33: “The Lord Is My Shepherd” (Psalms 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46)

Tammy 0:02

During Sacrament Meeting while I was in college, I found myself complaining to my roommate about the number of songs and prayers we offer each sabbath. Opening song & prayer, closing song and prayer. And this was back when we had opening exercises for Sunday School right after Sacrament that asks for another opening song and prayer, I leaned in and quietly chanted to my roommate, pray, sing, pray, and sing, and pray and sing. And then I sped up my chant in an attempt to completely annoy her, pray, sing, pray, sing, pray sing, pray sing, praysing, praysing, praising! And then it hit me and I was immediately humbled. We are praising the Lord through song and prayer, and I remember my roommate looking at me going, Hmmm. Today we will begin our study, today we will begin our study of Psalms, and for the next three weeks we will pray and sing through these inspired words.

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, I just want to make sure you know how to use this podcast. So 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 friend Robin Call from Sherwood, Oregon. Hi, friend.

Now another awesome thing about our study group, and it's my favorite, is that each week we are joined by two of my friends who I just love so much. And these two - Oh, do I love them? We have it's the dynamic duo. They actually have a celebrity name Jaliah, Hi ladies. We have Aliah Hall and Jalyn Peterson. I'm good, I love you guys.

Jalyn 1:45

Always fun to be coming to you from Tamara's closet.

Tammy 1:49

Yeah, it is, live. Here we are. And Jalyn's in Tennessee and Aliah is in, well, Salt Lake.

Aliah Hall 1:56

Salt Lake City, in her husband's office, with a green screen. It's pretty awesome. Wow, he's legit. So all right, you two. You ready to do this?

Yes.

We've been talking a lot. We've been texting back and forth, we get to start the book of Psalms and I could not be more excited to start it with anybody than I am these two, because I got a lot to say. So we are just going to jump in. So everyone grab your scriptures, your journals and something to mark your Scriptures with and let's dig in. Alright, can either one of you relate to my ridiculous story?

I tell people all the time. I'm like if we cut out all the songs, church would be half the time. We could get out of here in 45 minutes. Wrap it up.

Jalyn 2:38

We could, much to the chagrin of some people. Tamu would not like that. Yeah.

Aliah Hall 2:45

So when my son was at Primary Children's they have a Primary Children's ward. It is 30 minutes long. There's, you just get in, you pray, you take the sacrament There's like a one little, short talk and you get out of there.

Jalyn 3:02

My whole thing is that like I can't make it through an hour Sacrament Meeting without a rest hymn in the middle. I'm all about the hymns. I'm all about 'em, like,

Tammy 3:11

Oh, all right,

Jalyn 3:12

You know, they just make you sit there for longer through something else.

Tammy 3:16

You do like a hymn. Okay, so we're kind of, we're a little bit torn here. Well, we are, the reason why I talked about this and I want us to talk about that is because that's kind of what the Psalms are. So turn to Psalms and on that first page, we are going to write two words because there are actually two types of Psalms in Psalms. The first type is called a to Tehillim, and it's spelled T e h i l I i m. And it means praises, like poetic praises, often like a 'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!' kind of praise. And then you have what's called a M I Z M O R. A Mizmor is a melody or a song. So some of these are poetic phrases. And some of them really were songs.

Here's some fun facts about Psalms. This book is also called Psalter. And it was an ancient Israel's hymnbook. So according to Jewish tradition, these songs were sung in front of the tabernacle, and later on upon the steps of the Jerusalem temple. And all the singers or chanters were Levites, while the priests from the Levitical family of Aaron accompanied the songs with instruments.

This is kind of interesting: Psalms is the longest book in the Old Testament. Our LDS edition has 97 pages and Isaiah is 80 pages long. So Psalms takes the award for the longest book. Now the authorship of Psalms is uncertain and tentative. Like, it could be David because often David says in his writing, but the book of Psalms attributes at least 73 or about half of the Psalms, to David and the other are attributed to other authors.

And we will put in our show notes some of the names of those authors, so you can go ahead and write that in. That'll be in our notes. Now, there are five main sections to the book of Psalms and I thought this was pretty fascinating because some believe that the reason why there are five main in books, is to mimic the Five Books of Moses or the Torah. And each book ends with an expression of praise "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." That's how you know that the section is ended. So I thought that was kind of cool. Now this is interesting: you will see throughout the book of Psalms, you'll see it actually 21 times, the word selah, S E L A H.

Aliah Hall 5:21

I was wondering what that meant.

Tammy 5:22

Isn't that so fun, but here's what it is. When you see it, and you'll see it for the first time in Psalms, chapter 3, at the very end it says, verse 8, "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." And what that means in Hebrew is, it comes from the root word which means "to lift up". So it's like a crescendo, or an increase in volume. Or it can also mean a break in the song. Like, here's where you take a breath and then you begin. And then the maestro brings you back in and you're going to start singing and playing again. So that's what Selah means, I thought was pretty neat.

Now Psalms is not a book that you're just going to read once and put down. Like it's designed for a lifetime of slow reading, reflection, application. And that's what we're going to do today and over the course of the next two weeks. There's a lot of weeks we get to study Psalms, so just take your time to kind of just read it, absorb it, think about it. But we all have a lot to say about Psalms, especially the three of us. So in the next segment, we are going to dive into these Psalms and these songs which are so beautiful. You might be a fan of hymns by the time we're finished.

