The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.
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Segment 1
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Who could use a rest right about now? Like, are your days overflowing with work, family, household chores, meals, church meetings, ministering, exercise, trying to eat enough protein and fiber? Well, do we have some good news for you because this week's discussion of Psalms 1 through 46 contains some rest, and the goal of this discussion is to bring you so much rest that you might get rested out.
Dare to dream. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description, and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study, just like my longtime listening friend, Krista Sather.
Hello, Krista. It was so good to meet you. All right, now the cool thing is, my favorite thing about this podcast is each week we're joined by two of my friends. So it's always a little bit different, but this duo is so dynamic, I had to have them back, and I love them so much. They are my friends Jenny Reader and Stacey Christensen.
Hello, ladies. Hello. Hey. Woo-hoo. All right. Oh, I'm so happy to see you all. Yeah, I feel the same. It makes my heart so happy. Um, these women I love them so much. First of all, for those of you who don't remember, 'cause it's been a while since all three of us have been on. Mm-hmm. Stacey is one of the OGs of seminary teaching, one of the first women hired as a full-time seminary teacher back in the day, so we love her.
Jenny is a church historian, and she's big time. She's an author, and she has a new book out. Mm-hmm. And Stacey was my seminary teacher. Oh, that's right. I did know that. Yes. Isn't that so fun? Yes. And now we're all friends, because Jenny- Yes. Yes, we are ... with Cherie, and Cherie's gonna be on in a, in a week or two, um, all four of us get together for a book club.
And I use air quotes because it started out that way. Some of us don't read. Yeah, some of us don't read. But I am reading your new book, Jenny, and it is so good. Oh, good. 10 out of 10. I... In fact, Jenny, it was an answer to prayers. Oh, why? Tell me. Well, because I'm writing a book for next Easter- Yeah ... about all the Marys in Jesus's life.
Mm-hmm. There was a chapter that I was just drawing a blank on, like, could not think about how to write about this group of women. And then I went and started reading your book on Eliza R. Snow. And I read all of that about the Relief Society and how Joseph Smith said the church was never fully organized until the Relief Society.
And it made me think, "Was it the same at the time of Jesus? If he restored the church on the Earth at his time, he would've restored a relief society. Maybe that's what these women were in Luke 8 that ministered." It says it, they ministered to Christ. Oh, I love that. So I included- I love that ... everything that Eliza said.
I included all your quotes, and then I gave you credit in the footnotes. Oh. Oh, you're the best. That's so sweet. I know. Well, you're the best. Well, and I'm just finishing up an article for BYU Studies about Eliza and how she taught women what Joseph taught about Relief Society as an ancient organization- Yes
and a restoration and an organization that was a partner with the priesthood, meaning the power of God, and that, um, the women had a specific purpose in their own order or quorum of the priesthood. Which I think they used that word, actually. Didn't they use that word quorum, actually used that quorum word?
Yeah, but, like- Mm-hmm ... we found it in a Relief Society minute book, and the poor secretary lady didn't know how to spell it, so it took, took us a real long time to figure out that's what it was, what she meant. Oh. That's so sweet. We didn't- I think it's awesome. I know, right? Yeah. Oh, it's so cool. The, the book, the name of the book is Arise and Speak Up.
Rise up and speak Oh, that's right. All right. Sorry. Little- Close ... sister. Close. Close. And it has a picture of Eliza on the front. She would be so proud. She would be. If you guys wanna know more about my friends, make sure you check out their bios in our show notes, which are at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday, and we'll have a link to Jenny's book.
So make sure you go check that out. Okay, everyone, grab your scriptures and something to mark them with, and let's dig into the Book of Psalms, Psalms 1 through 46. Okay. You two, first question is, what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you were preparing for this episode and reading Psalms? Okay, so here are my thoughts, and I don't have one, but I have many.
I have a few. Not many maybe, but a few. Okay. So the first thing is there are parts of scripture that are really poetic. And in that way, I think they are creatively written, and they're beautifully written. And I th- ... One of the things that I loved about going back and through and reading all these things, you know, you always have the new thoughts that come to you and you're like, "Why did I never think about it before?"
It seems so obvious, you know? Um- I know. That's the fun part about scriptures. It is. They really do come to life wherever stage you are again and again to you is why I do love that too. But, um, I think one of my favorite things about the Psalms this time around was, you know, there's a lot of things written about nature.
Like, I- Mm ... in my mind I was like, so what are the Psalms like th- they're, they're like prayers, right? Like a song is a prayer. We know that in d- in D&C 25. So what are they praying for? And what are they asking God for? And what are they considering blessings? And what are the kind of blessings that they want?
And what does God want for them? And so of course there's things like protection. I pray a lot about protection- Yeah ... from their enemies. But they're also really, um, like earthy in the sense that there's a lot about nature Mm-hmm And, um, trees and rivers and pastures and valleys. And I really love that. And what it reminds me of is when the endowment in the temple starts, it starts with the creation.
Mm-hmm. I like that. And it starts with the nature that God blesses us with, and it's good, and it's all around us, and it's for our, uh, it's for us to enjoy. Mm-hmm. And so that way there was a really strong connection this time for me reading Psalms, um, that this idea that God wants us, he wants to g- surround us with beautiful things, whether it's nature or poetry or paintings or dancing or music.
I mean, there's ... the list can go on and on. Weaving and fabrics- Mm-hmm ... and, like, all kinds of things. And, and that's, that's a blessing. Like, it's a, a blessing for us to enjoy while we're here, to express it and to receive it. And I j- Mm-hmm ... I really love that, actually. That read reminds me of what President Uchtdorf taught that one conference about how we need to be creators.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because when we do that, we find ourselves doing the same thing the gods did when they created the Earth. You know? My friend Jennifer Buergerhoff Platt, who I think has been on here before- Mm-hmm ... has, a couple times. She always said that she was on the flower committee Oh, I say that too. I was with her on that committee Recreation.
Yes. Yeah. You probably were, you two. I love the little tiny purple flowers that you see in a field, and it's weed. Yes. But I love it 'cause I'm like, well, if it's gonna be weed, let's make it pretty. Right. Let's make it little purple flowers. I love that. I do, I love that. So when I was growing up, my mom used to talk about creation committees, and always w- was kind of encouraging us to, to think about what creation committees we were probably on in the prayer of life.
Yeah. And I love that idea. Oh, I do too. Like, we still have that impulse. We still wanna create things. Even if it's an environment in our home or a friendship or- Mm-hmm, yeah ... relationship to our bodies and keeping them healthy. I mean, we're trying to always create things around us that we enjoy. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Oh, that's good, Stacy. And just to, to realize the beauty, that we can find beauty around us. I was thinking about this this afternoon. I just got back from 10 days on the East Coast, from DC to Virginia to Pennsylvania to Upstate New York, and it was so green. Oh my gosh. Ah. It was so beautiful. And it rained the whole day, last day I was there.
That caused some problems with my travels, both going and coming home. But I came back and guess what? There are wildfires all over Utah. Mm-hmm. And you can't even see the mountains, and i- everything is kinda hazy, and it just, it made me sad because I miss the East Coast and green. Yeah. And I don't know, it was just interesting.
