draw back to us, to our side, those that have, that have pursued faith on the other side.

And as I pondered this, this the withdrawing roar and what we're up against in a world that is increasingly secular, increasingly hostile to faith, it is this The Red Sea is is flowing back. The sea of faith is on the wane. But The water comes rushing back. and so does the l the Sea of Faith. Study your history, and after almost every period of spiritual decline, There comes a period of religious revival, of resurgence.

And as I pictured Pharaoh thinking, Yep, this is our chance, the sea of faith is on the decline, and we can rush forward. Our doubts can begin to spread and gobble up whatever particles of faith we once had. But wait for it, because the sea of faith will come rushing back. Albert Maxwell jokes that what an irony that the so-called post-Christian era will come to an end with the coming of Christ. And all of your old doubts will be swallowed up in a sea of faith.

If you're in a moment of low tide, if you're worried about the flow of faith among family and friends, Trust that the God of Israel will still bring the sea roaring back. I have seen it. I saw it in Matthew Arnold's day. I've seen it in our own. And to picture oh, all of those lingering doubts. washed away until there is not so much as one of them? No, that doesn't mean that every question will be answered easily or every every issue resolved.

but it does mean that You have seen, you don't stand still on this one, but you have seen the salvation of God. You have seen miracles in your life. He has reached out even to you. He's brought you through it. He's gotten you to the other side. And Sinai awaits in the distance and promised land beyond that. And what's become of your doubt? They are swallowed up in a spiritual security. It's the the knowledge of God covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.

And that stormy, turbulent Red Sea waters has now returned with peace be still. I don't know. There's something to this I I want to keep pondering. I invite you to do the same. How is your sea of faith? Low tide, high tide, what's it doing to your doubts? Letting them spread or washing them away? Beautiful s beautiful story. In verse 29, let's get back to the text.

But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left, thus the Lord saved Israel that day, out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. So again, there's that permanent deliverance, that proof that our past is now behind us and will never follow us forward. Then verse thirty one the chapter ends. Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians.

And the people feared the Lord. They didn't have to fear Pharaoh any more, and this kind of fear is the good kind, the reverence, the awe. They believed the Lord, and his servant Moses. They went from murmuring against him to believing all that he said, which only begs the question How long is this gonna last? Do you believe out of true conviction or simply out of momentary relief?

That your problems are no longer pursuing you. We'll see which one it is in just a moment. But the way Exodus 15 begins is glorious.

Verse one Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now there's some glorious pronouns there. He hath triumphed. He hath thrown Pharaoh into the sea. This is God's victory, more than Moses's, more than ours. He's behind all this.

Is am I coming to know him? Am I coming to trust him? In fact, is that knowledge and trust getting so deep that it can only come out in song? They're not just saying it, they're singing it. It can't be said. It can't even merely be shouted. This one has to be sung. And there's something, again, visceral, something so deep where you just break out, not just in cheering, but in full-on song.

You remember the song How can I keep from singing? It describes it well. My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentations. I hear the real, though far off hymn that hails a new creation, and that's what Israel is getting, a new chance, a new beginning. No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I am clinging. Since love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

Through all the tumult and the strife, and they've been feeling a lot of that with Pharaoh pursuing them. I hear the music ringing. It sounds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing? While though the tempest loudly roars, I hear the truth it liveth, and though the darkness round me close, songs in the night it giveth. Can you picture that describing the night of light they saw before they crossed the ocean? The tempest loudly roaring, but the truth spreading forth?

The song goes on: When tyrants tremble in their fear and hear their death knell ringing, Pharaoh should have heard it long before. When friends rejoice, both far and near, how can I keep from singing? In prison cell and dungeon vial, our thoughts to them are winging When friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing? Oh, those lyrics are surprisingly appropriate, considering all that Israel has just gone through. But listen to their song and

Verse two, the Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him and habitation, my father's God, and I will exalt him. We're seeing Hebrew poetry here. This is a good place to practice in preparation for the book of Isaiah, which is almost nothing but Hebrew poetry. There is this repetition of ideas. Whereas something will be said and then echoed and echoed. D'ye catch it there in verse two? The Lord is my strength and song as a result?

He has become my salvation. Let's repeat the idea. He is my God as a result. I will prepare him an habitation. Oh, this is a temple text. We'll see more of those. Let's repeat the idea. My father's God. That's who he is. As a result, I will exalt him. I know who he is, and this is how I respond. How it's beautiful to see them feeling that so deeply that it it comes rushing out of them.

In verse three, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. And each time Lord is mentioned there, yep, there's those four letters. There's Yahweh. This is the great I am. In verse four, Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them. They sank into the bottom as a stone. Again, can you sense the poetic parallelism? The same idea echoing, being repeated?

And the glorying over one's enemy. Yeah, we don't do that quite so much in our poetry anymore. We're a kinder, gentler day, I hope. But that was common at the time period. I mean, you read the Iliad, for example, and it's pretty r I mean, it rejoices in in bloodshed over one's enemies. And you're seeing some of that here. And I guess that the closest we come is when we play We Are the Champions at the end of a hard fought victory. Okay, it's some basketball or football game.

Well, they are glorying in God over the victory he's given them. In verse six, Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power. Here's the repeat. And then the echo Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. The right hand is the covenant hand. And here God is keeping his promise.

His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their seeds, sands of the sea, stars of heaven, will be redeemed and brought back to their land of promise. It's happening as they speak, better yet, as they sing. God's right hand is coming through. Verse seven, in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

Stubble is what's left after harvest, after you've gathered out the good grain, and all that's left is the stubble, and the field. once white, all ready to harvest, is now ready to be burned. the house of Israel, the good grain has been gathered, the mixed multitude that desired to go with them. and all that's left behind consumed as stubble. In verse eight, with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together,

Maybe not Ashon wasn't the only one that w waded into the water up to the nostrils. Maybe God was there right alongside him, and there the blast of his nostrils blew away the sea. The floods stood upright as an heap, the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. Don't forget that in Hebrew, wind and breath and spirit are all the same words. You remember waters covered the the chaos of the deep in creation and then God spake? He breathed a

The Spirit of God hovered over the waters, bringing order out of chaos, land out of sea. Same kind of thing is happening in here, a new creation. Moses almost as a new Adam, just like Noah had been a new Adam, bringing the house of Israel forward. In verse nine, the enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust. shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them,

How's that for pride going before the fall? Can you picture Pharaoh saying each of those phrases? I'll pursue, and he did. I'll overcome. Well he didn't. I'll divide the spoil. There'll be no spoil to divide. My lust, and that can also be translated my soul, but I like the way the King James went with that. My lust, these appetites, these desires, this hardened heart, I cannot let them leave.

I'll draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them No. But the pit you digged for your neighbor, you will fall into it yourself. Thinking that the sea of faith was at an ebb, And that you could pursue them. No, it came rushing back and washed you away. Verse ten, we're back to God. Thou didst blow with thy wind. The sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Yes, they talked big, but God was bigger.

In eleven, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Whether that's the gods of Egypt, or the gods of Canaan, or the gods of anywhere else? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? Another way to say that is awesome in glory, doing wonders. This is the incomparable God. And so poetry often tries to, it can go beyond prose because it leans into the non-literal. It it invokes

feeling, emotion, it seeks symbol and figurative language. It it's just trying to expand our understanding of something. Things that are beyond our our grasp. And what's happening here is the poet, the singer, is asking the ultimate question. I'm running out of good analogies. I can't think of a symbol that's glorious enough to describe God. So who is like thee? Even someone as eloquent as Isaiah himself

Has to deal with that question twice. In Isaiah forty, to whom then will ye liken me? The Lord asks him. Or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Later in Isaiah 46, again the Lord asks his prophet, To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we may be like? You understand the dilemma? Twice he asks Isaiah, in all his eloquence

What can you possibly use to compare to me? I'm curious to see what language you'll come up with, Isaiah. I think Isaiah did a an amazing job, by the way. But even he knows something is lost in translation. From the experience of partaking of the fruit, of tasting God in his glory. What will you possibly use to describe me? Mere words will be insufficient. Even the best of analogies will fall short. No wonder Israel went with song.

art, music, dance, the humanities. There are things that reason alone will never be able to capture. when it comes to the things of God. So they keep on singing. Verse twelve, thou stretchest out thy right hand. The earth swallowed them. There's his covenant hand again. 13, Thou in thy mercy hath led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. In that verse he mentioned mercy as well as strength. Did we see them both?

He brought them out with a mighty hand, but it was his merciful hand that also guided them. It speaks of being led and redeemed and guided. He's doing all of those things. And it ends with his holy habitation, another temple text. That's what we're aiming for. In verse 14, the people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. That's where they're headed. And as they go to conquer Canaan

Yes, those on the wrong side of these covenants will be afraid and sorrow. Those who oppose God, whereas those who join him, whatever mixed multitude that might be. will find joy and find reassurance. In verse fifteen, then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed, the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them, all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

And those were all nations that Israel would have to pass through on their way to the promised land. Nations that were connected in a way to Israel, but nations that were not connected to the covenant. Edom is Esau, right? Sold the birthright. Moab comes through Lot and his daughter. There's a a story that we don't want to revisit. And Canaan is the son of Ham. And we we remember what happened there as well. And so again, here are nations, groups.

that did not fully open themselves to the blessings of God. And here they will be amazed. They'll melt away as true Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob come marching in. In verse sixteen, fear and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone, till thy people pass over, O Lord, till thy people pass over which thou hast purchased. We are purchased people. We are peculiar people. Peculiar to him. Doesn't mean strange. Peculiar to him. In other words, he owns us.

He has purchased us. We are bought with a price, Paul says. And that price was redemption. The price of the firstborn was the firstborn one of God. And so there's Passover symbol. Thy people will pass over. They passed over the Red Sea. They'll they'll pass over their enemies. They will come to the promised land. All because of the Passover lamb himself that made it all possible.

Verse seventeen, thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. If you'd missed the temple references earlier, it they become pretty obvious in seventeen. The mountain

the inheritance, the place where you will dwell in your sanctuary. We're going to learn about the tabernacle in just a few weeks, and they're already being pointed forward in that direction. In verse eighteen, the Lord shall reign forever and ever. Sound like the hallelujah chorus handles Messiah and he shall reign forever and ever. They're singing about this already. This is rejoicing.

Verse nineteen for the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots, and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them, but the children of Israel went on dry ground in the midst of the sea. And thus the song of Moses comes to an end. Now personally I would have ended it one verse earlier. I would have preferred to to end with and the Lord shall reign forever and ever in Hanel's Messiah version.

But they did have to guess kind of squeeze in one last dig against the enemy. I guess you can forgive them after four hundred and thirty years of bondage. Uh that yes, we won and Egypt lost. Well, verse twenty, Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, and of course the sister of Moses as well, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

Oh, good old Miriam. We haven't seen her in a while. She's been here the whole time. She was there watching from afar off to make sure her baby brother Oh had his his rendezvous with destiny. Here's here she is singing the praises of God who has delivered them. Here's not just the sister of the prophet, but a prophetess in her own right. And this peculiar people that God has claimed as his own, that's his intention for everyone. Kings and queens.

Priests and priestesses, in fact, prophets and prophetesses. And Miriam and all these women. Remember the first week we met Moses surrounded by women delivering the deliverer. Well, now the deliverer has finally delivered all of them. And they are singing and dancing about. Verse twenty one, Miriam answered them Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now that's a repeat of verse one.

So the end of this song just brings you back to the beginning of the song. Is it meant to be repeated? Is it a chorus sung at every after every verse? Is this call and response? Where the men sing out at the beginning and the women answer in reply at the end. Oh, I don't know, but to picture what's happening here. Timbrels and dancing and singing and Joy cometh in the morning.

There has been so much darkness and death behind them. But now that they find themselves on the other side of this Red Sea. The sea of faith returning to the full. There's nothing but rejoicing.

I wish we could stop there and just call it a day. I wish Israel had just stayed in that spiritual state. And held on to the feelings that they were rejoicing over. Unfortunately, just one verse later. twenty two Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. Now, how long do the Lord's songs of praise echo in our minds?

How long do we gratefully rejoice in the blessings God has given us before we start to forget them? Now here it's been three days and they find no water. And about how long can we survive as human beings without water? Yeah, about three days. They are now at the end of their existence, the end of their rope, and they let Moses know about it.

Sadly. Verse 23 When they came to Mara, they could not drink of the waters of Mara, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Mara. I mean Mara means bitterness. So I guess they should have seen this one coming. It's like the Dead Sea. It doesn't exactly h hold out hope for a great a seaside resort. I actually had some fun with this and was looking up negative place names. And there's all kinds of places you wouldn't want to settle. Places like Boring Oregon or Dole Ohio.

If you think that's bad, Flea Hill, Delaware, Mosquitoville, New Hampshire, maybe that's where you get scratch ankle, Alabama. You moved from one to the other and you got you got bitten and now you're just scratching. Sounds like the the lice or the flies that were that Egyptians were dealing with. Uh Booger Hole, West Virginia. Yeah, don't think I'll move there. Satan's Kingdom, Massachusetts.

Huh. How will we react to places like that? And here they are. Wait, you brought us to a place called Mara? We're thirsty and you bring us to a place of bitterness? Well, what did you think it was going to be smooth sailing the whole rest of the way forward? I've eliminated your past. But that doesn't mean you're completely sanctified.

New beginnings still lead to new tests and new trials, new challenges to grow from. Well, verse twenty four, the people murmured against Moses, and we better start getting used to that,'cause it keeps happening. They said, What shall we drink? as if this was Moses's fault. W He's been leading them every step of the way, but I'm as thirsty as you are. I don't have access to some special bottomless canteen.

Why are you murmuring against me as if I had the power to change things? So what's Moses do? What he always does. He cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. Talk about another beautifully symbolic miracle.

You have water in the place that is bitter by name. I mean it's so bad that they named the place for it. You're not gonna find much water here. Not nothing worth drinking. And yet you take some tree and throw it in and it becomes sweet? Well let's rename the place. This is no longer Mara, this is sweetwater. In fact, the sweetwater river is what saved the saints as they were crossing uh their wilderness to get to the promised land, they for the most part had to sw to follow the sweetwater.