Segment 2 6:28

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Tammy 6:29

Okay, you two. I want to know what it means to be Christian. And from Tennessee, Jalyn - Oh, I'm sure you have a good ole answer for that. What does it mean to be Christian?

Jalyn 6:39

It means to believe in Christ, believe in His atoning sacrifice.

Aliah Hall 6:45

Believe that He's the Son of God.

Jalyn 6:47

Uh huh. Yep. And that it's the foundation of Christian religions. He is the Savior.

Tammy 6:54

How does being Christian in Tennessee compare to being Christian in Utah?

Jalyn 6:58

Well, it is, there's difference, right? So then there's even differences among different religions. So there's a lot of Baptists. But you know, there's people who are like, there's a church out here called Bellevue, it's huge. It's a Baptist church. And other Baptists will go, "Yeah, he's a, he's a Bellevue guy." Right? So like, even there, there's kind of like a little differences. And it's my understanding, I could be total wrong, but the Baptists think Christ only died for them. Like not everybody is worthy.

Aliah Hall 9:07

I don't know if that's universal to Baptists, cuz my dad's whole side of the family are Baptists, and my mom's whole side of the family are Presbyterians.

Jalyn 9:07

Could we make it Mormon.

Aliah Hall 9:07

I mean, I'm sure maybe the Bellevue Baptists believe.

Jalyn 9:07

Little

Tammy 9:07

That's why they're a Bellevue Baptist.

Jalyn 7:33

Like being a 'Draper Housewife",

Tammy 7:38

Hey, hey. Take that back, you jerk. (laughs)

Jalyn 7:40

Someone's gotta be there keepin it real, you know, someone's gotta keep it real down there.

Tammy 8:04

This gal right here. Aliah, hold the phone. If half your family's Baptist and half your family's Presbyterian, is there a difference in being Christian? And then you have LDS in the middle? What's that like?

Aliah Hall 8:14

Sure. So, like we would go to church with my dad's mother, my grandmother. And it was like gospel fest, like lots of singing, lots of dance, some fainting, fallin' out. Big hats, like dressed to the nine.

Jalyn 8:32

You know I think hymns should be in the LDS church.

Aliah Hall 8:35

All business, like it's good, it's good times. Yeah. And then we go to church with my mom's side of the family, the Presbyterians. And Presbyterians are much more like Mormons; like they're very subdued. Their hymns are very reverent. They're very, like their buildings of worship are very reverent. There's not a lot of like hallelujahs or amen, or nobody's rolling on the floor. Nobody's like receiving the Spirit; none of that business.

Tammy 9:05

So a very big difference. Okay.

Jalyn 9:07

Yeah. And here we have what I call the praise churches where they're, it's not like a specific, it's just we're a Christian church, nondenominational. But they're huge, like, live band. Some, one of my clients brought his daughters in and they were at camp for their church. Oh, it was legit business. They showed me pictures. I'm like, this looks like a "Wipeout" set. Like, this is professional. Like I, you know, we were doing an obstacle course around somebody's backyard with a couple of glasses and some ropes in the garage. Like they - legit. It looked like a whole course on the show "Wipeout". Like it was amazing.

So yeah, so yeah, there's a lot of that too, which I really like. Because those are so fun. Well, and those are the people who are always like, who, who come in, and they will, you can tell that Christ is such an integral part of their life. Like, there's no difference between, you know, it doesn't matter who they're talking to. Like, Praise Jesus, or like, if they're thanking the good Lord because He, you know, like, and they legitimately mean that. It's not being, you know, facetious, but like, I find that very refreshing.

Aliah Hall 10:26

I found out like, with my dad's side of the family, with my Baptist side of the family, like, talking about Jesus, talking about Christ talking about God, the church, blessings, was just like part of the vocabulary, It's part of their language, how they understood the world, which I think is very different. Not that I think we have that very internalized, you know, as LDS people, but we don't like live it out in the world, right, as much, and I love that about them. And I, like I, when you were telling that story, you know, like pray, sing, pray, sing, praising, and I'm like, whenever I think of praising the Lord, I always think of like, a Baptist. Like, that's praising the Lord. Like, what we're doing is worshiping, what they're doing is praising the Lord. These are two very different things.

Tammy 11:16

Okay. I absolutely love what both of you said, because that is the crux of Christianity. And, Jalyn, you said it's an integral part of their lives and Aliah, both of you talked about how they just talked about it in their everyday speech. And it looks different for everyone. But Christ is at the center of what it means to be Christian. And it was really interesting. In the Bible Dictionary, if you look up the word Psalms, it says, "no book of the Old Testament is more Christian in its inner sense." I just think that's so cool. So we're going to talk a lot about Christ today, which I mean, you can't lose with that. So we're going to turn to what might be one of the most Christian admonitions in Scripture. Let's turn to Psalms 4:5. In Psalms 4:5, I want to know what you think is the call to Christians in this verse. Like why would we say it's just the greatest Christian admonition of all time? And Jalyn, will you please read verse 5?