But I know we can find beauty here. I'm just, I guess, jet lagged. I don't know. Okay, well, what did you learn from the scriptures when you were studying? What'd you learn from Psalms? Or what- You know, I- ... what did the Holy Ghost teach you? Yeah. The Holy Ghost taught me... I, I, I just found this so interesting. I just wrote this down, that these chapters teach us, or hi- the, the expression is what I will do for the Lord because, and I think they're interconnected, what the Lord will do for me.
Ooh, I like that. It's this cyclical thing. And so I started, like, in capital letters outside every... Like, putting the things that the Lord, oh, the Lord will magnify me or enlarge me in ch- in chapter 4. Verse 1, "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." Mm. I like that. And it says in verse 3, "The Lord will hear when I call unto him."
And in verse eight of chapter four, I love that, "I will both lay me down in peace and will sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." So peace and safety are things that He can give me. And I see this also, this theme throughout the whole, all of the chapters about, um, please hear me, Lord. Please give ear to my word.
Consider my meditation. And then this praise to God. But in return is allowing us to shout for joy. In, um, Psalm 7:9, where it says at the end, "But establish the just." Okay, that word establish means to set or fix. But we also find words like in chapter nine, verse four, "Thou hast maintained my right." Mm-hmm. And we have words like keep and preserve.
"I have trusted in thy mercy." Um, it ju- to me it just says this is what God is, and because of that I can find joy in knowing that. When everything else is going crazy- Mm-hmm ... I love the word stay in chapter 18, verse 18. "But the Lord was my stay." And the noun- Mm ... of that means my continuance, my abode, my sta- He stands and stops, and the cessation of motion, and fixed.
It's this whole idea of being founded and established and stayed, and I love that because I think, I think I get so, um, I over-engage myself and I over-commit myself. Mm-hmm. But I think I do it to keep myself busy so I don't have to think and feel too much. And I want to do it, but I feel like I'm running around, my mom always says like a chicken with its head cut off.
Yeah. But once I realize that I can find that peace and that safety and that according to my heed and diligence, He will reward me according to my righteousness in eight, chapter 18, verse 20. Yeah. That's beautiful. And I know that He's firm and established and stayed, and I love that. Wow, Jenny. Thank you.
I'm writing notes And that's so great. Isn't that wonderful? It was so good. And, and it made me... The thing you said, I was thinking in my mind, I'm like, "You have been so busy with your life, all the places you've traveled recently." Mm-hmm. That it didn't surprise me that all of these words stood out to you.
Words of permanence, words of- Beautiful ... um, safety, words of- Ooh, that's a great insight Like, yeah. Of course. Firm foundation. Foun- yes, that's what I was gonna say, a foundation. Like, it just was- Mm-hmm ... interesting that you did. But then I love that at the end though, like, there's so much we could talk about just with this.
I know. But then you ended with, "But the Lord delights in you." I know. I- you've been crazy, you've been busy, your life is, is- Mm-hmm ... upside down right now, and guess what? And the Lord delights in you, so He's gonna give you all those things you need. So that's a great lesson. To me, it's, like, kind of funny.
Yeah. Yeah. That's neat. Thank you, Jenny. Can I also add something to all of that? So Jenny's, um, all her specificities made me actually think of another thought that I had. Ooh, tell us. Please. Psalms 32 is essentially a Psalms where David is repenting. He begins by, "Blessed is he who transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."
And so the, a whole thing essentially is about repentance. Yep. Yeah. And I, I'd never really had this thought before except for when I was reading this this time around, and I was like, I really feel grateful for the inspiration of the Spirit, how it can teach us things. So we always have the story about David, of course.
It, it's so famous that he kills Goliath, and he's just a boy, and he's fair, and he's young and scrawny and no... can't even wear the armor, and he does it with one stone. You know, this, it's a, it's such a miraculous and powerful story. And we think about what could be, what's the, what are the Goliaths in our life, you know?
And I started thinking, "But is that the biggest thing he tackled?" Was, was the story of Goliath, who was such a mammoth of a man, was that the, was that the, the culmination of David? Mm. But I think what it was, uh, for David in th- in Psalms 32, it was him tackling his own sin. I was just gonna say, the biggest Goliath for David was himself.
It was himself. Yeah. It was that he was entitled, and he was sexually entitled. And- Mm-hmm ... maybe all his success that he, maybe he forgot that so much of it came from God. And then he, you know, he sins, and he recognizes it eventually, and he's repentant. We know that. And I think he's sincere in that repentance, but I think that's the bigger- The bigger story is that he came to himself.
I love that phrase in the Proverb. Yeah. He comes to himself- That's a good one ... and he turns to God. Like, think how powerful he was. Think how much status he had, how much wealth he had of so many different kinds. Mm-hmm. He probably, in a worldly way, didn't need to repent. He could've- Wow ... he could've just lived out his life that way, but he stopped in humility and repented, and I just think that was, that's the bigger story, is he repented.
And he could, and he was forgiven, and he felt the freeness and the liberty and the, the goodness of, of being forgiven and forgiving himself and changing his life. So insightful. I'm so glad you shared that. Thanks. And it's fun as you read the Book of Psalms, look for all the little section headings that then say
Because you, well, you have the section heading that was written by the scripture committee, but then right below it in a smaller font is actually in the Hebrew Book of Psalms. Mm. So notice it when it ... 'Cause it'll say The Psalm of David, 'cause David wrote many of these psalms. In fact, it's believed that 75 of the 150 were written by David.
So pay attention to when he writes those. So thank you to both of you. What a great discussion already in, we're under segment one. Okay, so I introduced this whole episode by saying we're gonna rest. You guys ready to rest? Do you wanna rest? You need to rest, don't you, Jenny, after all your traveling? How about a nap?
Just a nap. A good night's sleep, a good mattress. Yes. Yes. Well, I'm gonna give you a proverbial one in scripture today. So- Oh, good ... let's rest in the next segment, and we're gonna dig into some psalms.
Segment 2
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This is how we're gonna start this segment. Let's just take a big, deep breath. Okay, here we go. And Stacy, I'm gonna let you lead us in this, 'cause Stacy is our yoga guru. She has a yoga studio at her house, and she leads us through yoga, and it's my favorite. Lead us through a breathing exercise real quick, would you?
Yes, I would love to lead us through a breathing exercise. Breathing is always so good for the soul. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna count our breathing in and breathing out. Okay. We count three seconds or three whatever unit of measure you wanna call it. We're gonna breathe for three counts.
Let's say that. Okay. And we're gonna exhale for six. And the reason we're gonna longer exhale is because that inhale and that exhale, that longer exhale, sends signals to our vagus nerve that we're safe, that we can get rest, and we're gonna relax. So that seems like appropriate thing to do in this context.
Ready? And listen, any of you who are listening, you're like, "I'm not gonna breathe," you're breathin'. Everybody breathes. We're breathing. This is- Everyone can breathe ... there's a whole point to it. And you can do it any- It's structural ... try it. I'm gonna show you in scripture. Just try it. Okay, here we go.