Well, they could rename this place right here now. All because of a tree? Now this must be one miraculous tree, and sure enough it was, but what kind of tree could possibly have fruit sweet enough to make bitter things sweet themselves. Sound like the tree of life. White above all that is white, pure above all that is pure, but sweet above all that is sweet. This is such a beautiful metaphor, a type and shadow of the tree of life, the love of God. And yes, he will change your bitter moments.

into sweet memories, knowing that He has delivered you. In verse twenty six, the Lord said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes. I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. I just healed those waters. And if you look to me, you'll be healed as well.

You've been through all kinds of th well, the Egyptians went through all kinds of things. You were a s on from a safer position looking on. But if you want to remain safe from those kinds of plagues and promises Then what do you do? You hearken and obey. You give ear and keep my commandments. He repeats that twice. In some ways, since I'm the healer, he's introducing himself. Are you going to follow doctor's orders? Will you listen to my directions and will you put them in practice?

Then verse twenty seven the chapter ends. They came to Elim where there were twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. Here they could definitely rest more assured. Uh, they're not looking around for trees to throw into the waters of Marah. There are twelve wells here. There's palm trees, seventy of them, so we can we can eat. God is providing. But again it makes you wonder

How long is this going to last? There are times of feast and times of famine. There are times of plenty and times of thirst. I guess the question for us is, will we remember the good times and hold on to them long enough to get through the the lean time? Or, like Pharaoh's dream, will the seven years of famine swallow up the seven years of plenty until they're completely forgotten? How long will we hold on until faith comes rushing back.

Well turn the page to chapter sixteen, and sadly this one doesn't last that long either. Verse one, they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. Now I know this is just an English this only works in English translation, but wilderness of sin? Could you make it any more obvious?

Uh even after our baptism in the Red Sea, we still have a wilderness of sin stretching out before us. before we can get to a place where God can truly give us the law that will help us navigate our way to the promised land. Now baptism was the beginning of the path, not the end. It's the gate that puts us on the journey back to God. And stretching before us is this wilderness of sin.

In verse two, the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, which seems to happen whenever anything goes wrong. And before you judge Israel harshly Or Layman and Lemuel harshly, since they do the same thing. Go on trek and and see how you do, okay? If you've ever been with the youth on trek as a ma or pa, or been just a a trek pioneer yourself. It's amazing how the layman and lemuel in all of us wells up a bit.

uh when things get hard. And so here it's hard, and Israel is murmuring. Verse three The children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat bread to the full, For he have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Oh Israel, first it was thirst, and now it's hunger. But the moment your physical needs are not being met, You lose hope, you lose faith, you lose your memory. that God has been providing for you all along. Just hold out hope. It'll be okay. In some ways I wonder if this repeated uh th these challenges are meant to teach Israel something. Not just that God provides for your needs, but that you really do have needs that need to be provided for.

You see, for the last four centuries you've been in bondage. And it's gonna take a lot more work to get Egypt out of Israel than it did to take Israel out of Egypt. overcoming again, we saw the codependence. We saw the the lack of faith or a desire for freedom. In some ways here it's it's like wait, you

You're missing the flesh pots? You prefer flesh pots to freedom? You're worried about y you got to have bread to the fold. You'd rather you're okay with bondage as long as bread comes along for the right? Seriously? Oh Israel there are far more important things worth hungering and thirsting over. As Jesus would say, we need to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are those who do. They will be filled. And Israel, I'm just wanting you to see what spiritual famine feels like.

You probably it's been so long you don't even know that you're emaciated. But if you'll suffer physical versions of that, then perhaps it will wake you up to realize just how much sustenance you need to provide for your spirit. I hope that crosses our mind every fast Sunday. It's like, wow, my body doesn't do well when I don't keep feeding it. Will you think? Your spirit's the exact same way.

You who are endowed, if you think about your temple covenants and reminders of those covenants that you wear. Then every time your body asks for food, I hope we realize that our spirit's probably been asking for its own version for a while. And that we need to feed it just as frequently. We promised that we would then need to keep that promise.

In verse four, then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not. So here's going to be some baby steps. We're slowly weaning you off of Egypt. And so I will provide, and I'm gonna do it every single day, but there will be some strings attached. I will rain bread from heaven. And you saw the hail back in Egypt. I can rain quite a bit.

Uh I will provide for your every need, but there's gonna be a test attached so I can try you. Here's what this trial will look like five It shall come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. You see, there's going to be a certain allotment given, and a certain allotment required. How hungry are you going to be every day?

And I'll provide for you. Remember the Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. I only need you to get me through today because tomorrow I'll have another chance to ask for more help. Same for you Israelites. This bread I will rain from heaven will get will be your daily bread, and it will be enough to get you through each day. But the day before Sabbath, I'll double it. So that on the Sabbath you don't have to work to gather this bread from heaven.

My wife's told me that when she was young, she hated that old primary song, Saturday is a special day. Remember that one? Saturday is a special day. It's the day we get ready for Sunday. Because for her it was like Sunday's the worst. I can't do anything. And now you're even encroaching on my Saturday? I have to I need a h another day to get ready for the day I can't do anything? Please. Can we confine confine Sunday to itself instead of bleeding out and ruining other days too?

Well, thankfully my wife's outgrown that, and so have I. I felt similar. Maybe you did too. But Israel will Saturday be a special day? Now it's going to be Friday for them since Saturday's their Sabbath, but the point is, will you use the day before Sabbath as a preparation for the Sabbath? At least not pushing oxen into the mire the day before Sabbath so you have something to do and occupy yourself.

No, there's better ways to use the Lord's time on the Lord's day. In the New Testament, there's even a point where it's talking about the day before Sabbath, and it simply calls it the preparation. So how's that for the primary song? No, we don't even call it Saturday anymore. Let's just call it the preparation. How prepared are we? And for them, that string attached to the bread from heaven.

is the commandment to do with it each day what God intends, and honor not just the daily bread, but the day I won't give you bread. at least not the physical kind. This is John six in a nutshell, when Jesus is giving his bread of life discourse, and saying to them, Yes, your ancestors ate the bread from heaven,

And now they're dead. I'm the true bread from heaven. And if you'll eat my body and drink my blood, if you'll participate in my form of the Passover, If you'll trust the kind of Messiah I've been sent to be, not to free you from Rome, but to free you from sin. Then you will eat and never hunger. You will drink and never thirst again. That's the promise of the Lord. Honestly, Sabbath is one of the best days to feel the reality of those promises. And if we will truly trust

that God will give us enough the other days to cover our needs on the Sabbath? He knows we get hungry that day too. He's not starving them that day. He's giving them enough the day before. That's the promise of verse five. I'll give you twice as much. Do we trust that God can do more with our six days than we can do with our seven? Do we trust that God can do more with our 90% income than we could do on our own with 100%?

Whether it's time or money, since time is money, do we trust the Lord with those things? And are we willing to make that kind of sacrifice?

I remember my attitude completely changing in college one day, uh one semester. It was a Saturday night. Uh Monday I had this big history paper due and I wasn't done and I was working so hard trying to get it finished and I had earlier taught been told by a general authority that if you'll keep the Sabbath day holy, even in college, uh and try to withhold from studying that day, doing homework.

Do you trust the Lord? Will He believe that He'll bless you in your grades? And I trusted Him. But that weekend I was truly put to the test. But it was interesting because the time by the time Saturday midnight rolled around, and I still wasn't close enough to being done to take Sunday completely off. I was still so sick of that paper that the striking of the clock at midnight felt like get out of jail free.

It's like free at last, free at last. I don't it wasn't me like, oh, I can't do my paper. It was you paper, you can't get me. I'm on home base. I'm on the Sabbath. And I blissfully walked away from it and for the next twenty four hours felt totally free.

And only about twenty-four hours, because I woke up at the you know, shortly after midnight on Monday to get back to my paper and thankfully, yes, did finish it in time. But to see the Sabbath as a sanctuary, that's the way the way Judaism approaches it. We'll talk about this more when we get to the Ten Commandments. But I do love the thought here of it's a matter of trust.

Do you trust that you can do more with the time God has given you so that you don't feel tempted to take away the time that God has reserved for him? Because even that's meant to bless us as well. Now in verse six, Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, at even then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt.

And in the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord, for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord. And what are we that ye murmur against us? Did you catch all those pronouns? Why are you complaining against us? Who do you think we are? This is all about the Lord.

And he will show himself. Your murmurings are against him, and he's aware of it. Hopefully the Israelites are starting to second or to rethink this. Like, okay, I'm probably shouldn't be complaining against Moses and Aaron. Don't shoot the messenger. What's my relationship with God? Then verse eight, Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full.

For that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him, and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. So there he is hammering those pronouns hard. It's not about us, it's about him. And your relationship to him, what are we supposed to do? But what will God do for you? Well, in the evening, he'll give you meat.

In the morning he'll give you bread, just what you are asking for. In fact, just what you were murmuring about, missing out on the flesh pots of Egypt, God can come through with that. The bread to the full, well you'll be full of this bread. Verse nine, Moses spake unto Aaron, say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he hath heard your murmurings. Repent, in other words, that's what come near the Lord really means.

Once you recognize you've been complaining against him, don't run away. Stop what you're doing, turn around and come so that you can be reconciled to him. He's the one that you you have offended. In verse ten it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud,

That's the same source of guidance that's been leading them through the wilderness. It's now going to be the source of their sustenance. God will provide, and they're looking out into the wilderness for it. What had seemed before a place of absence is now going to become a place of presence. And the Sabbath can be that for us too. Uh we can't do anything. Oh, that's where all the good stuff occurs. Absence becomes present.

In verse eleven the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. It's not just the Egyptians that need to be reintroduced to me. In thirteen it came to pass that at even the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

Now the quails, that's obvious, the meat that he promised to give us at even But in the morning? I thought you said there was going to be bread. There's just dew. What's up with that? Well, wait for it. Wait for it. Verse fourteen When the dew that lay was gone up, so it's evaporated, behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

Now that doesn't exactly sound like a large loaf to me. As small as the hoar frost on the ground? Hello. I mean these are tiny Snowflakes of sustenance. This is the particle of faith that Alma talked about, or those flakes of gold Elder Ballard mentioned in a conference talk years ago. Not some giant gold nugget. He didn't hit the mother load. It wasn't get rich quick, but flake by flake. This prospector filled his pouch with gold.

And so can we. I mean this it might be a drop in the bucket, but it's a drop of oil that will ultimately fill your lamp and vessel if you're a wise virgin. If you're not put off by the the smallness of that of that crumb. Bread to the full is what God promised, and you can eat until you are totally satisfied. It's just going to take work to gather those grains. In some ways that's that's our spiritual life.

In reality, that's our physical life as well. We just would prefer the oh, the liposuction over the diet. We'd prefer the steroid over the exercise regimen. We would prefer the one and done spirituality and just becoming all that God intends for us and then kind of freeze frame right there. But that's not how it works. It is a line upon line, precept upon precept approach. And what that that's doing is changing our character. Not just our quantity of blessing.

I assure you that verse by verse, even word by word, you can amass. enough manna and that's what we're about to see it's called to to last a lifetime. Actually better said to last the day. This daily bread for this day's need. But there will always be more tomorrow. We just have to pay the price to find it. In verse fifteen was where we see the name, when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is Mana.

For they wisd not what it was. They didn't know what it was, so they called it manna. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. Now the irony here is manu means what is it? And so it's funny when it's like, what is it? Manu. Oh mana. Yeah, what is it? Yeah, that's what it is. Well, I asked the question, yeah, and that's the answer. What? What is this stuff? Uh-huh. What?

Okay, whatever. Ooh, that's a good name for it too. Just eat it, okay? Just gather and enjoy. In some ways it's a lot like, well, what's your name? Uh well, I am that I am. Mana, well, it is what it is. That's true of the spiritual gifts that God gives us too. That we can't always quantify it, we can't always put a a finger on it, we can't weigh it and measure it and and give it a a very specific name. It just has to be experienced. This food has to be tasted. But if you'll taste it,

If you'll eat it, you'll never hunger again. If you'll drink what the Lord offers, you'll never thirst. These are the gifts. Take the mana, call it whatever you will. At verse 16 he continues explaining this. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it every man according to his eating, so however much you need to survive. An omer for every man according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tent.

Even with physical food, we don't all have the same needs. We have different metabolisms. We have different body sizes. We have different appetites. And when it comes to spiritual things, What's enough for one person might not be enough for another. And so we have to be able to take our own internal temperature. We need to be introspective enough to know I need I need more.

My Sunday to Sunday kind of sustenance is insufficient. I need to study my scriptures every day. I need more than just one family prayer before we go to bed. What we're up against will help determine that. A lot of times in terms of food, your caloric intake a lot of it depends on your caloric expenditure. How much are you burning? I've often used the windshield wipers as an analogy, uh, that depending on how hard the rain's coming down, that determines how fast they need to be wiping.

And I don't know about you, but if you're ever in a spiritual or a secular downpour. And you are being bombarded with the philosophies of man, or just to temptation or trial, whatever it might be, then I need to crank up my windshield wipers and allow the spirit to wipe away the world and help me see things as they really are. And I'm going to need that frequently, lest I crash. Well, depending on how hungry your spirit is, we better be gathering those grains of manna.

In verse seventeen the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did meet it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating. And that's how you know you got it right. There's no lack, but there's also no waste. Now that might be easier to quantify in terms of temporal things. This is a good example of the law of consecration, those verses.

Uh no lack and no waste. I have enough to meet my needs, and collectively we all do, because I can share with you in your need, or you can share with me in mine. everyone according to their eating. You don't have to starve yourself, but neither do you have to stuff yourself unnecessarily. There will be enough for other ones. In verse nineteen, Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. So we're getting more and more rules here. Notwithstanding they hearken not unto Moses. Figures.