Jalyn 12:13

4:5 "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord."

Tammy 12:17

What is it?

Jalyn 12:19

I think trust in the Lord.

Tammy 12:20

That's it, yeah. "Put your trust in the Lord." You're gonna read that so much in Psalms over and over again, "put your trust in the Lord." In fact, we're going to do a fun little scripture chain with putting your trust in the Lord for the book of Psalms. So let's go to Psalms 5:11, here we go. I'll read this one.

5:11 "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." There it is - put their trust in the Lord, rejoice. The next one is 7:1. Aliah, read that.

Aliah Hall 12:50

7:1 "O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all of them that persecute me, and deliver me:"

Tammy 13:01

Okay, let's go to Psalm 9:10, And Jalyn, will you read Psalm 9:10.

Jalyn 13:05

9:10 "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee."

Tammy 13:12

Very good the next one, Psalm, 18:2 "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliver; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."

Okay, the next one, put Psalm 56:11. Let's go there. And Aliah, will you please read Psalm 56:11.

Aliah Hall 13:34

56:11 "In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me."

Tammy 13:40

Okay, and we have two more. Let's go to Psalm 62:8. Jalyn, will you read that.

Jalyn 13:44

62:8" Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah."

Tammy 13:52

And the last one is Psalm 118:8-9. Psalm 118:8. I'll read those.

8 "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

9 "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes."

And then outside of that verse, you can go ahead and just put back Psalms 4:5, and that will give you your scripture chain for "trusting in the Lord". Now, here's my question. How can we believe the scriptures without having it sound like a platitude? Can we really trust in the Lord?

Aliah Hall 14:26

I think like this is how I know that like this podcast, and Tam, is like called of God to do this podcast. Like, I did my reading. I like read it and I was like, Okay, so I'm not super jazzed about doing the whole business. But then, Tam, you gave that, like, you gave that explanation of like the bees, that these songs or these praises were saying, at the doors of the tabernacle or you know the doors of the temple. And like when we were reading that scripture chain, and even when I was thinking about, you know, all of this other things that I had written and you know, written down, it all came together. Like, of course these are songs that you would sing at the temple.

And of course, at the doors of the temple you are praising God and saying like, We trust You, because You have carried us and this tabernacle through the wilderness for 40 years. You have helped us cross, you know, the Red Sea. You have delivered us from Pharaoh, You have delivered us from all of these armies and nations and all of these things. And so the tabernacle is this, this monument to this, to this exodus that the Israelites have made. And standing at the doors of that tabernacle, standing at the doors of the temple, being able to say, like, We see You, God. We see You in our lives and we are grateful, and we trust You. And even though it's hard, and even though we've been walking a long time, and even though there's a big ocean, or a river, or whatever, in between us and where You need us to go, we will continually trust in thee.

Tammy 16:14

Wow. I love the perspective you had on that with, like, I'm picturing me now, the next time I go to the temple, maybe just making up my own little song of one of these verses "trusting in the Lord". Go ahead, Jalyn.

Jalyn 16:28

Well, I, for me, when you first said it, I'm like, well, it has to be more than a platitude because a lot of times that's the only thing that gets me through, right? of like being stressed about something in your life and just knowing God has a plan, Jesus has, you know, done the atonement. Like there's things you don't have to try and do yourself. But, but also when you, you know, the things that we do that it's more than a platitude, is exactly what Aliah was saying. We build temples, we follow prophets, we, and if you read some of these scriptures, just in the scripture chain, I noticed it had a part on something WE had to do. So in 4:5, it was "offer the sacrifices of righteousness". And then another one said, "Trust in the Lord comes from those who seek Him." So there's things we do that we, you know, we're only doing because we trust in the Lord. If you back up and just zoom out and look at the big picture there's, that's the only way. It has to be more than a platitude or else, or else we don't even believe in the whole plan of salvation.

Tammy 17:47

I'm writing that in my scriptures. Hold on. Trusting in the Lord requires action. That is awesome.

Aliah Hall 17:55

I think you just explained, though, as well, Jalyn, like what we know is that when we promise to make an action, and then the Lord promises to make an action, that is actually a covenant. And like, I think that's super powerful that we're like at the gates of the temple, we're at the steps of, you know, the tabernacle and we were, we are singing our covenants, almost like an endowment session.

Jalyn 18:24

Uh huh. Ooh, that just gave me chills.

Aliah Hall 18:26

At that time.

Tammy 18:27

Me, too.

Jalyn 18:27

Yeah. That is so good.

Aliah Hall 18:31

That remembering of our covenants,

Jalyn 18:33

Yeah. Well, then, that's the whole purpose for church services in the first place, right? is to bring us in remembrance of those covenants that we've, you know.

Tammy 18:47

I wrote there when Aliah was talking: 'My actions plus God's actions equals covenants, or blessings'. Like I'm not good at the math, but I can do those kind of equations. So, that is awesome. Well one of the things that I asked Aliah and Jalyn to do in preparation for today's episode was to read a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott called "Trust in the Lord". And it is epic. It is so good. And I read it when it came out back in the 1995 conference address, and it's been my go-to. It's in almost all of my journals, because I read it and I remark it up. Everyone needs to read this talk. So just Google "Trust in the Lord", Richard G. Scott. And there are so many golden nuggets that come from it, and this is one of them that came from trusting in the Lord. Aliah, will you please read those for us.