Conscience just breathing. That's what we're gonna do. Okay, here we go. So let's go ahead and inhale for the count of three. I'll count one, two, three. Exhale, one, two, three, four, five, six. Inhale, one, two, three. Exhale, one, two, three, four, five, six. We're gonna take a second and just make sure that we're sitting up straight and that our shoulders are relaxed and our low back is relaxed.
We're comfortable. Inhale, one, two, three. Exhale, one, two, three, four, five, six. Okay. That was so good. Like, it's so relaxing. Jenny, look at your face. You're at peace with jet lag. I love it. Go with me to Psalm 3, and here's why we did this. There is a word I want you to mark, and you have to be aware of this word as we begin our study of the Book of Psalms throughout the next couple of weeks.
In Psalm 3, there is a word that ends verse two, verse four, and verse eight. Will you highlight that word? In Hebrew, it's the word selah. Mm-hmm. Now, here's what you wanna know about the word selah, 'cause you're gonna see it a lot in the Book of Psalms. And selah, in Hebrew, is a pause, a rest, a time to reflect.
So when you see selah at the end of a verse, you are to stop and just reflect on the words and know that it's intentional. There's a reason that there was put a rest right there, a pause. Now, what we know about the Book of Psalms is that they are songs. A lot of them were sung in the temple. And so some people think that the selah is literally a rest in a music, like in a, in sheet music written.
So as a conductor would, you know, conduct, da, da, da, da, and they'd come to the rest, they'd stop the orchestra. But we don't have that. We're reading these beautiful psalms. And so what's happening here is we don't have a conductor either. Our conductor's God, and He wants us to stop, he wants us to rest, and he wants us to reflect.
So we are going to just read Psalm 3, and as we do, I'm going to ask Stace, will you please selah after verses one and two and ponder and tell me what you get out of that? Jenny, will you please read verses three and four and then selah? And then I will do five through eight, and I will selah, and then we're gonna share what we learned as we pondered and reflected and rested.
Okay? Here we go. Stace, just hit it first one and two. "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, 'There is no help for him in God.' Selah." Okay, Janey, go ahead. "But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept. I awakened for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." All right, Stacy, we'll start with you Um, I think what I, what stands out to me is that I think there will always be people... Well, clearly he's, there's people against him- Mm-hmm ... that feels threatening to him. And one of the things that they say that feels threatening to him is that there is no help for him in God.
But clearly, well, I have to jump to, to three because there's something there, too. Um, that's not true. Mm. So his enemies are trying to convince him of things that aren't true, not for him, not for God, and not true in life. Wow. And I think that's not uncommon, right? Yeah. People can, especially with the, you know, social media nowadays, it's just like anyone can say anything about you, whether it's true or not, but it doesn't mean that it is true.
What a great place to Selah. Like, when you deal with kids, I... My daughter, when she has negative feelings or thoughts about her, I'm like, "I'm gonna stop you right there. Where are those feelings come from? Let's rest." Yeah. Let's think about this. Wait a- maybe that's why it's there. Yeah. And reflect. I love the word reflect.
I think that's really important. We can learn so much about our emotional response to things like enemies, you know, the things that feel threatening to us when we're honest about how we feel. Mm. We have values that they're probably violating, and there's nothing wrong with recognizing that. Yeah. And taking measures to protect ourselves and set good boundaries, healthy boundaries.
Absolutely. Very cool. Okay, Jenny, what did you get? So I thought of something that my awesome 13-year-old niece, Avery, would say, "Why does everyone hate me?" And I sometimes feel that way, um, whether it's at work or whatever. Um, but I love, I love verse three where he calls the Lord the lifter up of mine head.
Mm-hmm. I love that phrase 'cause that's so something I would say, the lifter up. Because, you know, my head is so tired and I just wanna stay here in bed or cr- curl up in a ball, but He is the lifter up of my head, and He, um, hears me out of His holy hill, which is a great phrase. Yeah. So alliterative, but He can hear me wherever He is and wherever I am in my bed.
There's a woman who ha- we ha- has a discourse in At The Pulpit. Her name is Eleanor Georgina Jones, and she says, "It is well for you to remember while traveling on this journey of life that there is no prison so dark, no pit so deep, no expanse so broad that the Spirit of God cannot enter, and when all other privileges are denied us, we can pray and God will hear us."
is so good. It's really- I know. He's her lifter-up. He's the lifter-up of my head. Mm-hmm. Okay, that's so good. I'm just now thinking, I think the selahs are so intentional because the Lord wants us to stop and rest when we get to the Book of Psalms. Mm. He wants us to take the time to consider the words and what c- they could mean to you.
Because you, you could so easily just read through those eight verses, but look what we've been able to do with it because we decided to rest and to reflect on these words. For mine, 5 through 8, I got the NIV version out 'cause I wanted to know what it said. Oh. Mm-hmm. And I really like verse 7, 'cause verse 7 says, in the NIV, "Arise, Lord, deliver me, my God.
Strike all my enemies on the jaw, break the teeth of the wicked." I mean, that is so visual for me, and I'm a visual learner. Mm-hmm. "From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people." And my thought about that is as I've been reading the Book of Psalms and studying it, and it goes back to what you said, Jenny, about these covenant words and this covenant relationship.
And at the top of my page I have that trusting in the Lord requires action, and then I have, um, math. And Jenny's my I don't do public math friend, 'cause I don't either. She taught me that phrase. You're stressing me out now. I can't do math either. I know. I would learn that from Jenny too. That's a great phrase.
But I have an equation right here for the Book of Psalms- Oh ... 'cause it taught me that my action- Okay ... here we go, my action plus God's action equals- Mm ... a covenant blessing. Totally. And that to me was the Book of Psalms. It's all about- I can do that kind of math ... right? 'Cause you already did it in what you, the Holy Ghost taught you.
Yeah. You were like, "It was all about what I can do- Yeah ... plus what God can do will equal covenant blessings." And so it's, that's what made me think of that, like the Lord, thy blessings are upon my people, and they really are. So what a fun discussion right there. We got to rest. Didn't that feel restful? It does.
Oh. Uh, uh, but the other thing I think is really interesting too is w- I think we don't always think of covenant language and covenant making as an artistic form. Oh, tell me more. What do you mean? That, that I love that there's an element of creation in the covenant making. And, and the, the Psalms, I would say all of them that we read for this lesson- Um, have that element of trying to put in creative writing, um, and musical expression our covenants with God.
Mm-hmm. Our relationship to him, and I love how, how Jenny said it earlier, his relationship to us, our relationship to him, how he feels and wants a relationship to us, and vice versa. That reciprocity is through, literally throughout every Psalm. Mm-hmm. Thank you, you two. What a great way to discuss and, and, and introduce this idea of resting in the Psalms.
So we just showed you the word rest, so here's what we'll do in the next segment. We're gonna see how the Lord uses Psalms as another way of rest. Do that next
Segment 3
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And now if I was teaching this in seminary, oh boy, would I have so much fun. I'd move all the desks to the outside of the room, and when my students walked in, I would say, "Backpacks in the back. Phones in the back. You can't have anything with you, and everybody has to go lay down on the ground." And I would make everybody lay down.