But some of them left it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank, and Moses was wroth with them. Now notice some of them left it, which lets us know that not everyone did. We can't just create a monolith out of ancient Israel and assume that everybody was the same. Again, their eating habits were different and so were their spiritual Strengths and weaknesses. Some followed God's direction to the T. Others not so much. And those who gathered extra, why would they?

In some ways the giving us this day our daily bread is a hard thing because I have to trust that more will be coming tomorrow. I've talked about this in the past that there's a difference between living next to a river like the Nile in Egypt, like the Tigris or Euphrates in Babylon. Uh or living in a place like Israel without much water and not many rivers at all, which means you are praying for rain. Literally.

There's something powerful about that. You can start taking your water for granted when it flows past you every day down the river. But when you have to pray for rain, oh, you come to trust God day by day. And so if you could just amass and freeze-dry your manna, if you could smoke it or salt it, or somehow just lay it up in store, then great. I may not have to work so hard later on.

But that doesn't work spiritually, and here it doesn't work physically. I used to do an object lesson with my seminary students where I'd invite a crazy kid up and have them brush their teeth in front of the class with a week's worth of toothpaste on the brush. I mean they could barely close their mouth around it. There was so much bubbles coming everywhere, right? Drooling down their chin. It was hilarious. But the point was made

That you can't save up scripture study and do it all at one in one fell swoop. Nor can you go back and make up for lost time. No, that day your teeth just got dirty and you didn't brush. And we need to get into the habit of being consistent as well as intense. Those the two verbs I always gave my students. Be consistently intense and intensely consistent in in gathering this manna. Because otherwise, what happens? It starts to mold, it starts to stink, it begins to breed worms.

Now, it's interesting because in the book of Job, worms will be will be discussed in terms of death, uh that the worms are eating the decaying body. Well, to think about Old deceased spirituality. I sometimes joke that if the only spiritual experiences we have are old ones from our mission, uh, that are deep freezed and then thought out when necessary. Well, what kinds of experiences have we had with God more recently?

Because those old ones, sometimes they come across a little stinky, a little stale. They've been consumed, chewed on by the worms, because there's no more life to them. You remember when Jesus warned us about laying up treasures where moth and rust doth corrupt? Well there's the the worms and the stinking manna. You can't store it like that. It needs to be eaten and turned into the energy with which we can serve our fellow man.

In verse twenty one, more instructions. They gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating, and when the sun waxed hot it melted. So the instruction there would be, those who seek me, seek me early. Now in that experience, it was time of day. Uh it was dew to begin with, but then once the sun came out and the dew began to evaporate, it was manna that was left behind. But wait too long and that manna begins to melt. And then you missed today's portion.

Now, like I said, time of day was important, early, literally in the day, for them to gather their manna. For us it may not necessarily be the morning. If you're not a morning person, then don't do your scripture study in the morning. You'll get nothing out of it. Uh if you're a night owl, then that's a better time to study. However,

Just make sure whichever time of day works for you, that you make it work for you, that you stick to it. So when I say it needs to be early, I would say early on your to-do list or high on your list of priorities. Because it is amazing as the sun of our day comes out and begins melting away our best intent.

And we run out of time. It's like people who say, I didn't have enough money left over to pay my tithing. It's like, well, yeah, it's never going to be enough left over. But if you give God his due first, there'll always be enough left over for you. And that's true of time as well. Well when it comes to giving God his due.

Like I said, morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you choose to gather your spiritual manna, just make sure you're sure you do it, or the sun will melt away your chance to do so. In verse twenty two it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. So see, we're starting to do it right. We followed instructions this time.

Then in verse twenty three, he, Moses, said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord. So bake that which you will bake today and Seethe, in other words boil that which ye shall seethe, and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

So God is true to his word. I told you I would provide enough during the week so that you wouldn't have to gather on the Sabbath. You wouldn't have to work. You wouldn't have to worry. The Sabbath is supposed to be a gift, and I've already given you the gift in advance. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, Jesus would later say.

And so for for them to be able to gather all they needed, even to the point where he says, If you're gonna bake it or boil it, do that on the day before the Sabbath too, and it will it will remain. It's nice to know by the way that you can bake manna and boil manna, you can probably barbecue manna. I there's probably a manna helper section in the Hebrew Isle of the Supermarket. I mean, there's a lot of different things you can do with it, and that's good too.

Because well, there are so many different ways to feed our souls spiritually. We need never grow stagnant or bored with a single means. Oh, developing other spiritual gifts. leaning into other opportunities, serving in new callings. Oh, the Lord is shaking up the recipe when it comes to manna all the time. And He's always giving us enough.

So don't don't feel like you have to stockpilate. Now that's that's not not to say that you shouldn't save up for a rainy day or be prepared for emergencies. Uh if nothing else, the story of Joseph taught us that, right? But they're trying to learn, God's trying to teach them how they're supposed to navigate this as far as keeping the Lord's day separate from the others, distinct.

Now in verse twenty five, Moses says, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. So not only are you not working on that day, well God's not working on that day either, at least not working as far as uh d distributing the manna in the morning.

Give him some time off. Now the fact that even he rested on the seventh day of creation, not that he was tired, but that he had carved out space to recreate. In some ways what was he creating on day seven was himself, and that's true of us, spiritually speaking. In verse twenty seven, not everybody listened. Came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. Duh, that they had been told.

There are disobedient among the obedient. There are tares among the wheat, and there are murmurers aplenty, although there are others who are doing their very best to follow the counsel of Moses. In verse twenty eight, the Lord said to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? Now ye is the plural. It's it's the yall if you're from the south, or the all yall even better. Now ye? I thought we just said it was only some. And he's talking to Moses when he says y'all.

Well, I guess we are in this together. If we're trying to establish Zion and be one heart and one mind, then I am my brother's keeper and I need to be my on my very best to try to lead by example. To cry repentance in kind and understanding ways, in hopes that we can collectively enter the promised land, since that is that's a collective goal.

In verse twenty nine, the Lord says, See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day, which would have been an amazingly new experience for people who had spent the last four centuries in slavery. Wait, we're allowed to take a day off? Yeah, you really are.

That's one of the purposes of this day, to remember me and do the spiritual work that the weak sometimes gets in the way of. In verse thirty one it's repeated The house of Israel called the name thereof Mana. That what is this ended up sticking? And it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Now coriander seed is small, but

Which again, this small like the hoar frost, these flakes of gold. It's white and there's not very many foods that appear naturally in white. A cauliflower, I guess. But for it to be pure above all that is pure, which goes along well with the next phrase, it's like wafers made with honey. Ah, so it's sweet above all that is sweet. We already saw a tree,

that brings sweetness to bitter water. Well now we are seeing another gift from God that appears outside your tent every morning, just waiting to be gathered. that will also bring sweetness and purity into your life.

In verse thirty two, Moses says, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, which I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. Talk about the ultimate souvenir. Take an omer, give us this day our daily bread, an omer was a daily ration, and and store it. Keep it for your generations so that posterity can look at this and realize.

Oh, to borrow from the Book of Mormon, how merciful the Lord hath been unto our fathers. To be able to see that and remember that Now this is going to go against the the what God had said earlier, as far as you can't save any of this beyond the day that it's given you. Well, this is the exception to that rule, because this is one worth preserving for posterity.

Those who of you who have been with me for a while, uh hopefully remember this analogy. It's when Sister Camilla Kimball talked about the shelf where she keeps the questions that she can't answer. Yeah, that's a famous thing among uh former Latter day Saints and members who are struggling. They know that, but they often talk about the shelf collapse in. Well, I remember years ago it as I was pondering that analogy.

And coupling it with the ninth article of faith that speaks of revelation past and present and future, it hit me there are three shelves, not just one. And the one Sister Kimball was referring to was the third. many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God that are yet to be revealed. Well that means for shelf number one is revelation past, and shelf number two is revelation present. Well what I love about what they're being asked to do is put some mana on shelf number one.

Gifts of God that He has given in the past. And what's that for? By reminding ourselves of all that God has done for us in the past, everything on shelf number one, dusting it off, keeping a good inventory, uh, strolling down memory lane and And making an active effort to remember. Well, what does that do? It reassures us that God does, in fact, reveal, that He does provide for our every need. And with that, faith.

Then of course shelf number three is revelations yet to come, as opposed to questions that will never be answered. That's what makes our shelf collapse. When we lose hope that God will ever take anything off that shelf and move it down to shelf number two, where he can reveal us or reveal it to us in the present.

You see, to me, if I have a a a well dusted and well inventoried shelf one It leads to a well stocked shelf two of things that God has brought down from shelf three to begin teaching me, which I then move down to shelf one to join its friends from from previous revelations. carving out space for God to reveal something new to me. And shelf three to two and two to one. And it just that's the process of of growing up in God, of learning from the Lord.

And what the Israelites are being asked to do is keep some manna on shelf one. Do you have memories of miracles that God has performed in your life that you can keep on shelf one? Can you keep a pot worth of the blessings of God? to reassure you that there will yet be more blessings forthcoming, and that he who provided for our ancestors will provide for us and for posterity. In fact, the next verse, when Moses turns to Aaron and gives him those instructions,

Take a pot, put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations. Same thing. But then notice this last line. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up. Before the testimony to be kept. Now that last line must have been written after the fact, because the testimony that's being referred to there are the tablets of stone that God that God wrote the Ten Commandments.

So we'll have to wait until we get to the Ten Commandments to see that, but that is the testimony. It's also known as the covenant. And that covenant was put into a box, an ark, which is the ark of that covenant. And what Moses is telling Aaron to do is Right next to that testimony, before it, put this pot of manna and store it in the Ark of the Covenant.

We'll see later that the Ark of the Covenant actually contains three things the greatest artifacts in Israelite history the tablets of stone, the pot of manna, and the rod of Moses slash Aaron. We'll talk more about that as we go on. But what's amazing to me here is To keep the pot of manna there? It's never going to to grow old. It's never going to get stale or or breed worms or stink.

No, because this is not being stored for myself in l in in stockpiling things. No, this is laid up to honor God and to remind my fellow man. That God will bless and and preserve us. It's part of his covenant. In fact, the fact those two things go side by side in the ark, the law of the Lord and the blessings of God, you can't have one without the other.

I think too often all we want in our ark is the manna. Give us the blessing, shower it down, bread from heaven. And we're not realizing that it's part and parcel of the covenant. God feeds us, provides for us because He's promised to do so. But do we keep our promise to obey Him? We need to keep in mind what's in that ark and keep our covenants. Remember our testimony.

The chapter then ends in thirty five and thirty six, with the children of Israel eating mana forty years, until they came into a land inhabited. They did eat mana until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. And then one last thought. Oh yeah, an omer is a tenth part of an ephop. I had to throw that in just to make sure we clarified the quantities there. But I love that that line that phrase, that looking back, again, this would have been written after the fact as well.

That for the next 40 years you're going to eat this stuff. No wonder it's good that we get to boil and and and seethe and barbecue and everything else. Okay. But God will provide all the way up. To the promised land. And once we get there, oh a land flowing with milk and honey. But then again, the manna does taste sweet as honey. This is a preview of coming attractions. And the times where we taste, experience, internalize the Holy Ghost, that is a preview.

A preview. Paul calls it the earnest of our inheritance. It's the down payment. And when you feel the spirit, that is just a hint. a foretaste of all that we will partake of in the kingdom of God. Now, chapter 16 was all about God sustaining his people.

We then turn to chapter 17, and it's the story about God's people sustaining his prophets. This is a famous uh story in the Book of Exodus, and one that I hope we think of every April conference when we raise our arms to the square, to decide to sustain Prophets, seers, and revelators that God has placed before us. A story you may be familiar with. Verse 1, let's see how it unfolds.

All the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Refidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Uh oh. Well yes is what's about to happen. No water. Now we've been through this before. Three days in, right? And the Lord provided miraculously a

A tree that could turn bitter into sweet. So we're gonna remember, right? Uh we've had manna every morning, and God continues to prove himself And so we're good. Well, not so much. Verse two Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?

And again, that personal pronoun. It's not about me. It's about the Lord. I've I'm not the one who's been delivering you. He has. I'm not the one who's been providing for you. He has. He deserves all the credit. He could add, I don't deserve this blame. But interesting the word there, to chide. It means to quarrel or to contend. Lehman and Lemuel were experts at it.

To tempt there, when he says, Why are you tempting the Lord? That actually means to test or to try. Why are you testing the Lord? Or maybe more accurately, why are you trying his patience? The next verse The people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

Wow, to kill uh that we're going back to the same old problems. We might as well have died back in Egypt. Or now we're gonna just die in the wilderness. Please think about all that God has done. We have proved Him in days that are past. Just be patient. Now I we need to be careful before we jump to pass judgment upon these Israelites, because like I said, if you've been on track then

You can probably feel for them here. Interesting word that's been coined more recently. If you're angry because you're hungry, then you're hangry. And these Israelites are hangry, or whatever word you can come up with that combines thirst and anger. I guess the question is how do we respond when when things are hard? It's one thing to be Christ like when all is well.

It's the one thing to trust in God when the the man is coming and the water's flowing. But in those moments where he seems to be absent, or seems to be holding off on the blessings he typically sends so quickly, what will we do?

I've heard it said that the times of greatest danger when it comes to committing sin or falling back into addiction is when they they're they're called blast times. It's an acronym, B L A S T. And it stands for when you're bored, when you're lonely, when you're angry, when you're stressed, and when you're tired.

I mean think about how often you've probably apologized to your spouse or to your children by saying, I'm sorry, I was just really tired or I'm sorry, I'm just really stressed because of all this stuff that's going on at work. It's interesting. It's when push comes to shove. It's when our back's against the wall. It's when we're facing the Red Sea or or a dry desert or or an empty stomach. And times like that really do show us and others who we really are.

The Israelites for failing this test, I I fear that we sometimes fail it too. But Moses responds, verse four, crying unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And again, if they're accusing Moses of trying to kill them, then no wonder they're about ready to kill him, picking up their stones ready to throw.

It's an interesting twist on the temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness about changing stones into bread. Well, there is no bread, and they're ready to pick up the stones and start throwing them. In verse five, then the Lord says unto Moses, Go on before the people, take with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. So on the one hand, appeal to their leaders. Think about it, Moses, you're still a relative newcomer among them.