Aliah Hall 19:32

"This life is an experience and profound trust. Trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey these teachings for happiness now, and for a purposeful, supremely happy, eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning. To produce fruit your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your personal feeling and experience. To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He's doing with you, and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good, even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it. We are like infants in our understanding of eternal matters and their impact on us here in mortality."

Tammy 20:22

Thank you. Anything you want to

Aliah Hall 20:24

I, yeah. I, you know, I mean, I've talked a lot about my family and my, my situation, my personal situation here on this podcast, with my son in the hospital, and all the things. And I think like, every day is a struggle sometimes. Every life is always changing and his health is always tentative. And I think of this quote, when I read it then and when I'm reading it now, just kind of shores me up with Mike. Because I like, I like to know. Like, I like to know and I like to plan and I like to be sure. And, and that's just not how life is, you know. There's so many things in like, right now in my life, like, with a job change, and with like, seeing things changing in my family, and how just everything, everything feels like chaos right now. And this just brings me right back to like, what is essential and like, what is so true, is that I don't have to know, you know.

And my, my dad used to say this quote, which I hated them, and I still sort of hate now, but it's so true. He said, "Ours is not to know why, Ours is to do and to die", which I'm sure is like a famous quote somewhere that I've never really looked up. And I think that that like, in, in my youth, when my dad used to say it to me and in this talk, it's not that we can't ask a question why. I think that's part of faith, that's part of worship, that's part of growth and learning and all of the things that we do in our daily lives. But at the end of the day, like trust mean, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that He is not only our brother, but our guide and our stay, you know. That he is who He said he is and this life is what it's what He said it is supposed to be, and that we're not meant to stay here. Like all of these, like, it just kind of encompasses this whole plan of salvation of that. Like, He will get us to the end. Like we can't all, we can't see the beginning from the end. That's what makes God God is that He can see the beginning to the end. And then our, it is ours to trust.

Tammy 22:46

Yeah. So good. Thank you, Aliah. Thanks for those, are awesome thoughts. Okay, so in the next segment, we are then going to learn about the Lord and who it is that we trust in and we're gonna see it through the eyes of Psalms.

Segment 3 23:00

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Tammy 23:03

Let's turn to Psalm chapter two. So next to the side of Psalm chapter two, I want you to write the word 'messianic,' or messianic. I don't know how, it's tomato-tomahto, however you want to pronounce it. But here's my question to you: Any ideas what this word means as it relates to scripture - what you guys got?

Jalyn 23:20

I have "of or relating to the Messiah".

Tammy 23:22

You are exactly right. That is what it means. So right next to the side somewhere what Aliah said, "Of or relating to the Messiah". Now many of the Psalms are messianic, messianic, however you want to say it, and we're going to look at some. But before we do, this is a cool quote by Elder Holland about that word. Jalyn, will you read that for us.

Jalyn 23:42

"Jesus himself quoted the book of Psalms more than any other Old Testament text."

Really? He didn't quote Isaiah more? I didn't know that.

Tammy 23:50

I know. Isn't that fascinating?

Jalyn 23:52

Yeah, And now back to Elder Holland.

"Beyond the Savior's own use of these writings, the authors of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John drew heavily on the Psalms as they strove to document His life and ministry, particularly those excruciating hours of His arrest, trial and crucifixion."

Tammy 24:11

So what we're gonna do is we're going to read some Psalms that are messianic, and we are going to also cross reference them with the New Testament. So make sure you have a New Testament somewhere, and you're gonna be able to write these and read these because I think this is so incredible. So the first Psalm we want to start with is Psalm 22:1. I thought this was really cool. And in fact, we're gonna put all of these scriptures in our show notes. So you can also go and reference them, especially if you're going to be teaching this on a Sunday. This is really cool for everyone to see. We have these scriptures in the book of Psalms, but we also have the same thing going to be spoken or written about in Matthew, Luke, and John. So Psalm 22:1. Here we go. This is probably one of my favorite, most tender of all the Psalms. And Aliah, will you please read 22:1.

Aliah Hall 24:57

22:1 "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"

Tammy 25:06

Thank you. Let's cross reference that with Matthew chapter 27. And this just is amazing to me in Matthew 27:46. And when you go to verse 46, this is the Savior on the cross. And as He's hanging on the cross, these are the words he speaks. He speaks a Psalm. But what you need to know, which is so important, is at the very beginning - remember, I told you there's two types of Psalms - Tehillim, which is poetic, and a mizmor, which is a song. Psalms 22 is a mizmor, it's a song. Isn't that a beautiful thought to think that the Savior's singing on the cross? And that He'd be singing these beautiful words, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Wow. Like, it gives a whole new meaning to music.