I dim the lights, and then this is how I would teach this segment. It would make me so happy because the Book of Psalms, as we've talked about, is a collection of prayers, poems, and hymns. Hymns, specifically, that are very similar to our modern hymn book. In fact, here's a fun little piece of, um, trivia.
Jesus himself quoted the Book of Psalms more than any Old Testament text. That's so cool. So right there it has to be important. Isn't that awesome? And I love this. It could be argued, this is by one author, it could be argued that in all of Holy Writ, no book of scripture goes on so extensively about the Messianic mission or the looking and longing for His return that is expressed in the song of the psalmist.
So let me show you something fun. This is 'cause I'd have ... Yes, Stacy, go. I actually have a question about that, that I, I wanted to ask you guys. I don't know the answer to this. Um, so there are th- there are s- ideas and prophecies, right? We haven't mentioned prophecies in Psalms, but the Psalms have, are filled with prophecies.
We're going to. Oh, yeah. How, is that, are they the original authors of those prophecies, or are there prophets that they're quoting that we don't have in our scriptures? Does anybody know the answer to that? Do you know what I'm saying? Oh, yes. Were they inspired by proph- prophetic quotes from other prophets that we just don't have in Writ?
Because, like, Isaiah's quoting Psalms, if that's, uh- Mm-hmm. Oh, totally ... Xavier's quoting Psalms. Like, who is Psalms quoting? Oh, I love that question. I don't know the answer. I didn't know that. You know, it would seem like- One thing I- ... if they're lyrics to a song, they're pulling from experience. Isn't that what music does?
Right. Right. Go ahead, Jenny. And that's one thing I wrote down, is that David is speaking from his personal experience. Yeah. Like, you feel that in his, in his, um, distress as well as in his rejoicing. Yes. That this is his personal experience, and it's very real to him. And we know that David was able to prophesy 'cause we did a lesson where we even studied some of his last spiritual revelation given, even after he had done the David and Bathsheba thing.
So he was capable of still receiving revelation. And they forgive. I mean, he was forgiven. Of course. When he was forgiven- Uh-huh ... he can have that relationship restored, right? Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, I just didn't know about that, but I love that thought, but I also love this thought. This is the other thought that's got
It's a little bit out there, but, um, because we know David didn't write all of the psalms, I always imagine ... It's very popular today, it seems to me, that artists, creative artists collaborate, right? Mm-hmm. And particularly in the music world, that seems to be pretty obvious. But I think that's what's happening with all these other authors.
He's collaborating with other people. Other people are writing the things that they believe, but he likes them or is inspired by them, or he's inspired them, and so they come ... I imagine them coming to him and going, "Hey, I have this... I was inspired by you when you said this, and I really would love to collaborate with you," and- Oh, that's fun
he, you know. And so I think we have this, um, really modern idea with the psalms of collaborating with other artists. And I actually really, I like that too. I thought that was fun. Oh, that is fun. I hope, I hope it's more in collaboration than plagiarizing. Yeah, I hope that's- Because- As a historian ... it's- And as a scholar
and maybe ... Yeah. But, like, even W.W. Phelps, when he, um, he wrote so many hymns, and it turns out he was creatively adjusting them to apply to the Latter-day Saints- Oh ... where they'd been written before. And w- even William Clayton did that with, um, Come, Come Ye Saints. "All is well, all is well," that's from a different song that he didn't write.
But he's using it to adapt, and I think it's probably important for us to remember that and to think of it as a collaboration rather than someone plagiarizing all my work. Oh, I like that idea. It's hard. Yeah. I'm speaking from personal experience. I'm sure you are. W- I know you are. That's awesome. Okay.
Well, let's look at some of these collaborations 'cause this is really fun and insightful, especially for those of you that have the calling where you get to choose songs on Sunday. For this week, here's what you wanna do, and it took me a while to find this, so I'm gonna share it with everybody. So go to your Gospel Library app.
Okay. I spent a good while finding this. In your Gospel Library app, you want to go to the square that has the music note, the green hymn. Do you see that? I do. The green box with the white music note. Mm-hmm. Click on that. Okay, once you're there, then you're gonna go into the box that says Hymn Helps. It's on the bottom right-hand corner, so scroll up, scroll down, whatever you wanna say.
Do you see how it says Hymn Helps? Mm-hmm. Okay, click on that. And once you've done that, click on the one that says Using the Hymnbook, not the songbook, 'cause that is for little kids, so Using the Hymnbook. And once you're there, look at all this wonderful stuff. You can click on Scriptures. So then hit Scriptures and scroll until you get to Psalms.
Hm. And there's all of the hymns that are written- Oh ... that connect to Psalms. And there, I counted them, there's 89 hymns. Oh, wow. Is that the biggest chunk, like the biggest cross-reference group? That's it. Yeah. Look at all those songs that come from Psalms. That's so fun. I know. I love it. So choose wisely this week.
Use songs from the Psalms. And here's the great thing. Jesus loved music. So we're gonna do a Jesus Loves Music scripture chain. I'm gonna give you some fun scriptures to prove where God uses music and how important it is. Because I would teach this to my students and then I would say, "Everybody lay down.
I'm gonna play some psalms for you," and I would choose all the psalms that I could, different arrangements, and I would have so much fun with that just letting the kids hear the lyrics to all these psalms, which is my favorite. We're gonna do that after we're done with this scripture chain. So here we go.
First things first, let's do the very first scripture in our Jesus Loves Scripture, Jesus Loves Music scripture chain is Jenny, Doctrine and Covenants section 25 verse 11. Oh my gosh. I've been dying to talk about this this whole time. Hit it. Because- I think you can't talk about songs and music and hymns- No
without talking about Emma Smith. Not at all. That's why it's our first scripture. Yeah. So I think that I, I just have to give a little historical background. Please do. Um, in, in 1830, right after Emma had been baptized, Joseph gives, uh, receives this revelation for her, and he tells her a couple of things that I think are very significant.
One is he tells her in verse seven that she will be ordained under his hand to expound scripture and to exhort the church according to his spirit. So I think it's interesting. Expound means to teach or preach, and then exhort means to encourage or inspire, and this was not something that women did in this time.
Right. And then he goes on in verses 12, oh, 11, he gives her the assignment or appointment to make a selection of sacred hymns. Now, she was a... She had attended a Methodist singing school. She had a beautiful soprano voice, and she loved singing. A lot of families at this time, including the Smith family and the Hale family, would sing in the evening and in the morning when they said their family prayers.
Mm. Um, and then in verse 12, so he wants them to make a selection of sacred hymns that is specific to the Church of, of Latter-day Saints, which is what it's called at this time. Um- He says in verse 12, and I, I love this because I think it gives us an idea of what- how God is as a person, um, or a soul. He says, "My soul delights in the song of the heart."
And I love that he delights, and you see that word delight in several of these psalms. But I think I love that he delights. Like, that's ... This, this thrills him. Mm-hmm. This gives him so much joy. "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." Which I love, because I think, again, you get this reciprocity where when we sing, it is a prayer to our heavenly parents, our heavenly Father, and He will answer it with a blessing upon the heads of those who are singing.