You were they may have remembered you as a boy, and the the boy wonder that they placed all their hopes uh in, but then forty years passed, and you only appeared for a brief moment, saving one Hebrew Before you took off and were gone for another forty years. This has been very it's been a long time in coming and you haven't been here that long. And so the people that the Israelites trust most are their own local leaders, the elders of the tribes of Israel.

So work with them, work through them. We're going to see more of that the very next chapter in chapter 18. And also not just appeal to their elders, appeal to their experience. Appeal to their memory. Remind them of the rod of God. Here's another souvenir, something tangible, something visible that hopefully will trigger a memory within them. Ah, that's right. God does work through this leader. We we have evidence of that.

Uh another way of bringing something from shelf one up to shelf two, showing it to them to reassure them that shelf three blessings will be forthcoming. In verse six, the Lord continues, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. Which is the same as Sinai. We're coming full circle here. Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Now since Horeb is Sinai.

Since we are coming full circle, think about the first time there was fire burning bush. The second time there was water. as he claved the rock. Both times it came miraculously. Fire was produced with no fuel actually burning. How's that possible? And water came forth where there was no water to be found. When God miraculously provides fire and water, We saw that as he protected Israel, right? With a wall of water, a wall of fire, and

Surrounded by that protective power, Israel was able to march forth? Well once again God is providing miraculously fire and water, and to add to the symbolism, this is water from the rock? Think of Christ as the rock, and when he was smitten, when he was pierced on the cross As the spear pierced his side, out came blood and water water from the rock.

In verse seven, he called the name of the place Masa, which means testing or trying or proving. They were testing, trying God's patience. Well he was proving them who's gonna pass. They also named it Meribah, which means strife or complaint, since that's what they were doing too. We keep seeing place names that that remind people of their failings. It's unfortunate.

But this place deserved those names because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? And again, how could they still be wondering? Well, don't forget, they're still in their spiritual infancy. In fact, infants it's interesting I heard a psych psychologist talk about the game of peekaboo. And psychologically what makes it so

Scary for a child. It it's interesting that they're on the verge of either laughter or tears. And sometimes it's really hard to tell. And a lot of it depends on how quickly you jump back out from behind your hands. Now, since we're no longer infants, sometimes we wonder why peekaboo even works. Why does this baby think this is fun? Well, it's the complete shock and awe of disappearance.

Uh b they they don't quite understand the world yet. And so they see mom or they see dad and then all of a sudden hands go before their eyes and they they can't see them, which means they must no longer exist. They have completely disappeared. And they start to get nervous. And then as mom and dad pops back into existence, Ah, okay, you're still here. And there's this rush of relief that's vented in laughter. Now I'm not saying God is playing peekaboo.

But are we sometimes like the infant that the moment we can no longer see God's hand or feel his spirit, we just assume that he's ceased to exist or It's ironic, it's tragic actually, how quickly we forget him. We'll see this later in the Book of Chronicles, where A man who has had God's guidance so frequently, so constantly, for a moment is missing it.

But this fascinating verse, we'll we'll see it later when we get there. But the verse says that God left him to try him, to see all that was in his heart. Oh, that's interesting. There are times where God holds back, hides behind the bush, crouches behind the rock. And sees how we will respond. I think of that when I'm helping my children learn how to ride their bike. As soon as I let go of the seat, will you keep pedaling?

Because if you don't, then you're not actually learning to ride. And I'm just whole I'm just propping you up the whole time. No, I'm trying to raise independent children, and so is God. So get past the peekaboo is God trying to train us to trust him to Whether he's present or seemingly absent, keep moving forward. Verse eight, then, the the story shifts somewhat. We get a more tangible trial.

It's one thing to just be wrestling with absence. There's no food, there's no water. But it's another thing to have an actual enemy bearing down upon you. That's what they faced with Pharaoh. But now that the Egyptians are gone, they're still not home free. As they're journeying through the wilderness toward the promised land, remember we said that they would face the Edomites and the Moabites and the Canaanites? Well here they're facing the Amalekites.

In verse eight, then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Refidim. Now Amalek was a grandson of Esau. This was a nomadic desert tribe. If there's water coming from the rock in the Horeb, you can picture this might be a tribal contest over water rights. It's extremely valuable in the desert. But what happens? Verse nine, Moses says to Joshua, Ah, okay, now we see him enter the scene.

And Moses tells him, choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill. Now remember these three different groups. You have Joshua and the men of Israel who are fighting. You have Moses with the rod of God in his hand, and then you have Aaron, his brother, and her.

Uh w why keep these three distinct in our minds? Notice what happens next. Verse eleven The Miracle It came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Uh, if you've ever been to a football game and talked about the twelfth man, this is the ultimate twelfth man here. Twelfth man is the crowd. You got eleven players on the field. Uh d d does the twelfth man actually do anything?

Well, if you've ever been on the fields with without them, you miss them. That's the problem of an away game. The the home court advantage or home field advantage comes because of the twelfth man. And here's Moses on the mountain top. As long as his hands are raised and they're seeing the rod of God. I it's is this rallying the troops? This is the king's coat of arms or insignia. This is the national flag. This is the chieftain's banner of the

In reality, this is the rod of God, and it has brought them out of Egypt. It has conquered the the mighty Pharaoh. It's parted the waters. Will it save the day for them? They had faith, at least when they were seeing it. Soon as it went down and it looked like Moses was lowering the rod of God, then there went all of this home court advantage. There went the the sense that God would actually preserve them. Now I've never been in a battle, but I assume there is

Typically fairly long affairs. And if you've ever had to keep your hands up for a long time, you're gonna understand what happens next. Verse 12, but Moses' hands were heavy. Now, do we have any idea just how heavy the hands of God's prophets and apostles really are? I mean, those big red chairs we see in conference sure do look comfortable, but I doubt they're as comfy as they look.

Uh I've been in three different bishoprics, always as a counselor, always the bridema bridesmaid, never the bride, and I'm totally fine with that. Uh but Even when the bishop is gone and I have to conduct, I make sure never to sit in his seat. If I'm using his office for interviews uh or to run ward council or whatever, I never sit in his chair. Uh I j I just want to make it very clear that the buck doesn't stop with me. Uh I'm just a counselor.

Now, in this case, the heavy hands of Moses There was actually a talk that James E. Faust gave years ago when he was counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley. And I remember being so struck by the emotion in President Faust's voice as he pled with the church to pray for the prophet specifically. And then he said this choked voice choked with emotion. No one fully knows, not even his counselors, and he was one of them at the time, how heavy his burdens are and how great his responsibility is.

I have shared that quote with the bishops that I have served under, acknowledging to them that even I, as their counselor, have no idea really of Just how heavy the mantle is. The mantle of the prophet may look like fabric, but it sure feels like chain mail, I imagine. And this is a heavy burden that requires a lot of heavy lifting. And these are Servants of God who have been serving for a lifetime. Heavy hands? You better believe it. So what happens?

In verse twelve they, Aaron and her, his counsellors, so to speak, took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. Oh, to rest upon the rock of our salvation. Now that's helpful, but Legs are stronger than arms, and my legs weren't really the the weary part. Okay. I appreciate the gesture, but I could use a little more help. Okay, then let's help with that.

And so the verse continues, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Yeah, that's a long battle. And Joshua discomforted Amel Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Now think about the three groups again, and what is each group doing?

you'd think oh the focus is on Moses, right? He's the one with the r the rod of God in his hands. He's the one bearing the mantle. And there he is lifting it. But think about it if Joshua and the men of Israel down in the valley looked up. saw Moses with rod extended and thought, Oh, okay, we're good. We are good. The crowd is cheering. We've got home court advantage. Uh Amalek, feel free to be defeated. I don't think that's a recipe for success. We still have to fight.

And you and I in the valley below have a mission to perform. I know President Nelson is performing his. I know President Oakes and President Irene, the Quorum of the Twelve and the Quorums of the Seventy are serving faithfully. Heavy hands notwithstanding. But you and I, under our local Joshua's, are we fighting with all our heart, might, mind, and strength? Because if not, Then no amount of rod holding on the mountaintop will ensure our victory. We must be anxiously engaged.

Now, how about Aaron and her? You can picture them seeing poor Moses with heavy hands and saying, Why well with there's three of us, why don't we just tag team? And Aaron says, Well, I've used the rod at times as well. Why don't I just spell you for a while and take it from Moses and hold it up himself? Well, no, that's not their role.

We studied this last year in the Doctrine and Covenants, that some of the revelations given to the counselors in the first presidency were told to be they told them be faithful in counsel. and stand in the office to which you have been appointed, which is a step below the office that the prophet was appointed to. Okay? Know your place. And Aaron and Heard did. We cannot Bear your burden. We can't take the mantle from you, but we can help you bear it well.

And so here's Moses doing his part. You see Aaron and her doing their part. You see Joshua and the army below doing theirs. And if that's the case. Then how can the kingdom of God not conquer? They did. Verse 14 The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book. This is worth recording. And rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

That last line's interesting. The day will come where the Amalekites are completely obliterated. And unfortunately, or or fortunately, when an enemy is gone, they tend to be forgotten. Now the unfortunate part of that is Have you also forgotten the deliverance from that enemy that God provided? 'Cause you can't afford that. You need to dust off shelf number one. And so we're next to the pot of manna.

Uh maybe some stones from the bottom of the Red Sea that would have been way too deep to to scuba dive for. Uh maybe some oh what di think of souvenirs from each of the ten plagues some hyssop with some dried lamb's blood on it. Uh, some unleavened bread, whatever it is that's going to help you remember, right alongside that in shelf number one. Keep a record of this battle. Remind Joshua of it, remind the people of it, because long after the Amalekites have faded from memory,

The power of God needs to still be fresh on the mind. Record it and rehearse it. Tell your children and your children's children these incredible histories of the hand of God. In verse fifteen and sixteen then our study ends, with Moses building an altar and calling the name of it Jehovah Nisi. For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Jehovanisi, by the way, means the Lord is my banner. And again, that's like the rod that Moses was lifting. High on the mountain top a banner is unfurled Something to remind us that God rules over all, and that his will will be done if we'll simply follow him and follow his prophet. You see that was Pharaoh's problem last week. Didn't know God and didn't know God's prophet. That was Israel's problem repeatedly in this week's material.

Do you know God and trust him? And please, do you know Moses and do you trust him? Or is it simply murmuring and complaining against Moses whenever your temporal needs don't seem to be met? You see, here we are wandering in our wilderness, the wilderness of sin, great imagery there, and we have a choice. Will we define ourselves by our experiences at Mara and Meribah, complaining against God, testing his patience? Or will they be defined by our experiences at Refidim?

You see, Rafidim comes from the word meaning to spread. So there's Moses spreading out his arms. There is the banner of Jehovah being spread out before them. It also comes from a word meaning to support. To sustain, we could say, uh the back of a chair, or like the base of a chair, like the rock that Moses was sitting on. There's Refidim for you.

Are we supporting God's chosen servants? Are we sustaining them? Or are we chiding with them? The choice is ours. Mara, Meribah, Rephidim. Where would you rather set up camp? There's actually a fascinating verse in Second Nephi chapter one, when Lehi is nearing the end of his life and is warning, especially Laman and Lemuel. about being a little too much like their Israelite ancestors.

and murmuring all along their journey to the promised land, and not just forgetting God, but also fighting against their leader, Nephi. This is what Dad says to them. Rebel no more against your brother. And then build us this amazing list. one, whose views have been glorious, the visions that Nephi has had, or in Moses' case, the burning bush, the visions of glory, Number two, who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem, the undeviating obedience of Nephi.

And the faithfulness of Moses every step of the way. Number three, and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God? Nephi was. in obtaining the brass plates, in going back to find Ishmael and his daughters, in building the ship, in you name it. Nephi was an instrument in God's hands, and Moses was as well, through all ten plagues and beyond. Number four, in bringing us forth into the land of promise.

Nephi had accomplished that. Moses would get them to the to the promised land as well. Five, were it not for him, we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness. There's Nephi, despite his broken bow, making a new one. carving out of a straight stick and arrow, and then going out with the guidance of a Liahona that he helped bring back into proper working order. finding food to feed his family. Well, how about Moses with

water from the rock, with manna from heaven? He's been providing all along. God has through him. Nevertheless, Lehi says, ye have sought to take away his life, And Laman and Lemuel were guilty of plotting Nephi's death, and we just saw the Israelites thinking about stoning Moses as well. So finally Lehi says, Yea, he hath suffered much sorrow because of you.

gives you a glimpse into the heart of God's servants, and to think of what Nephi must have been feeling for Laman and Lemuel, not anger, but grief and sorrow. And the same thing here with Moses. Oh, how long How long will you d not understand what I'm trying to do for you? And we'll keep seeing more of this the next few weeks, sadly. Of all the weight, the added burden that Israel continues to place upon Moses's already heavy hands.

Uh in some ways I wish that they could understand and wish that we could understand the reality of this great verse from Second Chronicles. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established, believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. Now those are words to live by. If you want to be established, rock solid foundation, then believe in God. But if you want to prosper, which suggests growing uh above the the foundation, going outside and beyond it, navigating life.

Then to prosper you need to believe God's prophets, because those are the lively oracles that show us the way to live God's will in our day. Now I know that prophets sometimes give us hard sayings, who can hear them? That's Christ's bread of life discourse again. And as a result, there are disciples who choose no longer to follow.

I actually wonder if society in the church has overcorrected that perhaps a prior generation was overly reliant on the words of prophets to the point of not thinking sufficiently for themselves. But as is often the case with uncoupled contraries, if one generation is off on one extreme, then a coming generation won't just correct, they will overcorrect and end up on the other extreme.

And I do sometimes worry as I look at my students, the rising generation, are they living lives independent of prophets and apostles? Yeah, their anti institutionalism or their anti authoritarianism is it getting in the way of of prospering through believing in prophets of God? They'll listen when they say good things and when times are are easy. But do we see God behind the prophets even when those words are harder?

when they go against our preconceived notions or or the philosophies that the world would have us espouse. I just want to bear you my testimony of the Moses's and the Aaron's and the Hers, the Joshua's. that God has placed to lead his people Israel. Perfect? No. Neither was Moses. We saw some of those failings, those that sense of inadequacy, some frustration at times.