Aliah Hall 25:57

So I am not musical at all. And that's probably why I don't enjoy the hymns and want them cut out, all church buildings and meetings. But my little boy is incredibly musical. He has a gift, since he was very tiny. He plays a piano and he plays it like a little angel. But also when he's really upset, he'll just start singing, like under his breath to himself, which I think is like, so precious and so sweet. And like when we were reading this, and like, you know that it's a Psalm and then to read the, you know, the, this is what Christ was singing on the cross. Like this kind of like singing to himself, but singing is very soothing. Like I'm not musical and my singing is not soothing. But other people's singing is very soothing and I think that's why we sing, because I think song hits us at a completely different level than just words. You know, like music is so powerful.

Tammy 27:04

Yeah, that is true, absolutely true what you just shared. I think all of us sitting here right now can even recognize there are certain songs that we just love, our go-to songs when we want to feel happy or when we want to feel sad. Whatever situation, we can conjure up a song and think, Oh, I need to hear this right now, or it makes you feel a certain way. And so yeah, to apply that same idea or thought to Psalm 22:1 is so perfect, Aliah, so thank you.

Okay, let's go to verses 7 & 8. We're going to cross reference this to Matt 27:29-31. And here's what these Psalms say. 7 "All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying,

8 "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted him."

And if you turn to Matthew 27:29-31, that's exactly what happened. They mocked him, they spit, they laughed him to scorn. And then they will say, 'If you trust in your God, why won't He protect you? Call on Him to save you.' So we're kind of seeing how everything that is in Psalms we're going to read today really did happen in the Savior's life. So here's another one. So we're still in Psalm 22. Let's read verses 16. And then 18. Jalyn, will you read those two verses for us.

Jalyn 28:18

Sure. 22: 16 "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and feet.

18 "They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture."

Tammy 28:30

So let's put Matthew 27:35 next to those verses. Verse 35 is where they took his garments and cast lots for them. Okay, let's go to another one. Let's go to Psalm 31:5, another messianic psalm. Psalm 31:5. Aliah,

Aliah Hall 28:47

31:5 "Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth."

Tammy 28:53

Now let's go to some of these. Now let's go to Luke 23:46, that's the cross reference. Verse 46, says, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus he gave up the ghost." So there it is, oh my gosh, I think it's amazing.

Aliah Hall 29:10

This is so interesting, like my mind is like being blown at this moment. Like I just, I think when you told us that these were hymns that were sung at, like at the tabernacle, and like the temple, it just like shifted the whole world for me. Because I can like, I'm thinking of like, I'm thinking of like all these Levite men standing at the door of the tabernacle, standing at the doors of the temple, and they are singing these songs about our Savior. Like they're teaching the people; like this is our Savior, this is who He is. This is what He's going to do for us. This is why all of this is worth it. And like I could just imagine like the crowd of people, and they're listening to the singing, and they're like learning about the Messiah, and they're just like, okay, like, I can do this, like, we can go one more day, one more week, one more year than this like hardship that we're going through.

And maybe I'm like seeing the hardship because that's like where I am right now. But it just is so, like it almost brings me to tears like I can, I can imagine how powerful having this like choir of men singing about our Savior, our Savior to come. Like for us, it's our Savior, that that already was. But for them it was the Savior to come. And in this teaching of this, like, it's okay, like, it's okay. Like He's coming, and He's going to take care of, and He's going to suffer these trials, and He's going to conquer death. And like, all of it is, it's not all for lost.

Jalyn 30:58

I think, too of the children that were there where those men were singing those hymns. Because if in Primary like singing time is such an important part of it, and kids can, they can recite a tune and a verse; they may not fully understand it, but it's kind of the first way we really kind of teach kids about that. And they would have been, you know, hearing that and just have that so ingrained in their mind from the time they were little like all of us with, you know, who were born and raised in a church who've sung those primary songs, you know, all the time. I just, I think of the same thing like song. I think that's why it is important that we do have those singing time and you know that we sing in church, and that these are recorded. Clearly it's, you know, important enough to be recorded.

Tammy 31:53

Okay, well, this is so cool, because as both of you were talking, I was thinking the same thing. And then I took it to them. I was like, and Jesus would have sung these songs or heard them sung. Like He would have been on the outside of the temple in Jerusalem for the Holy Days and the festivals. And so here He is hearing songs about Him. And when He came to these final moments, I wonder if He's remembering the songs. And like, Oh, that's right. And then He, like to hear Him grow up hearing, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's what He sings on the cross. Of all the things He could have said, was that Psalm. All these moments in His life where He is just going back to Psalms, and recounting things that He has heard. That is so powerful, and it makes me think of what do my kids think of? What am I thinking of actually? What is my go-to primary hymn? It's always "I Am a Child of God", always.

Aliah Hall 32:51

"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

Jalyn 32:54

Oh, I love that song. My Primary one, though, is that I and I would just find, my voice does this every time. Like, if I'm driving, and I'm like, you have that moment where you're like, what am I gonna do? Like, you're just so worried about stuff. And then I always start out with "Heavenly Father", (sings, from "A Child's Prayer").

Tammy 34:03

Oh, yes!

Jalyn 33:17

That's just, it just kind of, that's how it comes into my mind. But, you know, with little kids, you've heard it so many times, that after a while you just assimilate it into your own being. Like you don't know you're even quoting something. You've heard those words over and over till it's your own vernacular, it's your own, you know, way of speaking. And so yeah, that, I, of course, that I think that would have influenced Him as a young child to be there listening to those men sing. And then those words are just become part of Him. It's also, you know, God doing amazing foreshadowing, right? We always have these types of Christ throughout scripture and, and, you know, David's experience and what he talks about is no different.