And I love that. I think it is so powerful and so important. And I think through the hymns, Emma is able to expound the scripture. She's able to teach or instruct us, but she's also able to exhort, to inspire and encourage. And I think both of that, all of that can happen with the hymns, and I think she has created this legacy, or should I say she's restored this legacy that was given in Psalms.
Beautiful. I love that. That was fantastic, Jenny. For the record, everyone, I didn't even prep her with that. She just knows. No, she didn't. But I've been dying to talk about it this whole time. Ah. I love it. Well, you did it, and it's awesome. I was so ... I was inspired. Definitely inspired. I love what you just taught me.
We're blessed when we sing. We gotta sing more. Wow. Mm-hmm. That's good. Okay, that's our first one, first one in the scripture chain. We're blessed when we sing. Doctrine and Covenants 25:11. Okay, here's what else the Lord has to say about music. Their next one in the scripture chain is 2 Kings 3:15, so go there.
2 Kings 3:15. And Stacy, will you read that for us? "But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him." So this is Elisha, right? Mm-hmm. And so Elisha says, "Bring me music." And as soon as music was played, he started to receive revelation and prophecy.
He's like, "That's how I'm gonna get the revelation to help you." Mm-hmm. As a prophet, he needed music. Is that so cool? Which I love that, 'cause what we're saying about that is that music is a window or a door. Music can be the key that opens- Mm ... the door to revelation. Oh, boy, that is- Mm-hmm. Write that down right now.
Hold, please. I love the ... In the ... When the Quorum of the Twelve meets every Thursday, they always start with a hymn. And I'm sure that Elder Causse plays it because he's an amazing pianist. Mm-hmm. I'm using one of his songs in an upcoming episode 'cause it's so good. Oh my gosh. Okay. How do you find his songs?
He has a couple CDs. Yeah. He does? Go on YouTube and look up Elder Causse with arranger, um- Nicholas Giusti ... that's it. Well, he's just a happy person in general. I think he has that energy that he puts out in his talks. But I think, like, I'm so grateful that, um, President Oaks called somebody who is so, uh, yeah, who again, we go back to the creativity.
He has such a creative bend. His talks are really that way. They're so loving. They're so filled with, um, really poetic ways of thinking about life and the world. Um, and I, I love to know that he's creative musically. That's wonderful. But his hymns or his album, their album is called Joyful. Oh, that's nice.
Yeah. That's really good. Right? It just reminds me of what we've been reading. Mm-hmm. Okay, let's do another one. Go to Doctrine and Covenants Section 128 verse 23. Here's another reason or proof that God loves music. Yay. 22 and 23. We need 22 and 23. Oh, it's so good. These are so beautiful. Read it for us, Stacey.
I mean, you kind of have to start with 20 Oh, I know ... glad tidings from Cumorah. That's your verse right there. I was just there yesterday. You were just there. Okay, skip down to 22 and 23. Okay. "Brethren," or sisteren, "shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brother," or sisters, "and on, on to the victory.
Let your hearts rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Emmanuel, who hath ordained before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out from their prison, for the prisoners shall go free." I love that.
That goes back to that Psalm 32. "Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud, and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your eternal king, and ye rivers and brooks and rills flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord, and ye solid rocks weep for joy.
And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy," and daughters. "And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever. Again, I say how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven proclaiming in our ears glory and salvation and honor, immortality and eternal life, kingdoms, principalities and powers."
Wow. So that's- I mean, that's- ... cool. Those are good words. All good verses. Think of the expanse of that, how big, how deep, how, how like not just earthly, but way out into the universe in heaven, you know? It's so like- Love it ... mortality is just this tiny little dot, and the expanse of eternity totally comes out in those words.
Okay, let's do another one. Here we go. Let's go to Alma chapter five, verse 26. Here's another good use of music. This is a good one. Jesus loves music. Go ahead and do that one for us, Jenny. Alma chapter five, verse 26. Okay. Alma 5:26. "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren and sisters, if you have experienced a change of heart and you, if you have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask can you feel so now?"
And you can cross-reference that to Alma 26:13, and this is the idea of expressing joy and singing in conversion and redemption. That's what they're doing, singing the song of redemption. Then we have another one, section 84, verse 98. Doctrine and Covenants, section 84, verse 98. Stacy, will you read that for us?
Okay. "Until all shall know me, who remain even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice and with the voice together sing this new song, saying..." And then bracket off verses 99 through 102, and those are the lyrics allegedly to a song that will be sung when Christ comes again.
That's what we believe. So those of you who are in the ward choir, I believe, are the ones who are gonna be allowed to sing that. People who've been paying the price in ward choir, you're gonna be part of that choir. That's, that's my own belief. That's not really doctrine, but that's what I think, 'cause ward choir's hard, and I love people who are willing to go to those practices.
Okay. So all of that then, I ask my guests to come and tell me when has music been helpful or restful to you? We have this really cool quote, and as they're preparing their song to share with us, I'm gonna read this quote from President Nelson. He says, "Music has the power to provide spiritual nourishment.
It has healing power. It has the power to facilitate worship, allowing us to contemplate the Atonement and the restoration of the gospel, with its saving principles and exalting ordinances. It provides power for us to express prayerful thoughts and bear testimony of sacred truths." And how fun that we have this new hymnbook.
And members of the Church were so excited to contribute to it that I found online there was a remarkable 16,000 new hymn songs or texts that were submitted. Like, we love music. So tell me, has music been helpful or restful to you? Do you guys have a story or do you have a song that you love that's your go-to rest song?
I do Okay, Jenny, go ahead. And this is my go-to song, and I, I love telling this story. Um, it's the hymn num- right now, number 85, How Firm a Foundation. I love it because the first verse is, is what we can do in laying our faith in His excellent word, what more can be said. But in the last six, um, verses is the Lord's voice to us when we are firm upon Him, and these are w- these are words we, we've sing quite a bit, especially this two and three.
But I especially love the very last verse. We don't sing it as often. "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot," this is Jesus speaking to us. He cannot desert us to our foes. That soul, "though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake." Mm. And I'm gonna tell a story about that song.
This is our good... my good friend, Amanda Barnes Smith. She was in Kirtland. She had a... probably went to the temple dedication and had the f- the hymnal that Emma Smith put together, and this was one of those songs that was in the very first hymn book, A Collection of Sacred Songs. So anyway, a short time later, they're all moving to Missouri, and Amanda and her husband, Warren, um, cross the border with their family into Missouri, and they're immediately mobbed by a group of people who hold them hostage and take all of their weapons.
So they hold them hostage for a couple days, and then they're on their way to Far West, and they stop for one night at Haun's Mill, and that was the night of the massacre. And Amanda's husband, Warren, died. Um, one of her sons was killed, and her other son, Sardius, his hip was shot out. So she was in no... not in a great situation.
But she got great revelation about how to heal him and how to help him, this little boy. And then she and the other women, the widows that were still there, um, would get together and pray, and pretty soon the Missourians are like, "You guys, you can't get together and pray anymore." So she went into a cornfield And she prayed and poured her heart out to the Lord, and she heard a voice say to her these words of this last verse of this hymn.