But divinity poking through their humanity, shining brilliantly beyond it, definitely. And I pray that you see that when we look at prophets and apostles today. That was Stephen's concern that we talked about last week, that will you reject Jesus the way you rejected Moses? Or us will we reject the Lord's servants, as ancient Israel so often murmured against Moses? I testify that God, who speaks through those servants, is still the God of the Exodus.

He's still the god of the Red Sea. He is the provider of manna from heaven and the rock out of whom flows the living water. I testify that if we will come unto him, we will eat. with the bread of life, and we will drink the living water. And if we will come and partake of that from him, then we will never hunger, and never thirst again.

When I first hiked Sinai in college, it was an incredible experience. The view from the top is amazing. But to get there, it takes a lot of putting one foot in front of the other. And that sounds a lot like the lessons we're going to try to learn today as far as the law of the Lord is concerned. Uh we started in the middle of the night and at the at the beginning it was just plodding along in the darkness.

And that does feel like keeping the commandments sometimes, especially when we're young. I don't understand why I'm doing this. I don't see any purpose in it, but they keep cracking the whip and saying, just keep walking forward. Fine. Well, as we get a little higher in elevation, as the light begins to dawn.

Typically we begin to see why we were supposed to walk a certain narrow path. Looking back, oh yeah, there were some steep drop-offs. I'm glad I had the confines of covenant to keep me in safe space. And by the time we get to the top and can fully see all that got us there. then I hope we'll have the paradigm shift that allows us to echo the Lord's words and the Doctrine and Covenants, that we have been crowned with commandments, not a few.

You see, we all started on foot, and most of commandments and obedience really are just But taking it step by step. There were places on the trail that camels were available if absolutely necessary, and yes, I do believe that God offers us whatever support we need to ascend.

On the back side of Sinai, it's fascinating. There's actually an ancient monastery, Saint Catherine's. And over the centuries the monks have literally carved out of the stones of Sinai a staircase to get to the top. I mean they can hike it any time they want. And I think that says something about commandments as well. We saw earlier the rungs of Jacob's ladder, oh the principles and ordinances of the gospel that get us home to him. But these steps up Sinai are similar.

And to understand to the commandments given one by one to help us climb back to Christ. They are such a blessing. It's not a burden. And once you get to the top and take in the view, believe me, it will all be worth it.

Now the Ten Commandments is what will occupy chapter twenty. We'll get there. We're going to start with chapter eighteen today. And honestly, the Come Follow Me curriculum is just going to cover eighteen, nineteen and twenty. Next week we'll pick up with Exodus twenty-four, which means we skipped some things. And if you've been with me for a while, you know I don't like to skip stuff. There's incredible uh principles to find wherever we look. And so yes.

I d I know you. I know how uh the intrepid hikers that you are and y the n you wanna leave no stone unturned. And so yes, by the end of today's lesson we will bring in chapter twenty one, two and three as well. There's incredible Oh lesser commandments, but incredible things that didn't just make the ten. Now, to get there though, let's start with chapter 18. Last, or I guess it was two weeks ago, we saw 17, where we're beginning to see more involvement among the house of Israel.

And that's a good thing. Moses can't do it all himself, and we'll see that dramatized even more clearly today in chapter eighteen. In seventeen it was Moses on the mountain top, rod in hand. You have Aaron and Hur sustaining and supporting him on either side, and you have Joshua and the armies of Israel down in the valley, fighting the Amalekites. And yes, it took everyone Lifting where they stood to be able to win that battle.

Now that was in the military realm. Today we're going to see it in the spiritual realm, and even the political, if you want to call it that, as the house of Israel is trying to figure out how are we going to live life together as a community as we head toward the promised land.

Now, chapter 18, verse 1, we get to see Jethro again. It says when Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Okay, let's pause there, because notice the focus for Jethro. The word's been spreading. I mean when the world's superpower, Egypt, is brought to its knees, you better believe that word's gonna spread. And sure enough.

I mean the Amalekites knew that they're coming the Israel's coming along, that's why they wanted to head them off at the pass. Evidently the Midianites are hearing about this as well, and that's where Jethro comes in. But notice the focus. It wasn't on Moses, nor was it on Israel. It was on the God of Israel. He heard all that God had done. He caught wind that the Lord had brought Israel out.

And that's important to see. As far as Jethro was concerned, it wasn't about Moses, it was about Moses' God. But God uses people to perform his work. And that's going to inform the kind of counsel that Jethro will give to Moses in this chapter. In verse two, then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back and her two sons. Now, if you remember a couple of weeks ago, that weird story when Moses is heading down to Egypt and he hasn't

circumcised his son, and uh God is re ready to slay him because of that oversight? Zipporah steps in and performs the circumcision herself, right? Bloody husband thou art unto me. Interesting story. Yeah, but Zor Zipporah is with him. Now at some point, and the text doesn't tell us when, at some point, though, Moses sends Zipporah and the boys back home to Midian, back home to Jethro.

It makes sense. I mean, if he's scared to death to go see Pharaoh himself, why on earth are you dragging your wife and kids along with you? Well, maybe it was because he was so scared. And so the suggestion in most among most scholars is it was when Aaron came that Moses most likely sent Zipporah away. She was my help meet. Well now I have another help meet for me, and I want to protect the one that matters most. So honey, go home. Okay? You'll be safe there.

But here Jethro brings her and the boys to be back with their with their husband and father. In fact we finally learn the second son's name. So verse three, she brings her two sons, of which the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land. Gershom Gur is the word for alien or stranger or foreigner.

And Moses was a stranger in a strange land. The name of the other was Eliasar, for the god of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Elezer is such a beautiful name. Azer is the word for help. Remember Eve, the help meet, Azer Kenegdo? Well, Eli is my God, so Eliaser is my God is help. The only kind of help that will get us through the kinds of challenges that a Pharaoh would present us with.

But to be reminded of that every time you call your son, I love these two boys' names and the reminders that they're giving to Moses. In fact, if you think about commandments, since that will be our focus for today, the first great commandment is to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. And if I know that my God is my help, then how can I not love him and want to serve him, with all the help he has given me.

That's Eliezer. And Gershom, the stranger in a strange land, if I remember that, then the second great commandment comes naturally. Because I remember who I am and where I've been and where I come from, and that I I need the support of my fellow man, and which means they need mine also. Again, if you're trying to keep the two great commandments, upon which hang all the law and the prophets, all the other commandments we'll see today, then remember Gershom,

and love your neighbor, and remember Eliezer, and love the Lord your God. The vertical component, the horizontal component, there's taking up the cross daily I can keep these commandments because I remember all that God has done for me to prepare me to do so. In verse five, Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness.

Where he encamped at the Mount of God, and he said unto Moses, I, thy father in law Jethro, am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. Now, notice how he describes all that. This is Moses' father-in-law. But he doesn't refer to Zipporah as his daughter, nor does he refer to Gersham and Eliezer as his grandsons. It twice he said very clearly, Isis your wife, these are your sons.

And I think that tells us something about extended family. I am so grateful for the blessings of Extended Family. But they are a step removed from the immediate family. You remember the marriage ceremony in Eden, that the husband and wife are going to leave father and mother and cleave unto one another. A new family unit is is created that takes the place.

Or that supersedes, perhaps we could say, the previous family organization. But that doesn't mean we leave them entirely or leave them for good. And thank heaven for that. Because what has this extended family been doing for Moses all this time? Everything he would have done if he had been with them. Jethro is providing and protecting and and caring for his daughter and his grandsons, but he sees them as Moses' family, even more than his own.

I'll admit it is a delicate dance for grandparents to watch. and for in-laws to walk. Uh how how much support can I offer without overstepping my bounds? and not getting in the way of the kinds of immediate family relationships that need to take precedent, that need to take priority. I am grateful for parents and in-laws. And brothers and sisters that have children of their own, but have become the ultimate aunts and uncles for my own children.

I am grateful for my own uncles and aunts and again it's like concentric circles. I've this tight knit e uh eternal and intimate family circle is the one that needs to hold strongest. But the next ring outward I'm so grateful for the support and help that can come from extended family. So you grandparents out there, you uncles and aunts, I hope you see. Just how vital you can be. Especially in times like this when one parent Has to do most of the parenting alone.

that you really can step in and make a huge difference. And specifically, what is Jethro doing as he returns Moses' wife to him and Moses' sons to him? you can do a lot to build family unity on the immediate side. And again, it's tricky. There's the dance the the the to to work on. But what can I do to help them be more unified? What support can I offer? And specifically, how can I help them all get to the mountain of God? That is a place where grandparents can have a profound influence.

Oh, inviting posterity to climb the mountain with them, to return them to the presence of God. Now verse 7, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him, and they asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.

This sounds like a wonderful relationship. Maybe it's easy for Jethro to be that kind of father in law, because Moses is this kind of son in law. They would have had a lot in common, both men of God, Moses, the prophet of the God of Israel, and Jethro, the high priest of Midian, both Abrahamic in their backgrounds. to to see the mutual love as they kiss each other, the multi the m mutual respect as Moses p does obeisance, pays honor to to Jethro.

Even the mutual friendship and interest as they ask about each other's welfare. I love that. I'm it's amazing to watch the relationships change between from parent to child, more to peer-to-peer. Uh it's interesting to associate with my own parents and it's so different than when I was a kid. It's

in some way so much better because we can see eye to eye and compare notes on raising children and did I really put you through all that and I'm so sorry and help me with this and how would you have done and it's amazing. And I see the same thing with my older children as they grow. And I don't have to raise them so much anymore. I can just enjoy them and learn from them. And as we ask each other of their welfare. There's this equality.

uh in the relationship that wasn't there when they were young. Oh, good times ahead as we all grow up. And again the same is true of of in laws. I'm so grateful for the relationship. Well, I'll put it this way. The one complaint I have about bo about my in laws is they have robbed from me all the joy that is supposedly had in telling Stereotypical in law jokes. I can't use any of them. I can't complain about uh a father-in-law or a mother-in-law because they're amazing.

And like Jethro, I rejoice in their welfare as they rejoice in mine, and they have been a blessing, as my own parents have to my wife. to to build our family unity, to support from outside, and yes, to invite us all to join them at the mountain of God.

In verse eight, Moses tells his father in law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. So just like Jethro had, Moses is giving God all the credit too. Can you believe what God did?

It was pretty rough. Again, as there's comparing notes like, Man, I how'd you raise your kids? I've been r feels like I've been raising, oh, two million Israelites for the last little while as we've been going through murmur, murmur, murmur. Wow. Okay. But God has got us through it. And by the time you get to verse nine, Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. There again, shared rejoicing and recognizing the hand of God behind it all. Now verse eleven, Jethro adds one interesting statement.

He says, Now I know that the Lord, that is Yahweh, the God of Israel, is greater than all gods, which would include any deities that the Midianites might have been worshiping mistakenly. For in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them. Remember a few weeks ago when we studied the plagues of Egypt? In every single one God was targeting one of the gods or goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon. In essence, it was anything you can do, I can do better.

If there is a god of the Nile, oh well, watch what I can do. If you boast as a god over the grain, well, I will send the locusts to eat every last kernel. Pharaoh, you boast. As being the son of Ra, well you won't even be able to protect your own son. Or Ra himself as the god of the sun, well whatever you boast yourself in. I will bring you to your knees in that exact area, so that you know that the Lord is greater than all God.

If you or I have a struggle with pride because of the things wherein we deal proudly, then be prepared to be introduced to a God who's even better at that thing than you are. I think there's something powerful about the humility that comes in recognizing that no matter how good we are at any specific thing. God is infinitely better at that than we are. And so why would we try to

To do that work without him. Why would we ever remain independent of the of the source of the gift to begin with? But someone who knows how to use that gift far better than we ever. There's some beautiful humility there ver in verse eleven. And then in verse twelve, naturally as a result, Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came. And all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.

That sounds like the most amazing extended family reunion. There's Moses coming back to Jethro and saying, Oh, Jethro, you gotta meet my brother Aaron. You gotta meet the elders of Israel. These are my people. And God has brought them out of Egyptian bondage, so that we can rejoice together. In fact, so that we can break bread together and collectively rejoice in our God. which is your God too, Jethro.

We're all Abrahamic here, and for the Israelites and the Midianites to come together, rejoicing in the God of their common ancestor? Can you picture Jacob and Esau doing that? Can you picture Isaac and Ishmael doing that? Getting past our denominational differences, so that we can rejoice in the things that God has done for us all. Jews and Christians and Muslims Rejoicing in the God of our common ancestor Abraham, there is cause to rejoice and to break bread together.

And then verse thirteen, with all of that unity behind us, we're ready for the the real message of chapter eighteen. And it's the advice that That Jethro gives to his son-in-law Moses. Here's how it's set up. Verse 13. It came to pass on the morrow, then Moses sat to judge the people. Party's over. We've got to get back to work. And the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.

Sun up to sundown, there is no break from decisions to make and questions to answer and problems to resolve and differences to settle. Oh, this is the life of a leader. And as President Hinckley once said, there is a loneliness to leadership. Because the buck stops with you. This is going to be the challenge that Jethro notices in Moses and is going to try to help him learn how to better navigate. Because notice what he says in verse 14.

When Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? So maybe there is a bit of the overprotective father-in-law in Jethro after all. Maybe he's worried about his daughter and grandsons, like Moses, no wonder you don't have any time for your wife and kids. You are busy all day long solving everybody else's problems.

Now, usually when we look at that verse, the word that jumps off the page is alone. You shouldn't be doing this all by yourself. Which explains Jethro's explanation of delegation later on in the chapter. But don't speed forward to get there quite yet. Because notice two other words. They're both the prepositions that are used here. It's when Jethro saw all that Moses did to the people that he asks him, What are you doing to the people?