Tammy 34:07

Beautifully said both of you. Alright, let's do some more then. Let's go to Psalm 34:20. These are amazing, here we go. Psalm 34:20. Jalyn, hit it.

Jalyn 34:19

34:20 "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken."

Tammy 34:24

John 19:32-36, the Savior is on the cross, and yes, the two thieves on each side of him. And here's what happens.

32 "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

33: "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

34 "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

35 "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he sayeth true, that ye might believe.

36 "For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken."

There it is, verse 36, and the scripture that was fulfilled is Psalms 34:20. Oh, it's so cool. Okay,

Jalyn 35:05

That is cool.

Tammy 35:05

Let's go to another one: Psalm 69:21. And Aliah, will you read that when we get there. Psalm 69:21. This is what happened to the Savior when He was on the cross before He died.

Jalyn 35:19

PSM 69:21 "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

Tammy 35:27

Okay, and here's the reference, in John chapter 19, verse 29. "Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put upon it now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.: Okay, and the last one, let's go to Psalm 22:16, and you read 16 Jalyn.

Jalyn 35:50

22:16 "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet."

Tammy 35:57

So let's cross reference next to verse 16: 3 Nephi 11:14. Aliah, will you please read verse 14.

Aliah Hall 36:03

yes, I

Let me give background. This is where the Savior comes to the American continent and shows Himself to the Nephites. Go ahead.

3 Ne 11:14 "Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world."

Tammy 36:26

Thank you. Okay, so that ends some of the messianic, 'messianic' Psalms, and how it correlates to the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, which is so incredible. And so, so after going through all of these cool Psalms, and reading how it was all prophesied of the Savior, and I love everything you guys have shared up to this point, it is beautiful to think that He was hearing these songs as a young child, and that He was using them in His own story. And so I just wanted to follow up with any other thoughts you have about this, and the connection to the scriptures

Aliah Hall 36:58

Well I was just thinking like, not only as a child, but like, you know, He was going into Jerusalem as a man to go to the temple to worship, right before all of these things took place.

Oh, yeah.

you know, and

Jalyn 37:14

And then He really knew those songs were about Him. right? I mean, I'm sure he knew, like, Hey. Wouldn't that be a funny moment. Oh, new question I'm gonna ask, like, What point did You realize all those songs You sang in primary?

Tammy 37:30

That is good. That is so good. Can you imagine having an aha moment, Wait a second.

Jalyn 37:39

Wait, WHAT?

Tammy 37:42

That's amazing. Yeah. So good.

Aliah Hall 37:45

And I think, I mean, I just imagine like, the Savior, like, you know, again, going to the temple and having, you know, these songs sung and like, what comfort it must have given Him, but also maybe not fear, but, you know, like, this, I got an aha moment, but not like a lovely ah, you know. But to also be like, these people have been singing of my coming and have this deed that I'm going to, for generations, for 1000s of years. That like this path that I'm, I don't know, like, I'm always like, in my prayers, and like my silent prayers, I'm always like, Heavenly Father, please let me know that I'm on the right path. Like that I'm doing the thing that I'm supposed to be doing, like, please help me to know to turn left or to turn right or what I'm supposed to be doing. Or am I in the right place?

And so like, what a comfort it would have been I, and I guess I use the word comfort loosely. For Christ to know, like, I'm in the right place, and I'm doing the right thing. Like this, this is well what I'm supposed to be doing and where I'm supposed to be. And this isn't just, this isn't just in my head. This isn't a whim. Like this has been the plan all along.

Jalyn 38:48

Especially, I mean, yeah, when I, when I think about that's the reason I'm kind of like, uh, Psalms. All right, how do we get through this? Because it's not a story. It literally is like sitting down reading the hymn book, which are great, the things I, the thing I love about Psalms is, to me, it's, it's a book where you're like, Alright, I need some inspiration today. I gotta like, God, give me something. And you always know like, just kind of flip through Psalms for a little bit and you're gonna find exactly what you need. Because the whole thing to me is you have David who was, you know, King and then has fallen from that and made mistakes like we all do. And so all of Psalms is really about him repenting, but it's so much of like, He is suffering, He is suffering. Like, save me from my enemies, like, there's so much of like, I know, You'll take care of my enemies, and You'll, you know, fight these battles for me. A

And it is; the whole overarching theme is trusting God, like, it's hard, and here's all the things, but I'm going to put my trust in God and Christ regardless. And, you know, I think, to have gone through, you know, Gethsemane, and then, you know, the road to Golgotha, and then being on the Cross. Like, you would have to know to your very soul, to your very bones, you know, that this is the Lord's plan, this is God's plan for me. And know that, you know, you can put your trust in God. Like He would have just, I mean, it just seems like you said Aliah, like such a perfect, He's grown up singing these songs, hearing these songs, which are, heres' you should, even though your enemies, you know, are coming after you, you can trust in God.