And she knew that she would never be forsaken, that the Lord would always know her. And in the, a couple of events that happened right after that, you see immediately how the Lord is providing food for her and an escape, a way to get back to the saints. And it's, it's just such a beautiful song, and I love it because I feel like in every condition, in sickness or in health, in poverty's vale or abounding in wealth, um, that I can rely on him, and because of my covenants with him, he will never, ever forsake me.
Hmm. What a brilliant- Beautiful ... testimony, Jenny. I'm so grateful for it. Thank you for sharing that with us. Yeah, that's really beautiful. I totally feel the Spirit. Me too. Powerful. Do you have one, Stace? I have so many. Really hard. Um, uh, because I love the Primary songs and the simplicity of the Primary songs.
Are you still the Primary pianist? Love. I love it. I just think it's the most ironic thing ever, and I will do it till the day I die if they let me. It's just- Best calling ... it is the best. I mean, they're, they're just... the Spirit every week is just so powerful in that room. Great. Tell everyone why it's ironic.
Because I'm so not musical. I- ... I really don't sing very well. I mean, I have a, I wouldn't say terrible voice, but it's not good. And I, I'm still, like, doing the one, two, like leading by the music instead of the one, two, three, four. You're like, "I wasn't trained as a musician, people. I don't know what I'm doing."
Yeah. I'm not musical. I'm not any of those things. But I love my calling, and I can't learn... I, I can learn to lead, and I can do it at home, but as soon as I'm with those kids, and their eyes are on my eyes, and my eyes are on them, there's just so much connection happening in my little Primary room. I can't focus on anything but them, and that's what I love.
Oh, I love it. Totally joyful place. Plus, they're so unaffected by the world at this age, that they really are the best and living example of the cle- clean hands and a pure heart, which is in our- Mm-hmm ... and I just love them for that. They, what they bring is totally refreshing. So I love all of that. So what I'm ch- So I ch- I've chosen one because it just speaks to me.
It's one of the new hymns. So I'm gonna kinda read sections of it that are meaningful to me because the visualization of these things are so beautiful. It's Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands. Hymn number in the new hymnbook, 1016. And so I'll just read the beginning of this, and then the end of another one.
So be- 'cause I'm not gonna read the whole thing. "Behold the wounds in Jesus' hands, the mark upon His side, then ponder whom He meant to save." Just, I wanna end right there. It's not even ... It's mid-sentence, I recognize that. Mm-hmm. What a great visualization of His suffering. And then think about why He was doing that.
I love that. And then His guiding ... The ... It talks about when we stray, "His guiding hands caress. He washes and anoints with oil, and in His arms we rest." And I love that reference to the temple, because there are people who stand, um, with us in the, I think, of anointings, and, um, they lay their hands upon our head as if they were the hands of the Savior.
With His power, with His authority, they bless us so that we have rest. And that's as often as we wanna go, we can receive that reality of that blessing. It's f- it's free for the taking. So I love that. And then the last verse. And I'm sorry I'm jumping around so much. "Behold His wounded hands and feet. Come touch, and see, and feel."
There's no fear of intimacy and closeness in space with Him. Um, "the wounds and marks that you may know. His love for you is real. Then as you fall to worship Hi-" Just that totally moment of awe that you can be in His presence. Um, "And then as you fall to worship Him, and wash His feet with tears, your Savior takes you in His arms and quiets all your fears."
I have such a testimony that we do not have to die or be in the afterlife to experience any of these things, that these things are experiences that we can have daily if we need them. But whenever we come to Him, as often as we come to Him, we can experience these beautiful, intimate, personal experiences w- in a relationship with Him.
It, it, it, it's, it's, it's a v- it's a very real connection that we have to the Savior and His deity, His, His omniscience as mortals. That, that just blows my mind that we can have that.
I love you two so much. Wow. Wow, I've loved this segment. Thank you. Thank you for what you shared and for just reading the lyrics of the hymns. The spirit is so strong. We didn't even have to sing it. That was brilliant. Do you want me- Thank you to both of you. Do you, you wanna sing that for us, Stace? No, you wouldn't want me to sing it.
What a wonderful rest that was. Thank you. Thank you to both of you. Now, Stace, I'm gonna just kind of take what you talked about with the temple because that's what, in the next segment, what's so cool is that we're gonna talk about how the Psalms give us another form of rest, and it directly connects to the temple.
So we'll do that next
Segment 4
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First shout-out to my mom, who was the organ player in the temple. Don't we love ... Anyone who played the organ in the temple, thank you for saying yes to that calling. Yes. Why do you think they play music in the waiting room? Jenny, you worked in the temple. Yeah, I did, and I miss it so much. But I think it's because a couple of reasons.
I know that when, at The Last Supper, the apostles and the other people that were there, the other disciples, sang hymns. Yeah. And they wanted to create a sacred environment. And I think, just like we've talked about before, that we can find, um, instruction and encouragement in the hymns, but also it, it tunes our hearts to Him and to understand how we can receive Him.
Oh, you're absolutely right. You said it so perfectly. That is what you want to know about the Book of Psalms. Here's a fun fact. According to one scholarly report, the minimum number of psalms that were sung or directly associated with the temple was 109. Oh, wow. And one scholar believes it could be as high as 126 psalms were directly connected to the ancient temple or sung at the temple.
So I have a list of all these cool psalms that teach us about the temple. So I have another scripture chain. This is called the Psalms About the Temple scripture chain. And so Stacey and Jenny are gonna help me. We're just gonna read some of these, and you can ... So I want you just to call out the reference and then read the verse for us, okay?
And let's just look at some of these neat verses about the temple. Yeah. I'll do the first one, Psalms 5:7. "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward the holy temple." The next one is 11:4, Jenny, if you want to do that. Psalm 11:4. "The Lord is in His holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men." I've got 18:6. "In my distress, I call upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him even into His ears." And I love this. Like, I'm just marking temple every time I see it in these verses.
Okay. Psalms 23:6. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Just like you, Jenny. You wanna go back to that calling. Go back into the temple forever. Mm-hmm. Okay. We have another one? Okay, 27:4. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."
In Psalm 48:9, "We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple." 122:1. "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'" I was glad when they said that to me, too. Why? I love going there. I love the rest that's there. I do love, you, uh, you asked why, why they play music in the temple.
For me, it's because it dis- it distracts me. I love the word that Jenny used. It focuses me on where I am, and the world, it really just falls away. You, you walk into that room, and you hear that music, and you think of the lyrics, and you think of that experience that you're getting ready to have, and it feels like the world's just far, far away.
Yeah, absolutely. And just this idea that the temple, which is woven throughout the Book of Psalms, can bring you rest. That's such a great lesson, and the temple does bring us rest. Yeah. And you just bore a beautiful testimony of that in the last segment. And so just to consider that, and so we're gonna issue a challenge to everyone listening to take some time if you're near a temple and go rest.