Now I can picture Moses there going, doing to them. What are you talking about? This is stuff I'm doing for them. This is all about them. And I'm just trying to help. My entire life is spent in their service. So I'm doing for them. To which Jethro, perhaps gently and cautiously, but wisely would have said, Son, are you sure? Are you sure this is for them? Because maybe down deep part of it is for you.

all of those years of feeling inadequate, that time thinking of you needed five rounds of reassurance, right? You didn't want to be useful to God, but then you became useful to him. He brought you up to speed and And maybe you're trying to make up for lost time. Maybe I just honest honestly think about it ourselves. Is there a piece of us that serves others in a self-serving way? And are we doing things for them that really end up being for us?

Is there some purification of motive that needs to take place in each of us? And is that something we can work on? Now, I still picture Moses going, okay, even let's get past that. No, this really is for them. And I this isn't stroking my ego. I'm not pridefully we'll learn later that Moses is the meekest man imaginable. And so let's give him the benefit of the doubt on this. No, this was not I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for them. Okay.

I understand. So is that why you're doing everything? And honestly, in our own situation, sometimes our failure to delegate really is noble because They're so inexperienced. And if I can do it for them. I know it'll end up being a better experience. Now, sadly, there might be some truth to that. And so here again Satan is playing to your strengths rather than your weakness. You're so good at what you do that you know

Oh, you can just bless people if you'll keep doing it and doing it for them. Let me let me take care of that. Perhaps you've been burned too many times by proof that if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. And you've done so well at those things that you can just keep doing it and do it for everyone all around you. The problem there is you are doing it alone and they'll never get better at it as a result.

Perhaps the question we should be asking is not how will it turn out, but more how will they turn out? How will these students I'm teaching or these youth that I'm leading or these children that I'm raising, how will they turn out if I'm the one that ends up doing everything for them? Now for this uh two statements, one from Elder Bednar.

And one from Elder Maxwell. Elder Bednar is an expert at this. He got his PhD in organizational behavior. Okay, so he knows this from an academic and a business background and not just from a spiritual one. he understands the importance of delegation. So he's constantly trying to lead people To be as qualified to do things as he is.

In fact, when he was a very young state president in Arkansas, he said that he'd just been called, and the general authority said to him, President Bednar, your first order of business is to train a multitude of men to take your place. And it jolted him. He's like, What? I've been state president for like two minutes and you're already planning on my successor?

Well, yeah. The Lord needs to be thinking of those kinds of things. How long will you be here? We never know. And he wasn't there long. So good thing he was s he spent his time Preparing other people, giving them responsibility and accountability and support and helping them become as a result of it. At one point he even talked to to church employees and warned them.

Sometimes we don't delegate because it would take too long. I can do it better and faster myself. And you know what? He said, you're right. The first time, maybe the second, but by the third, now you're wasting your own time. It would have been faster if you'd slowed down the first time and taught someone, trained them, helped them get up to speed. Yeah, they might not do it as well as you the first time, but give them time.

And yes, it would have taken more time to do it that way than just get it done yourself. But since you have to keep doing it every time after that, No, at a certain point there's a break-even, and then you're in the loss column, and you should have prepared somebody else to do what you find yourself still having to do every single time. That's a problem.

a problem not only Elder Bednar saw, but that Elder Maxwell saw. And he put it this way in a training meeting he gave to church leaders, in conjunction with General Conference years and years ago. Amazing statement. He said, Some of our youth are so much done for, they are almost done in. If youth are too underwhelmed, they are more likely to be overwhelmed by the world.

Functionally, how many deacons and teachers quorum presidencies consist of merely calling on someone to offer a prayer or pass the sacrament? Brethren, these really are special spirits, and they can do things of significance if given a chance. I love how he put that. Truly Maxwellian. So much done for that they end up being done in. They're underwhelmed, so they end up being overwhelmed by the world. I have seen that play out. All too often.

You see, early in my career I taught seminary, so I was with teenagers. I was in young men's presidencies and wards and stakes, and so I worked with teenagers, with youth. But now my days are spent with my institute students and with young single adults. And what's interesting is and what's tragic, what didn't have to be this way. is watching young adults who are paralyzed by the choices that they have to make.

And the 20s is the decade of decisions. So they have huge decisions to make. What am I going to study? What am I going to be when I grow grow up? Who am I going to marry? What's my family life going to be like? Uh, how do I navigate life spiritually in a secular world? Major decisions, but they're paralyzed to make those decisions because they've never been given opportunity to make significant decisions before.

And that's on us as parents or as leaders or as teachers. I would much rather have a 12-year-old choose the wrong counselor. Than a 24-year-old choose the wrong spouse. Now that's a stark way to put it, but let it sink in. Are we getting in the way of youth presidencies in classes and quorums? Because we don't want them, well, we want them to have a better experience, and I can make sure that I that I give them that.

And I don't want well, let me lead them in this direction. Oh, don't make that choice because it won't turn out as good. And so what are we doing? We're convincing them that they that their own opinions aren't valued or their own feelings can't be trusted. And as they grow and then get to a point where they have to make the decisions on their own? They're unable to do so because they've never been given the chance. Let them lead. Let them try. Let them fall. Let them fail.

And be there to help pick them up every time. Now th I'll admit that can be taken to an extreme and I've seen that happen too. Now I don't want to overgeneralize, I certainly don't want to gender stereotype, but in my own experience I have seen that men tend to be on one side of the contrary and women tend to be on the other of this particular sex.

And it's this contrary of of letting others lead versus supporting them in that leadership. How much independence versus how much dependence? Or can we actually balance with some form of interdependence? See, here's the issue. Maybe we learned this on the mail side from the Boy Scouts of America, because they always talked about having a boy led program, which is a good thing.

It's let them be uh patrol leaders and senior patrol leaders and quartermasters and and chaplains and all these other areas of responsibility that they can take on. But they're not the Scoutmaster, and that's a good thing. Now I have seen it go a little too far where it's Well, I'll put it this way, the scout motto is be prepared.

And that's a good motto for before the fact. After the fact, I think the de facto uh motto becomes, well, you live and learn. And I've been on a lot of campouts that weren't enough be prepared. And so they ended up being a lot of, well, you live and learn. uh with my oldest son as as I was letting him know how hard it is to untie frozen shoelaces. Uh, based on jumping in the stream with your shoes and socks on right before nightfall on what would end up being a very cold camp house.

Yeah. And then leaving your shoes outside the tent door. And then when you have to get up in the morning to use the restroom, uh yeah, you're not getting into those shoes anytime quite. Well, you live and learn. And thankfully he lived, but yes, he had a lot to learn, and we all do. Now, like I said, I've often seen young men's leaders on the too-cold side of the Goldilocks zone. And not giving the youth enough support.

It's like, well let the youth teach in quorum and in class. Oh great, that saves me a lesson. So in two weeks, uh there's the lesson. Uh you can look and find some stuff online and good luck with that. And then we wash the hands and we're off. And sadly, the quorum suffers from an an ill-prepared lesson. And worst of all, that young man suffers because he was trying his best but had no support and didn't know what he was doing. Don't just let them teach. Teach them how to teach.

Let them be a junior companion and then slowly shift the center of gravity. Now if the male problem is too cold, sometimes I've seen that the female problem is too hot. And if the the young men's leaders are delegating everything and not giving enough support, sometimes the young women's leaders aren't delegating enough to begin with. But but girls camp has to be amazing, it has to be life changing, and it always is. But is it because we're doing it all? But we're doing it for them. I know.

But are you doing something to them that's negative? by not giving them the chance to try, to spread their wings, and to build the strength that comes in in flapping Give them the opportunity to do so. I think too often the young adults that are leaving the church, because they think the church has nothing to offer them. Haven't been given the opportunity to offer something to the church along the way. We can do so much more. For our youth, if we stop doing so much for our youth.

I hope the Spirit is clarifying those prepositions for you. I hope that he's giving you some specific instruction. on more support to offer when necessary and m and less hand holding or more You can do this. I know that you can. There's actually a book that I wish were required reading for every young men and young women's presence in the church.

I gave it to all my seminary teachers when I trained the seminary teachers in the South. I read it to my own children when they were teenagers. Uh, because it's a book written for teenagers, by teenagers. Two brothers, uh evangelical Christians, who were raised by wonderful parents who knew that their children could do incredible things if given the opportunity. And so they gave them the opportunity. The book is called Do Hard Things.

But I like the subtitle even more. The subtitle reads, A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. Don't you love that? And like I said, it's teenagers writing it. As they realized, how come nobody expects anything of us? How come oh, I don't know, brushing our teeth and making our bed are are considered these incredible accomplishments? I'm seventeen for crying out loud.

Give me a chance to do something amazing and then get out of my way and I'll do it. And these two boys did. That book is inspiring. And to think about what Moses is going to do. For the people If he stops doing all these things to them. And keeping them away from the great expectations that God wants them to grow into? Oh, it's amazing. Well, let's just keep going. Verse fifteen, Moses says to his father in law, So here's some little pushback, okay, Dad?

He says, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God, when they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Now, careful, Moses, what did you just say there? I do make them know the statutes, but you just said you're the one that always judges between them. So are they really coming to understand the law itself?

Or just coming to rely on your interpretation and implementation of the law. You understand the difference there? You see, if they really knew the law as well as you think you're teaching it to them. then wouldn't they be able to govern themselves? Remember that quote from Joseph Smith? How do you lead such a great people, such a l large numbers? Oh, it's easy. I just teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves.

Well, if I've really taught them correct principles, that's the beauty. They'll know how to govern themselves. And so here when Moses is saying, Oh, I I let them know how to do what yeah, I know what let them know what the law is. Oh, careful, there's a difference. Because they're still reliant upon you. You see, if think about it in terms of math, okay? But if I've really mastered the concept, then I understand what the formula does and how it works. That way I can plug in different numbers.

And always come up with the right answer. Or take it up a level. And beyond formulas, how about story problems? Because if I really understand the concepts going on here, then in I'm given a certain situation, here's my story problem. If I understand the principles well enough, then I'll know which formula applies to this situation. I'll know which numbers to plug into that formula. I'll know what the answer to the formula or to the equation is, and I'll know what that means back into the story.

And by the way, that's scripture study. It's learning principles. That's the formula. to be used in story problems. They're actually couched in stories to begin with, right? And that's why we're trying to find relevance and meaning, trying to find principles within these stories.

It's it's reducing a story down to a principle, which can then be brought into my own story and reconstituted to help me know what I'm supposed to do in my own circumstance. That's math. That's scripture study. That's cooking. It's not just following a recipe. It's one thing to teach people how to follow a recipe. It's another thing to teach people how to cook.

and then let them just run with it. So are you teaching them really? Think about it in terms of this verse from Helaman sixteen. This one haunts me as a teacher. as a church leader and as a parent. You see, you have all these skeptics at the end of Helaman. Uh the five years are about up, right? And will do we trust the promise that Samuel the Lamanite gave about the coming of Christ?

And these skeptics are are planting seeds of doubt among the faithful, and they say this to them. It it's scary. It says they, the those leaders and teachers, They will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery, which we cannot understand.

Which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word, and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them all the days of our life. Now do you see how their skepticism has grown into cynicism? And now they're questioning the motives of those teachers and leaders. But how did it get there?

Oh, beware, be careful. They're gonna weave some mystery be before you. And since you cannot think for yourself, since you are totally reliant upon them to uh to teach you the word, to explain the word, they can keep you down under their thumbs the rest of your life. You'll be servants unto them because you're too dependent. Now, can you guess why that would cause me concern as a teacher? Believe me, as much as I love to teach the word, I don't want my students to become dependent upon my word.

I want them to learn how to discover these truths for themselves. I hope you're sensing that as we go through these lessons together. Because if I'm getting in your way, then please stop watching. I try to explain how I'm finding these things. I try to explain what it means to turn aside to see and receive a message instead of just some heat from the burning bush. I try to explain some of the places I turn to for as resources, how to get some insight into Hebrew when you don't speak Hebrew.

Uh I'm not just trying to teach you, I'm trying to train you. And we'll see more of that difference in a moment. It's the age-old teach someone to fish instead of just catch them fish to eat. I'm hoping that we're all learning how to feed ourselves for a lifetime. And that goes for my students, it goes for the people I lead, it goes for my children.

I had a great conversation with my oldest daughter once, as she was feeling that I was being I was micromanaging something in her life, and I just asked her How do I feel about independence? And she laughed and said, Okay, yeah, you're right. You you really aren't wanting us to be to remain dependent upon you. You are a fan of independence, yours as well as ours. And you do give us room to to roam and room to grow in okay, I guess you're not micromanaging after all.

Then what is it what you're doing? And then we had a great conversation. But there's one other element in that verse I want to hit before we go on to the next. And it's when Moses says, They come to me to inquire of God. And isn't that what a prophet's for, Dad? I mean, aren't I supposed to be the middleman?

that I give the word of God to them and I can then bring their questions back to God and so on and and I picture Jethro saying, Yes, you're right. I am a high priest as well. I get it. However, If they're coming to you to inquire of God, then who are they really after? They want to connect with God. And they only came to you because they think you can point them to Him.

They're right, then do it. Really point them to him. Connect them with the source of all guidance, the source that you're getting yours from. With that in mind, can I share one of my favorite verses from John in the New Testament? It's about a gro a group of Christian pilgrims. They're Greeks, and they've come to Jerusalem for one of the feasts. And they specifically seek out Philip, one of the apostles. Now why him?

Well Philip is a Greek name, so perhaps there's some kind of connection there. The Greeks are coming. Oh, Greek apostle? I know he's Jewish. Well whatever. Uh he's closest to our culture, and so let's let's come after him. Now but the way it's phrased is profound. This is John twelve, twenty and twenty one. There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.

The ca the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him. Now, if you stopped there, you'd think, Wow, of course, they want me. I mean I am an apostle after all, and I'm a person of importance, and Wow, I feel so flattered that they would want me. They desire me. Well, k sto sorry, Philip. There's a comma after that, not a period. So let's finish the verse. They desired him, comma, saying, Sir, We would see Jesus.