And you know, that's Christ's whole life from the time He started missionary work was enemies coming after Him, you know, and all the suffering He had to go through. And so, you know, exactly what Aliah said of like, how great that He had this, um, you know, training and knowledge and that could help Him through

Tammy 41:35

Both of your statements were so profound. I really appreciate that you thought through that and shared, because I loved what both of you said. And it made me go to that, back to that talk by Elder Scott "Trust in the Lord" and I'm going to end this segment with this quote from his talk. He says, (I'm talking about trusting the Lord):

"I know the principles that we have discussed are true." (Now listen to this.) "They have been tested in the crucible of personal experience. To recognize the hand of the Lord in your life and to accept His will without complaint is a beginning. That decision does not immediately eliminate the struggles that will come for your growth. But I witness that it is the best way there is for you to find strength and understanding. It will free you from the dead ends of your own reasoning. It will allow your life to become a productive, meaningful experience, when otherwise you may not know how to go on."

And I think that that's the Savior, like, not complaining, you know, and probably a moment where He's like, I don't know what to do. And Gethsemane, not wanting to go on, and then was willing to do that for us because He trusted in God. And that is huge. When we're talking about the person we're supposed to put our trust in, that He had to trust in someone else. And so in the next segment, we're going to talk about who He had to trust.

Segment 4 42:46

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Tammy 42:46

Okay, so I want to know, for both of you in the new Young Women's theme, what changed to: "I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents". Was that significant to you?

Jalyn 42:54

Yes, of course, that's significant.

Tammy 42:57

Why?

Jalyn 42:57

Because as a woman, as a girl, I want to have a relationship with a Heavenly Mother, too. And it just makes sense that like, we have parents on Earth that we trust, but ultimately, we can trust our Heavenly Parents. It feels more like it's mirroring how it is here like, and so that's what we know. That's what we learned when we grow up. And so that's how we know how to relate to a Heavenly Father or Heavenly Mother.

Tammy 43:27

Awesome. What about you, Aliah?

Aliah Hall 43:29

I remember, I believe I was serving in the Young Women's when the change happened. And I was in a room with a bunch of other leaders and some young women, was probably we were listening to conference together, whatever it was, but I think it was like Women's Conference where they announced it. And I remember thinking, it really just touched me because I think there's - not that I don't relate to my Heavenly Father, I absolutely do. And he's been like such a powerful influence in my life. But I think there's like, there's always been parts of me that I'm like, that must be My Heavenly Mother. I get that from my Mother's side, you know.

And I think like being able to acknowledge that in, in a church setting, that we have Heavenly Parents. That just as we have a Heavenly Father, we also have a Heavenly Mother in which we have inherited part of our divine nature from, is powerful. And not only for the young women, young boys and budding men also need to have a relationship with their Heavenly Mother. Like, what a lovely and nurturing and caring relationship and to be able to acknowledge that and to be able to lean on it and to be able to ponder, ponder it and, and to feel it. That like not only do I have a Father in Heaven, but I have a Mother who I also have inherited divinity from, is powerful.

Tammy 44:57

It is powerful. And in fact, we just have to talk about the verses in Psalms that teach that but you don't know it unless you know Hebrew. So how excited am I to show you! Let's turn to Psalms chapter 8. This blew my mind. It's one of the best things my Hebrew teacher taught me. And she loves it so much that she's taught it to me several times. She's like, Have I taught you Psalms 8? I'm like, Yes. We, cuz she loves it and now I love it. So let's go to Psalms chapter 8. We're gonna read verses 4, 5, & 6. And this is again, messianic. And it's so cool. So here we go,

8:4 "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.

6 "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:"

Okay, go to verse 5, highlight and circle the word 'angels', where it says, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." That's not what it says in Hebrew. The word 'angels' in Hebrew is actually 'Elohim'. And we have all learned that the word Elohim means Gods: Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father. So now that verse says, 'For thou hast made him, Jesus Christ, a little lower than the Gods, and has crowned him with glory and honor.' Now THAT makes so much more sense, doesn't it? Isn't that cool?

Jalyn 46:19

That's really cool.

Tammy 46:20

So when you know Hebrew, and so of course she teaches that. She's like, this is a mistranslation; you need to know, Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father are represented in the same verse as our Savior, Jesus Christ. So there we have them. Love it. And let's go to another one. Let's go to Psalms chapter 7. We're going to look at verses 10 and 11. Here's another example of Elohim. Okay, this is so good. Oh my gosh. Now this one, I'm going to need your best, you have to imagine. I'm a visual person, so I'm visualizing these two verses. So Psalms 7:10,11. Aliah, will you read that for us.

Jalyn 46:57

7:10 "My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.

11 "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day."

Tammy 47:05

That sounds terrible, doesn't it? All right let's fix that verse and read it a little bit differently. All right. Where it says, "my defense is of God", that word 'God' right there is 'Elohim'. So again, Heavenly Parents. But the translation of "my defense is of God" actually translates to, "my shield is upon God", or "God carries my shield before me." We're gonna put a cross reference next to it. Put 1 Samuel 17:7. In 1 Samuel 17:7, we have the story at the very beginning that tells us about Goliath, how big he was, all these incredible things, how much he probably weighed and how much his armor weighed. But then verse 7 says, "And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam: and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him." So there was someone who carried a shield that went before Goliath, in anticipation of the fight or the war. Now, I want you to visualize this for me, because we go back to verse 10. My defense is of God, or my Heavenly Parents, or Elohim, carries the shield before me. Now, come on,

Aliah Hall 48:18

Think about this.