Just go sit in the house of the Lord. Be glad. I love that verse. I'm gla- like the glad that you feel when you go to the temple is, is so real. And just take some time this week to find some rest in the temple. Whatever that looks like, however you wanna worship, maybe just go sit in the celestial room. I love that we're allowed to do that now.
Oh, I do, too. Ah, that's my favorite. Okay, so that's one of the ways that we can rest is through the temple in the Book of Psalms. And now in the next segment, Psalms is gonna point us to the true source of rest. We're gonna show you some really cool verses of scripture about that next.
Segment 5
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I love a scripture chain, right? It makes me so happy 'cause we have another scripture chain. This- but this scripture chain is so cool, Stace. You set us up perfectly for this. This scripture chain is pointing us to the true source of rest, the absolute source of rest, which is Jesus Christ. So now this is a really cool one because we're, again, we're gonna read some Psalms, but all of these are Messianic, and you talked about that, Stace, at the beginning.
Were all of these people, did they have these revelations about Christ, or were they given the revelations about Christ in the Book of Psalms? So I don't know the answer, but I know the revelations are here, so let's look at some of these. And you can go to our show notes, where you're gonna actually find the Psalm listed and then the fulfillment of it.
We don't have time to read the fulfillment, but as we read the Psalm, you'll go, "Oh, I know where... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I read that in the New Testament." So there's Old Testament reference of Christ and then the fulfillment of New Testament. So go study that on your own 'cause it's so cool. We're gonna just take some time now to each read verses about Jesus Christ in the Book of Psalms.
So we'll start. We'll go Stace, Jenny, me, in that order. We're gonna start in Psalm 22, and Stace is gonna read verse one. And this is... I think this is so cool, and I just love... When we're done, ladies, give me your insight. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"
Okay, 22:7-8 "All that they see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying, 'He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in Him.'" Okay, and Psalm 22:16 says, "For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet."
In 18, "They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture." Okay, then 31:5 "Into Thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth." Okay, then we have 34:20. I'm gonna read that. "He keepeth all His bones. Not one of them is broken." And then Psalms 41:9, "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."
Okay, and then we have Psalm 118 verse 22, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." Okay. Now we didn't have time to connect them all to the New Testament fulfillment scriptures, but just as we were reading those verses in the Book of Psalms, what were your thoughts?
What were you thinking? Well, so I go back to that same question. Like, so much of those Isaiah is quoting in his messianic prophecies. Um, I just love thinking that David was the source. Mm-hmm. And that it came through him in a musical way. I, I, I just, I love all of that. Like, he was inspired to put it to music.
Like, who thinks that way? "I've got this prophecy," or, "I've had this revelation. I'm gonna put this to music." I mean, I guess musicians do, but you know, that's amazing. It's really cool. It is really cool, especially with the 2 Kings verse we considered that Elisha's like, "Put on some music and I'll receive revelation."
And here we have all this revelation about Christ to music. It's, goes hand-in-hand. Oh, I love that. It just reminds me of the course of events that happens at the end of, of, um, Christ's life. Like, it follows all of that. Mm-hmm. Absolutely, it does. The other thing I remember thinking is the one that we read where he said, "Into my hands I commend thy spirit."
Mm-hmm. But before that, when he says in Psalm 22:1, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" I remember the first time I realized that he was quoting Psalms, and I thought, "Did Jesus sing on the cross? Is that what got him through that?" Or, I don't know. I'm just went, like, I love that he's quoting Psalms, though.
It would've been something he had grown up singing. He was aware of the music. He knew it, and there he is in this agonizing moment, and he's quoting a song. You know, it's this, it's so similar to what Joseph Smith says in section 121. Why has... Where's the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? Like, it's, it, to me, it's the same thing.
Mm-hmm. So I think, so one of... And, and here's another yoga characteristic or element of yoga, is, um, they om. You know, they have those, they, they literally mantra and they om, and the om is held deep in the throat and deep in the chest. And the reason why they do that, yogis do that, is because rese- I'm sure, you know, they, they were doing it before the research.
But the research tells us that when we have those kind of low vibrations in our body from our own body, from our own voice, it also is another element that sends signals to our brain to relax, that we're safe, that we can relax, and it actually is, um, like when we're suffering or in pain, you, it's people's automatic response, and you see people do this.
Labor is one of those places. If they're, if they've been in an accident of some kind, they automatically send out sound. Mm. And one of the reasons we naturally do that is because it actually helps our brain kick in to buffer the suffering that we're in. I think that's often also the same as when people are just about to die.
Sure. Mm. There's a sound that, uh, many make. Mm-hmm. And I, so I think it's, it wouldn't be surprising to me if the Savior was, when in his suffering, deepest suffering, or at least deep suffering in the atonement, that he was comforted by that kind of vibration. A sound. And Joseph Smith. Jennie, I have never considered what he said in section 121 a connection to the Book of Psalm, but I found it in Psalm 27:5, "For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion."
Mm-hmm. And then he says, "Where is the pavilion of thy hiding place?" Mm-hmm. I didn't think of Joseph Smith was singing Psalm down there or quoting it. That's so cool. Well, and I think it's just the same as what Jesus did, and I think even in Psalm 25:17, "The troubles of my heart are enlarged. O bring thou me out of my distress."
Like when is this going to end? Yeah. How long must I suffer? That's incredible. What a great use of music right there. Mm-hmm. I love what you just taught us, that idea. You do, too. How it rests us. It rests our spirits, the music. So I didn't share my favorite song back in the last segment- Oh, yeah ... but the one I love is in here.
I wanted to use it in here because it's a song that we're gonna share with you guys now. We're gonna let you listen to it as we finish out this segment before we start the next segment. It's a song called Rest, and it was from the 2019 youth album, and the album is called If We Love Him. So I highly recommend you go find it.
It is on the Gospel app. Go into the music, Young Women, Young Men, and again, the 2019 youth album, and the song is called Rest. So go get it. But we're gonna play it for you right now, and as you listen to it, I want you to take in the lyrics as they talk about how we can truly find rest in the source of rest, which is Jesus Christ.
And we'll leave you with that.
Segment 6
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Okay, we're gonna just finish with how we started. Stace, lead us through another breathing. You ready? Okay. Help us breathe one more time. We'll do a different breath this time. Okay. We're gonna sit up nice and tall, we're gonna relax our shoulders. We're, this time we're gonna close our eyes. Don't do this if you're driving.
Okay. But otherwise, please close your eyes. We're sitting up nice and tall and our shoulders are open but relaxed, our eyes are closed so that we can actually pull our attention inward to our breath. So all I want you to do is focus on not your, not your chest breathing or your belly breathing. Breathe however you want, but I want you to focus on the air flow through your nose.
So we're gonna focus on the air coming in the nose
In air flow out the nose
And in
And out
If you haven't closed your mouth, I want you to make sure your mouth is closed if you're not with, sick with a cold. And in the nose
And out the nose Now I want you to focus and see if you can actually fine-tune your senses here. Can you feel the temperature change in your nose? Inhale. It can be a little cooler. Exhale, and it's a little warmer
Exhale
Bring your attention back to your natural breath And feel just that nourishing energy that comes from focusing on your breath, the state of your body more relaxed because you took six breaths when you were attentive
Okay, bring your attention back to Tammy. That was good. Thank you. So this is my final question then. Today, w- this whole week we get to study Psalms 1 through 50, and I ask my guests to end this whole episode by just sharing what psalm was restful to you, and just share that psalm with us I'll go first, 'cause I have an immediate response to that.