Do you see what they're really after? Yes, we desire you, Philip, but only for one purpose. It's because our real desire is to be with Christ. But we don't know him yet, but you do. And since we know you and you know him, will you please? connect us and then get out of our way? Will you serve that divine purpose? That verse has had such a profound effect upon me throughout my life of teaching. Because the longer I've taught and have had experience with people desiring to learn.

That verse has helped keep my motives pure. Because I know that if they ever desire to learn from me, it's only because they trust, they hope, they pray. that I can introduce them to Jesus. I hope that that that is happening. I pray that it is. And to keep that in perspective, anytime that we are a middleman or middle woman, they're only coming to you so that you can bring them to God. So please do so. And then get out of there. Now in verse seventeen

Jethro we're getting some pushback, right? Back and forth. And uh what are you doing to them? To them, it's for them. Well, but what about I but I'm doing Okay, I g I get it. But Jethro comes back one more time. He says to Moses, The thing that thou doest is not good. And again Moses would probably put his hands up right. What are you talking about? This is so self-sacrificial. I don't know what more good I could possibly be doing.

than trying to resolve these differences and and and be the go-between between God and his people. This is good, believe me. And yet Jethro explains himself in verse eighteen, Thou wilt surely wear away. both thou and this people that is with thee, for the thing is too heavy for thee thou art not able to perform it thyself alone,

There's that alone word again. You can't do it by yourself. It's too heavy. Didn't chapter 17 teach you that? That you needed Aaron and her beside you, bearing you up with the rod of God? So what is it that isn't good about what you're doing? Son, don't get me wrong. I know you're doing good. You might be doing too much of it though. And so what makes this good work not so good is that it's unsustainable.

And that's what I'm worried about. Your good works will never become great works because you'll burn out before you get to that next level. You'll burn out and they won't be able to govern themselves, which then leaves them leaderless. They're actually worse off than before. You you gave them so much, but they never learned how to feed themselves. And that isn't good. Now I want you to think about that the unsustainability of our goodness if we don't

I don't want to say ration our love or ration our service. That's not what I mean. Training and developing in other people the ability to to take care of themselves a little more, if that makes sense. Let's go back to the two parts that are mentioned there. What he's worried about is wearing away, but it's not just you wearing out, Moses, it's the people wearing out too.

What? How are they going to wear out? I'm doing everything for them. I can I can see on the first one, not on the second. Well let's take them one by one. Thou wilt wear out. Now, I remember a few years ago there was an optional in service that was offered to seminary institute teachers in Salt Lake, and I was intrigued by the title.

Someone was going to be coming who is an expert on something I'd never heard of before. But as soon as I heard the term, I knew exactly what it was because I was feeling it. It was an expert coming in to do some training on compassion fatigue. I'll bet you know what that feels like too. Even if you've never heard of it before. And I thought, there's experts in compassion fatigue?

Well, I know there's victims of it because I think I feel it on occasion. Because there will always be more people to help than time to give them. I have been feeling that keenly as I've been coming to know incredible people more and more around the world. And the more people you know, the more people there are to help. And my heart is drawn to help them. It's drawn to help you.

Many of you have had the courage to reach out and ask for that help. And I'm grateful for that. And I do carve out time every single week. whether it's to do a fireside for a larger group or to do a one-on-one Zoom call with someone in the middle of a crisis of faith or have somebody come over to my home and sit in this very room and just talk about their questions and their struggles.

Uh, that's been taking up more and more and more of my time. And that's a good thing, but I do wonder if Jethro would say, is it? Yes, it's a good thing. Is it a sustainable thing? And the more invitations and requests and And heartfelt petitions to Please help my son. He left the church. Or my husband is really wrestling with doubts and I don't know what to do. Or my ward is lost. And can you come speak to all of us? I wish I could say yes to every single invitation. I really wish I could.

But I can't, and the more nos I have to say, I've realized and I've said this to some of you, that my heart keeps writing checks that my schedule just can't cash. And I don't want compassion fatigue to ultimately just end the chance to be of service. So how do I do this? How do you set? Well, here's the contrary. How do I balance love and limits? How do I how do I balance brotherhood with boundaries?

It's really hard to do. My wife struggles with it as much, if not more, than I do, because she has way more compassion and empathy than I do. She's just wired that way. She is an empath. I just work on empathy. She can she it's what she's it's how she's wired. It's what she's made of, which makes her one of the best counselors, therapists. conversation partners, friends. She's an addiction recovery counselor now and she is changing more than changing. She's saving lives.

And I just want her to be able to do it. sustainably And as she and I have wrestled with this, me sustaining my ministry and her sustaining hers, and recognizing within each other and in ourselves the dangers of compassion fatigue, there's definitely that sense of Thou wilt wear away the

And all the good you're doing will have to come crashing to a halt. It's the talk that Elder Holland gave about mental health. If you're not if you don't take the time to be well, then you will take the time to be sick. There's no avoiding it. So how do we navigate this along the way? Well, so much of that is exactly what Jethro is explaining here. And what he's about to explain about delegation, but so far it's n he hasn't even got to the delegation part.

So far it's more of the, are you teaching correct principles so they can govern themselves? The better you do that, the less there will be to delegate, and the less there will be that you have to do yourself. Are you getting them up to speed? And that's where the second concern comes in. They will wear away as well. Now this one's less intuitive.

They what do you mean they'll wear away? They don't have to do anything. I'm the one that's doing everything for them. Okay, to them. How would that lead to them wearing wearing out? Well, think about it. Have you ever been so reliant upon someone else that it's exhausting because they just can't get to you yet? I feel that way when it comes to like being on a waiting list for some medical specialist.

And it's like, seriously, six months out? What am I supposed to do between now and then? Because I do not have that skill set and there's no way for me to gain it. There's gotta be a better way. And I feel I'm wearing myself out. trying to do things I'm not trained to do.

Nobody taught me. And it is so frustrating when that takes place. They will surely wear out because they never develop their own strength, their own stamina, their n their own expertise or endurance. We never gave them the chance to do it. And so that's on us, not on them. I had an embarrassing experience with that years ago. When my kids were really little, I I discovered the fastest way to get through breakfast is just to feed them all myself, myself.

It you've been there, okay? If we have little kids, letting them feed themselves takes forever. It's so messy. It's just unproductive. And I'm big on productivity. There's stuff to do. And so I discovered the best way to do it, instead of making a bowl of oatmeal for each child or a bowl of cereal or whatever it is, just make one. And with one bowl and one spoon, just line up all of the the hungry faces.

Okay, everybody open your mouth and it's just scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, and then back to the front. Scoop scoop scoop. And by the time you get back, they've already eaten the last bite and you're just rotating it around. It's awesome. Plus you only have one bowl and one spoon to wash when you're done. Genius, right? Well for me. But not for them. And it hit me one day when one of my older children said, and he was old enough to speak.

Dad, will you feed me? And everyone, What? There's food that go make you but make yourself some cereal. You you know how to do the oatmeal, right? And it's like, well Can you just feed me? Now the fact he could say that lets you know his age. And I realized I have done them a horrible disservice. I don't think it's just laziness on their part, though that probably factors in. It may simply be I can't do it as well as you. And boy, did that jolt me into some corrective behavior.

And I found myself far more often, let me show you how to do this. And then next time when you say, Well, can you do it again? You do it better than I do. And all now my children roll their eyes. I usually say, I'm only better at it'cause I've had more practice. So guess what you get? More practice. I'm here to help. I can show you support, but I don't want you to forever rely upon me.

Jesus says the same thing with his apostles when they're unable to heal, for example, and he says, How long will I be with you? You have to learn to do this on your own. And that's what Jethro is trying to get Moses to be able to accomplish. I'll confess this and then we'll we'll move on. Because I work so often with people in faith crisis. I have learned that it's far more important than answering their specific question, which I still try to do.

is teaching them the general principles of faith and doubt and finding truth. I'll yes, we'll deal with specific things about plural marriage or the details of race and the priesthood. I'm happy to go there with anybody, but Let me explain some big picture things about the stages of faith, creation, fall, atonement. So you'll know where you are in the journey and how your perspective will change as you grow.

Let's talk about proving contraries. Why do you think I talk about it almost every lesson? Because this principle has so much explanatory power that what's gonna happen the next time you have another question? if you only come back to me with the next question and the next question and the next question, then I know I I didn't teach you very well. I may have answered your question, but I didn't teach you the correct principles by which you could then answer your own.

Now I'm not trying to scare any of you away from reaching out for help. But I am pleading with you to try to develop within yourself a certain degree of independence. Not just so that I don't wear out, so that you don't. And that way you can also then be a benefit to your circle of influence.

Because we need that. I have confessed this to my students that in these classes I've been teaching the last two semesters a class of my own creating called Navigating Trials of Faith or Navigating Faith Crisis. And I'll tell them, this is partly selfishly motivated, because I cannot keep up with all the starfish that need help finding their way back into the sea. And so I am desperate to create an army of chaplains.

Because the chaplain not only knows the has the know how But also has the heart of a pastor to want to go out and and save the wounded or the war weary that are out there. My friends, I invite you to enlist in the chaplaincy of Christ. To learn these principles. to be able to help other people that are struggling and that are falling away from their faith. It's it is gonna take an army and it's an army of chaplains, so please join.

And I I hope eventually to film the lessons that I'm teaching in those classes so that hopefully you feel more empowered to be able to be a blessing elsewhere. So that's not me w wearing out. It's not you wearing out. M Moses, it's I'm worried about you and I'm worried about the people. We've got to figure this out. So Jethro gets back to his advice verse nineteen.

Hearken now unto my voice. I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou to the people to God word, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. Now it would take an amazing amount of courage to offer some corrective criticism to a prophet. But Jethro is his father in law, so uh maybe he can get away with it. But to to counsel a counselor, to lead a leader

Thankfully, Jethro had the courage to do so. But the way he says it, I'll give you counsel, gulp, God will be with thee. So he's the one who will ultimately ratify my counsel if if he feels like it. Uh so turn to him. I'm not trying to tell you this is well this is how you need to do it. It's here's some gentle advice. See if God's with me on this. Now I realize you're going to be to peep for the people to God word. Now that's a weird phrase. To God to be to Godward?

Well, just rearrange the syllables and it makes more sense. To God word just means toward God. Okay? So Moses, your position is to be for the people toward God. So that when they're looking to you.

They're really wanting to look to Christ. Again, Philip's experience, right? They're looking to God. You're just the middleman. And so, well, hey, he's the one that can speak for God, so I'll go to him. Well, if you can be to God word, if you can be an arrow instead of the final destination, and teach them how you find truth. This is where I'm going. I'm going toward God. You wanna follow me? I'll show you the way. My wife actually asked me that once. I was probably too busy.

neglecting Zipporah and neglecting Gershom and Eliezer, too busy helping everybody else's kids and not doing enough to help my own. And my wife asked the most profound question. He said, honey, does it ever cross your student's mind that you have questions sometimes? And does it ever cross their mind that you do things to find the answer? I just it was a eye opener for me.

I actually got an email from a a wonderful former institute student of mine who said he was in the middle of faith crisis and he said, Oh, I know what to do. Just I gotta just gotta email Brother Halbertson. He'll have an answer. And then he said, but then I thought, well, actually, what would Brother Halverson do in this situation? What I showed my wife that email. I'm like, somebody asked it. Somebody. Ah, they're learning. And he had the most incredible experience.

navigating his own faith crisis and coming out stronger than ever on the other side. It was months later he did send me an email. But it wasn't with his question. It was with his experience. It was amazing. And so to be to Godward, I'm just going toward God. You wanna come? I'll show you how. I've actually said this to my wife as she has wrestled with how do I do this sustainably. And I have said to her, I just try to hold on to people long enough that I can connect them to Christ.

That there's that horizontal reach and come to trust me and me love them and understand each other. There's this empathy. But then connecting them to Christ, that's sustainable. That's better for me and far better for them. And if is it's like, okay, you ready? You understand what we've just done? You guys are good now? I'm gonna pass the baton. Okay. I'm gonna let start letting go. Feel the center of gravity shift. Are you are you holding on? You good?

Now in her world that's not less religious, right? Well, addiction recovery is intensely religious, uh, once you have the eyes to see, but it's connect them to the principle. Connect them to the 12 steps. Connect them to a community of support. Connect them with their better selves. Are you good? You ready? Because I need to I'll be here for you, but I need to move on because there's another patient.

Or there's another person that's coming to the bishop's office. So I'm connected to this repentant sinner and now I've connected you to God and now I need to go help somebody else. We good? You understand this? So be to Godward for them, but do not be God to them. There is a huge difference between being to Godward and being God. I am not the ultimate source of anyone's help. Uh, no bishop, no teacher, no leader, no parent is.

But can we connect them and then step aside to go help the next person in need? Now verse twenty Thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. I love that verse. Great counsel from Jethro. Teach them, show them the work they're gonna have to do. That is teach them that c correct principles and let them govern themselves. The governing themselves part is that last line. Yeah, there's work you're gonna have to do.

Sorry, you need to learn to make your own oatmeal and yes, feed yourself. You need to learn how to study scripture and gain your own insight. You need to learn to lead. So let me lead you long enough to show you how. And again those verbs at the beginning, to teach them and to show them. Is there a difference there? I think so. Remember in 2 Nephi 32, Nephi in 2 Nephi 31 gave him his last lecture.

It's the doctrine of Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end. We good,'cause I'm out. Okay, and then drop the mic, an amen. Chapter thirty one ends with an amen. Like Nephi's ready to be done. I honestly think that 32 and 33 are afterthoughts because the people just wouldn't let him leave. Why? Because they still had questions.

And so like the hands start creeping up at the beginning of chapter 32. Like, wait, wait, wait, enduring to the end takes a long time. And I have a lot of specific questions about what to do then. I already gave you the answers. No, you didn't. You just gave us this really simple five steps, faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghosts and do to the end. Oh yeah, and you talked about scripture study in there. Exactly.

That is your answer for all the specific circumstances. So this is what he says in 2 Ephraim 32. First he says, feast upon the words of Christ, for the words of Christ will tell you all things that you should do. A few verses later he says, Oh, and seek the Spirit. That's why gift of the Holy Ghost was so essential. Cause the Holy Ghost will show you all things that you should do. D'ye catch the difference? The scriptures will tell you. And the Spirit will show you.

