Busy week? Me too. LDS Living is here to catch you up and get you ready for discussions on Sunday. Here’s a nugget of wisdom from this week’s Come, Follow Me study of Mosiah 1-3.
Before King Benjamin gets into his great sermon to his people, he has private words for his sons. And one of his big reminders to them is to value the scriptures.
Search Them Diligently
Around the time of Mosiah, there were several examples of the power of the written record. In Book of Omni we learn about the people of Zarahemla who did not have the scriptures and subsequently lost their language and their faith in God. The Lamanites also lost the knowledge of the Lord around the same time.
So King Benjamin emphasizes the importance of scripture to sons using a well-known story: the opening account of the Book of Mormon when Nephi and his brothers go to retrieve the brass plates. King Benjamin then tells his sons:
“My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.
For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates,” (Mosiah 1:3-4)
The scriptures are how we stay anchored in an ever-changing world. I love what Neal A. Maxwell said:
Without this precious, spiritual perspective, the human family is seldom more than one generation away from deep doubt and even disbelief. Laman and Lemuel doubted and murmured because, wrote Nephi, “they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” (1 Ne. 2:12)... If people are without the truths of God’s plan of salvation for very long, some may not even “believe [these truths] when they are taught” (Mosiah 1:5).
This is where King Benjamin put his focus. He wanted his sons and his people to remember the stories of scripture.
We have the record. Our challenge today is not a lack of access, but a lack of attention. The same smartphone that can bring up any of the standard works or any conference address of the past 50 years can also suck you into an endless scroll of mind-numbing entertainment. King Benjamin warns of what happens to people and societies that lose their records. We have to remember that we aren’t immune from those problems just because we own scriptures on our shelves. Mosiah 1:7 says “And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby.”
So value the scriptures, and keep them safe—but then remember to open them too.
So that was my takeaway this week. To hear more takeaways from other Latter-day Saints on this block of scripture, join our study group on Facebook and Instagram.
Sunday on Monday is a Come, Follow Me podcast hosted by Tammy Uzelac Hall that is released every Monday to guide you through the scripture readings for the week. This week covers Mosiah 1-3 and our podcast guests were Mary Ann Cropper and Sara Kimball. You can listen to full episodes on Deseret Bookshelf Plus and find out more at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday.