Um, I was really surprised. Of course, I've ha- I've heard Psalms 23 my whole life, and normally we hear it at funerals. And I, in my mind, have always thought this was a psalm for the dead, for the deceased, sort of like a prayer for them as they enter the afterlife. But for the first time this time reading it, I realized it's also a psalm for people who have lost something.
Mm. And they're grieving the loss of something, and a promise from our Father in Heaven and from our Savior and His atonement, the blessings that He wants us to receive when we're grieving or in loss. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for my namesake, or for His namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff," which I love that reference to the shepherd, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." There's just so many beautiful references to the temple, the peace that we can feel when we reach out to Him, even in our suffering.
I love that th- there's promises at the beginning that are here and now in the moment of my suffering, and promises of hope for my future. I just loved that. And for some reason I was like, "Have I never read that before?" I've never read it like that before, so that was actually been really meaningful to me.
That's the one I chose. And I wrote rest right next to it. Like, there's so much rest in those verses. Yeah. I am, because I love the imagery of, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." Yeah. "He leadeth me beside the still waters. Restoreth my soul. Lead me in paths of righteousness." Like, I just thought of it's so restful.
Like, that is my ... And then to end in the temple. Like, I'm walking through with Him, the green pasture, the water, and together we end up at His house. Well, and it's the first thing He reminds you of when you go. Right. That there are still waters and there are green pastures. Yeah, and it's okay. And He restoreth your soul.
It's all really beautiful. Your cup runneth over because of Him. Right. Because I, with you guys, my cup is totally running over tonight. Amen. Oh, so much rest. Thank you. Oh, that was good. Okay, what about you, Jenny? So I loved this, the chapter right before that one, chapter 22, and I'm gonna kind of go backwards.
I mean, I'm gonna start with 10 and go... I'm gonna just read parts of it, but then I'm gonna end with four. Verse four: "I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mo- mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. There is none to help." And verse 14 and 15: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaw, and thou hast brought me into the dust of the earth." And I ju- like, I feel like that so often. Like, when I was sick in the hospital with leukemia and I couldn't move, when I'm in such distress that I don't know how I'm gonna go forward, I'm poured out like water, and my bones are out of joint.
And then I love how he says in verse 19, "But be not far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to help me." And that reminds me of when Jesus talks about succoring us But then in verse four, the reason why he believes all of this is because, "Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
So I know that you will deliver me." I love that. I, I love too that- Me too ... that you connected all of that back to verse four- Mm-hmm ... our ancestors. And it's not just ancestors, it's our, our people. Yeah. My ladies, my host. It's all the, the, the children of Israel who crossed the- Mm-hmm ... getting through the wilderness.
And it's, you know, it's every par- getting across the plains. Mm-hmm. And every part of that. Those are our people, and they trusted in Christ. And y- the Christ d- delivered them, and he, if he is the same God today, yesterday, and forever, then He will do the same for me. He will deliver me if I trust in Him. And amen, I love that.
Really beautiful. Even if your bones are out of joint and your heart's like wax, like, I love that connection 'cause- Right ... so many of us are just tired. We just- Mm-hmm ... wanna rest. And our ancestors no doubt were tired, right? That's all they wanted was a rest, and they knew that their source was Jesus Christ.
That's the beautiful thing about it. He really is the true source of rest. I mean, you go to that scripture in Matthew, "Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy." Like, but I love the first invitation is, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." You know- Oh ... sorry, the other idea that, that, that imagery
Where is that? Is it 14? "I am poured out like water, and all my joints are out of joint." Isn't it, 'cause that's not restful, but it sounds like you're- No ... floor. Mm-hmm. But exhausted. There's a difference between being- Mm-hmm ... exhausted and resting. Mm-hmm. And it, it might look the same on the outside, but resting has a different energy.
It's not exhausted. Resting has hope, and resting has light. Mm. And resting has energy. Yeah. I love that. Me too. Wow, ladies. Well, thank you. That's it. That's the end of our episode. Do we feel rested? Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love Psalms for doing that for us. So Selah, Selah throughout the whole time you're studying, 'cause we get to study Psalms for the next couple of weeks.
Notice all the times it tells you to rest. And, again, the challenge is to find it. Find rest over the course of the next three weeks that we get to do this book. And now what I want you to do is just gather your thoughts and tell me what is something that you learned. What's a holy, what's an eternal truth or some takeaway from today's discussion?
'Cause I got a lot of notes, but I know exactly what it is Uh, one of the things I actually really loved was Jennie's connection, um, to Psalms and Joseph Smith and the suffering, and you piggybacked on that with your same thoughts. I, I don't think I realized that he was quoting scripture in that scripture from Psalm.
You know, that- It's a meta scripture. Yeah, that's exactly right. It's a meta scripture. Um, but it also tells me a little something about Joseph Smith too, that he was reading the scriptures. He was reading deeply. It, I think by the time you get to Psalms, if you haven't given up on the Old Testament and reading it, you're committed.
And Joseph Smith- ... and that's, that's a really lovely insight into his life. Yeah, I did love that. I liked how real David is and how real we are, and where we can have one chapter of rejoicing and being glad and full of joy to I, my bones are out of joint. Mm-hmm. I can't do this. And I think that's what mortality is.
But if we, if our fathers trusted, then we can too. And I just think it's... It kind of reminds me of 2 Nephi 4, Nephi's psalm, right? Mm-hmm. That talks about how he's overcome with his weaknesses, but he realizes that he can get up and, and, and rejoice in the Lord. Wow. Very good. Love it. Love it, both of you.
Such great insights. Mine was your songs, Hymn 85 and Hymn 1016. And whoever has music this week, make those your songs that you sing. Do it for Jenny and Stacy because that, the Spirit was so strong as you shared your own personal experiences about how music has helped you rest, and how thankful we are for the psalms and for all that they bring to our lives.
So ladies, thank you for teaching me about those lyrics. They were so beautiful. That was my favorite part. It was awesome. I love that. I love you both. Thank you. Love you guys. Love you. Bye. Well, share with me what your eternal truth was, because that was a fun discussion. A little unconventional, but I love the idea that we get to rest and we get to breathe, 'cause I just don't even...
Sometimes I forget to breathe. I don't even... Not really, but do you ever get to that point in your life where you just take a big sigh? I did learn this in college. That is your apneustic center in your brain that's trying to regulate your breathing, 'cause you're not breathing correctly. How about that? So at least for the last hour, you were able to breathe.
So I want you to share what you've learned. Comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. And it's not a bad idea to go there anyway because we're gonna have links to all the references as well as a transcript of this whole discussion and a link to Jenny's new book.
So check it out. It's really good. I actually am reading it. That's how good it is. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today our beautiful study group participants were Stacy Christensen and Jenny Reeder, and you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday.
Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week, and please remember to sing. And you are God's favorite.