I love that. I've often said to my students that the standard works are your cloud of witnesses. And you come to the scriptures with your questions, with your situations. And you ask your cloud of witnesses for their advice. And if you know the scriptures well enough, they start hands starting to go up. And Esther has some advice for you, and Nephi wants to tell you something, and Peter's got a great word, and even Isaiah has something to say if you have the guts to let him speak.

They're going to tell you what they have already said in scripture. But that doesn't always seem totally relevant until the Spirit comes in to translate. And the Spirit takes what you've been told in Scripture and begins to show you what that looks like in your own life. That's how you reconstitute principles. Scriptures you take a story and concentrate them down to the principle.

That's what we've been doing all s all year long. And then you take that principle, transplant it into your own life, which then gets reconstituted of oh, this is how that principle fits in my situation. Okay. Uh it goes from the them there then to the me here now when the scriptures tell and then the scripture and then the spirit shows. This is what it looks like to me. Make sense? So Moses, how are you going to do this? How are you going to help the people?

You're going to teach them everything you can and then you're going to show them, demonstrate it. Here's a living example. Okay. Act it out. Show them what it looks like. And both of those are really important. Over the years, I've asked a lot of my return missionary students uh what the MTC stands for. And originally they look at me like, really? Duh, it's the missionary training center. And I'll always go, are you sure?

Are you sure that's the T? Does the T stand for training? Are you positive? And because I'm like questioning them, they start second guessing themselves. I'm like, uh, isn't it? I'm pretty sure I could have sworn it's. It it is the missionary training center, right? And I'll laugh and go, yes. But what if it was called the Missionary Teaching Center? You don't have to change the acronym, but would it change the approach of what happens inside?

You see, I taught at the MTC and there were days I wished that it were the Missionary Teaching Center,'cause you know me, I love to teach. And I'd gather my missionaries and just wanna we'd spend like way too much time on gospel study because I love it. And I just wanted them to understand the gospel really well.

But I realized that sometimes in doing that, if I spent too much time on scripture study, did I not spend enough time in Spanish instruction? Or did I spend too much time explaining Spanish rules and not giving them enough time to practice it? Ah,'cause they're not as good at it as I am. Well, of course not yet. Get out of their way. Let'em practice. I'd rather like teach them gospel principles than train them on how to teach it themselves.

Then then go teach seminary institute and get out of the MTC, because this is a training center, not a teaching center. Mm. Touche. You catch the difference? Medical school is a training center more than a teaching center because doctors are going to have to do these things. They can't just sit back and go, oh yeah, I I won I listened to a lecture on your on your sickness once. It was really, really eye-opened, fascinating. Well, can you help me? Ah, I've never done it before.

You understand the problem? So are we teaching the youth? Are we teaching our children? If so, good. But are we training them? If we're teaching them great, are we showing them? Are we acting it out? Are we demonstrating? Are we modeling? Are we letting them practice? Are we giving them feedback? Are we increasing their ability? Rather than just filling their minds with things they don't know how to put into practice.

Do you get a sense how much I love Exodus eighteen? I hope I'm not belaboring these points, but If I'm speaking to the choir because you've already mastered it, maybe it's because I need to be preaching this more to myself.'Cause this doesn't come intuitively. I just want to do it all myself. And and I need to get better. Well, let's keep going. Because sometimes even the best instruction and even the best training can leave people with blind spots.

And I thought I knew, but this situation was a little out of my area of expertise. So notice verse twenty one. Moreover, God continues. Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens.

Now think about that. I mean Aaron and Her, if they were right beside you against the Amalekites, I bet they could handle a thousand people to be responsible for. Oh Joshua down below, he seems like he's ready to take command of an army. He already did. If there's someone that you're still working with that needs a little bit more teaching and showing, a little bit more training, then make them a a captain or a ruler of ten.

kind of junior companions and senior companions. And just a small group, that's your mission district. They're not ready for to be a zone leader yet, or that's your Deacon's Quorum presidency or your young women's class presidency. Run with that. It's wonderful. And as they get better and better at it, then you'll have

A multitude of people from whom to call your rulers of fifty or your rulers of hundred. Let them grow up in God. It's how it works, Moses. But notice the description of those people. They are able and they fear God. That's a great combination. Remember Elder Bednar's counsel from a prior uh apostle? That it's good to be to be Christlike, but it's better to be Christ-like and competent. Yeah. That's have you ever had a leader that was one without the other?

Some are totally Christ like but have no idea what they're doing. Others, oh, they are they know exactly how to accomplish the work, but they're just not very Christ-like about it. That is a set of contraries that needs to be proven. The best leaders will be will have both. So work on your skill set, but also develop your spiritual gift. Work on your competence, but also your compassion.

So that you can ultimately be able and fear God, be righteous, be worthy at the same time. The next one, men of truth. Real leaders are willing to speak truth and speak the truth in love. There's that contrary in Ephesians. They are willing to have the hard conversation. To pass along the hard sayings, who can hear them? That was Jesus, that was his apostles, then and now. They are men of incredible truth.

How about the hating covetousness? Again, that goes back to our motives. Are they pure? Or am I doing this for me, even though I'm pretending to be doing it for them? Our leadership cannot be out of covetousness or priestcraft or jealousy or vainglory or pride. It really is for them and for God. And I'm just going to be to Godward long enough to point you the way and then get out of your way.

So beautiful. I would also say that that's the same list of attributes required for the captain or the ruler of ten as for the ruler of a thousand. And honestly, I believe that apostles are called from among people that are already living like apostles before they had to. That Relief Society presidents are called from among a group of sisters Who are sacrificing of self and serving others even before they are given a responsibility to do so.

You understand what I mean by that? Again, those attributes? Well, someday, if I w I really would work on my ability. I would try to overcome my covetousness. If only I were leading a thousand. But I'm only leaving ten and that's the Is it really worth becoming all I'm supposed to become just for ten other people? Yes it is. If you've ever been one of those ten, you know that's true. Well, verse 22, let them, these lesser leaders, those other rulers, let them judge the people at all seasons.

Let it always begin with that level, and then let it rise, if necessary. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter They shall judge, so shall that be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. As I was saying about making our good works sustainable, it's the first time in my life I've realized why we typically have to go through a general practitioner before we can get to the specialist.

My a a lot of my kids have specialized challenges that need specialized help. But yes, we have to go to our pediatrician first and they're like, oh wait, yeah, this is way out of our league. Go up to primary children's hospital. We're regulars there. Now what happens here though is Can lesser leaders handle those things? And so often they can. I'll confess this again: there have been times that after a long Zoom call with somebody with in faith crisis.

Uh it's been a good experience for us both, but I will then go back to my wife and apologize and say, I'm sorry for the last two hours I spent doing something that was helpful. But that could have been done by a ministering sister or a ministering brother. Because none of my so called expertise. was needed in that conversation. What they needed was a listening ear and an open heart and someone to validate what they've been going through and empathize with their negative emotions.

And I did all of that and they felt great. And I never actually had to get into the specific historical weeds'cause nobody cares as about history as much as I do. They didn't they didn't care for the theological wormhole I was about to go down that I love because it's fascinating to me. No, they needed other things. And I was able to give that to them and I'm grateful. But A ruler of ten could have done that too. And so we all need to become general practitioners.

A friend of mine just reached out and and described a lunch that he had had with a friend that was wrestling with some big questions and I just thought, I wish everybody had a friend like that. He said, there are some questions I couldn't handle. Would you be willing to talk with him? I'm like, I'd be happy to. But thank you so much. for proving to this friend that those kinds of conversations can be had on any level.

We need to believe that. We need to practice that. At least that's what Jethro suggested. But in verse 23, he says, if thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so. Then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. Better for you, better for them. Everybody's happy. This is sustainable goodness. And that's my advice. But

Turn to God and make sure He commands you to do it. That's the best way to give advice. Here's a suggestion. I'm gonna leave you with God to determine if that's really what you ought to do. And you see what Jethro's doing? He's been telling, teaching, And now he's showing and modeling and training. I've been giving you some advice. I'm now going to get out of your way. I'm pointing you to God's word, and I'm going to leave you with him.

I hope this all works out. I'm sure that it will. And it does. Moses, go and do thou likewise. Okay, it's beautiful. I love Jethro here. Okay. He he's been my leader and my mentor. I I need to take it his advice better, but but it's all right here in Exodus eighteen. In verse twenty-four, Moses thought so too. He hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.

Which also proves that he really is that meek man that we'll see more of later. Humble enough as a leader to take the advice of someone else. It takes that kind of humility to do it. In verse 25, Moses chose able men out of all Israel, just like he was told to. He made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens.

And they judged the people at all seasons, the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Now that is good. Better yet, that is sustainable good. And a multitude of leaders are growing up in God. that can ultimately lead Israel the way Moses would have. So beautiful. Now there is one detail there that that's worth mentioning. He chose men out of all Israel.

all Israel. He didn't just think, Well, I'm a Levite, and Levites, you know, we just there's just something good about us. So let's stick with Levites here. Now, that'll be true as far as priesthood is concerned, but all these lesser leaders, all these judges, Every tribe deserves to to have access to to someone local. And so out of all Israel, I worry sometimes, I've heard it called the STP, same ten people.

And that in many wars you just kind of rotate around between these same ten people and they're in all of the presidencies. And once they're they've grown weary in one, then you just throw them into the mix in a different c major calling,'cause they led the primary, now they can lead the young women. Or they led the Elders Quorum, now they can lead the young men. Well, yeah, but are you expanding capability or are you just wearing out those select few?

No, call them out of all Israel. I remember a new bishopric being called in a ward I served in once and being. Pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was joyously Surprised, but I was surprised. I remember some of the the people that were called into the bishopric, counselors and and executive secretary, ward clerk, and so on, they were all worthy. That it wasn't worthiness that was my surprise. It was their own sense of like me?

I mean that the kind of people if if you're wondering, wow, I don't know if I ever would have called that person, they're probably feeling the same thing. Me, who am I? I can't do this. Well, just like Moses had, man. God does this with everybody. But I'm so, I was so impressed with the bishop's willingness to truly open his, the, the possibilities to everyone in the ward and say, Heavenly Father, who are my counselors supposed to be?

What w really? Okay, it's gonna come as a shock to him and to pretty much everybody else. I actually had one sister say that when a a bunch of people in the ward were interviewed for a major calling And she said her husband was called in to be interviewed, not given the calling, and she saw she thought ac there was no way he was gonna be called into that. He's worthy, but that was so far above his head as far as how he how he felt about himself.

But maybe that's why the Lord knew he needed to be called in just to be considered, because it changed his own self perception. Wait, God would even consider me for a calling like that? Really? He does look at all Israel? And we need to also. Well, verse twenty-seven, the chapter ends. And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land. That's a great way to end this chapter. This man who's been a shadow leader for Moses himself.

He this man who had given such profound and and important advice. is now ready to move on, to probably give some other advice to some other people. And Moses let him go. Okay, I think I can do this on my own. Well, because I'm not on my own anymore. Thank you so much for that. I'm going to go put it into practice. You taught me, you showed me.

and I'm gonna go govern myself. And I'm going to do just what you showed me for other people. I wonder sometimes if leaders have a hard time delegating because we just won't let them. I had this interesting conversation in Bishop Stake Bishopric training once and asked the stake president and the fellow Bishop Bri Bishop Ricks in our stake, who are the three most important people in the ward as far as leadership is concerned?

And I said, uh well, let me rephrase it. How would if you ask that question of most members, what would they say? And I think almost everyone in the church would say, oh, the bishop, first counselor, second counselor, it's the bishopric. They're up on the stand on Sundays. They run the show. Okay, let me just throw this out as a possibility.

What if the right answer were, oh, the three people who run the ward? Again, most important is not the right way to put it. The three people who run the ward, the bishop, the release society president, and the elders corporate president. And especially the way things have been uh reorganized. within Ward Councils and with the various responsibilities of proclaiming the gospel and redeeming the dead and taking care of the poor and the needy and and working with the youth and everything else.

I think that's the right answer. In fact, those three have so much on their plate that each of those three need two counselors to just be able to bear up their arms, right? The bishop has an errand and err. The release edit president has an errand and her. The elders corn president has an errand and her. And boy, do they need them. But the irony is, are people in the pews willing to trust lower leaders? I think one of the reasons that bishops are overworked is because the members overwork them.

Either not realizing how much they can do themselves or not thinking anyone else can help them except the bishop. And one bishopric I had I was in the when the bishop told the members of the well, he talked with us in in bishopric meeting and said Brother Halverson, I want you to handle all of the marriage and family counseling in the ward. And second counselor, I want you to handle all of the welfare issues and and

uh financial, economic concerns that people might have. And I'll deal with all of the moral issues and repentance and so on obviously. Uh and I remember we were talking about it in Bishop meeting and both me and the other counselor were like, sounds good. Uh those played to our own strengths individually. Uh but we said, Bishop, can you let the rest of the ward know? Uh can can it come from you? A it's going to help reassure them, hey, I'm not trying to to close my door on anyone.

But I am trying to remain sustainable. I'm trying to do things for you and not to you. I'm trying to bring my counselors up to speed. I know at least Halverson could use some extra practice. Uh, so would you trust them with that? Would you trust my counselors to do what they are called to do? And that was an interesting thing. Can we trust Elders Quorum presidencies and relief society presidencies to come to our aid?

Because that's sustainable service. That's something we need to be moving toward. And then get the help we need and then let them depart. Thank you, Bishop. Thank you, Mulisari President. Thank you, Elders Corum Counselor. Thank you, best of all, ministering sister or ministering brother. I I feel empowered. I think I can do this now.

Connecting with you help me connect with Christ, and I've got a good hold. Stay, don't go too far away in case I need help again, but I think I've got this, so I will let you depart. Surely, so they can go help somebody else. Such a beautiful thing. I again sorry if I belabored the point, but I love Exodus 18. We need to get better at it.