Tammy 48:20

Talk to me.

Aliah Hall 48:20

So this just came to me. So my Heavenly Parents just carried the shield before me. The shield that they're carrying, is Jesus Christ.

Tammy 48:31

YES!

Aliah Hall 48:33

We have our Heavenly Parents standing before us, holding up Christ to defend us, to keep us safe, sending Him down and to the world before us. So we have our Heavenly Parents, our Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father holding this shield, which is Christ. How lovely is that?!

Tammy 48:53

I mean, it's so perfect, because now I'm going to add another addition to this. Okay, let's go to this verse where it says, "and the wicked". Now, He's angry with the wicked. We're gonna define the word wicked. But before we do imagine right now, there's your sweet son, right? And you're going before him. And you look back and your son has tripped and fallen. Like we're all going to trip up and fall every one of us that's part of the plan. What would you as a parent do if you saw your child trip and fall? Going, if you're right before him is?

Aliah Hall 49:24

I would scoop him up.

Tammy 49:27

Right? You absolutely would,

Jalyn 49:30

I would hold the shield.

Tammy 49:35

That's exactly what they're doing for us. Or they're stopping where they are and they're making sure. Can they make it, because I'm the type of parent where I would wait to see are they okay? Can they get back up? No, they can't. Okay, I'm gonna go help them. I would probably wait, are they going to be able to get back on their feet now? All right, I'm gonna help, So how my parents were.

Aliah Hall 49:52

I'm the helicopter mom. I'm like blaaahhh.

Tammy 49:59

Oh my gosh.

Jalyn 49:59

That's so funny; I can tell you guys are moms because I was thinking like, I don't know. Was the kid being a jerk?

Tammy 50:09

You're an aunt. You're carrying that shield, you're like, imagine yourself in this position and one of your nieces fall, you know, and they trip up and something happens to them. They had it comin.

Aliah Hall 50:20

Her dog. She's there. You don't even have to have a little scare and she's there.

Jalyn 50:33

Love ya long time. See ya in the next life.

Tammy 50:35

Yeah, let's go to the part where you said but maybe they had it comin because they were jerks. Okay, so this is so good. We're gonna go to the word 'wicked', because that's important because it DOES NOT mean those who sin. Wicked does not equate 'sinners'. Wicked has a completely different definition. I'm going to give you a cross reference. It's Doctrine and Covenants section 29:17. Here's what it means to be wicked. Jalyn can you read this verse for us?

Jalyn 51:01

D & C 29:17 "And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent; for the cup of my indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not."

Tammy 51:15

So who are the wicked?

Jalyn 51:18

The people who will not repent.

Tammy 51:20

That's it, right there. And so, as long as we are walking behind that shield, as long as we are forward movement, doesn't matter how slow or how fast. God does not care about our speed, He just cares about our direction. And so I don't know anybody that qualifies as wicked. Everyone I know is trying or they're doing their best. And so it's just so awesome to think that our Heavenly Parents are carrying that shield before us, that shield is Jesus Christ. And knowing that - and I love how you painted that for us Aliah - what war? Are you willing to fight, knowing this truth? Like, is there any way you will lose?

Jalyn 51:23

No, nada.

Tammy 51:46

Nope, not a single one; you will win every war with Elohim and Jesus Christ.

Jalyn 52:03

The shield

Tammy 52:04

That's so good

Jalyn 52:05

Well, they're holding the shield. But I like how you know, when you, when we talk about that further. You know, repentance really is the action that needs to be done on our part. Not, to not be the wicked that they're not holding the shield for. So you know, you have to keep your eye on the prize too. You can't just, you know,

Aliah Hall 52:27

I think it's a little bit different. And maybe I'm wrong. But it's not that they're not holding the shield for even the wicked, but it won't save the wicked. The wicked stand behind the shield. When we don't repent, and it's that it's not that they think they're like, Oh, well, yep, you've been naughty, so I'm not holding the shield for you. They hold the shield for everyone. And it's those who decide to stand behind the shield, and those who wander off.

Tammy 52:56

Mm hmm. They don't want the protection; they don't need it.

Jalyn 52:58

Parenting with love and logic. There's the consequences as a result of your actions.

Aliah Hall 53:03

The shield won't protect you. It’s like, It's not that, like Christ suffered and died for all of us. You know, family, parents love all of us. There is not one of us that they do not love. There is not one of us that Christ did not die for. But we have to stand behind the shield, we have to receive that gift from them. And that's where our choice comes. It's not that they take it away from us. It's that we wander off and we don't, we're like we don't need the shield. We don't need the protection. I got this. I'm on my own.

Tammy 53:37

I'm gonna hallelujah that; that is the great psalm right there. I'm writing. SELAH!

Jalyn 53:43

SELAH!

Tammy 53:45

Oh my gosh. Okay, so awesome, ladies. So what we're going to do then is we've just talked about all these really awesome Psalms. And in the next two segments, we're going to talk about psalms that you guys sent to me that stood out to you. And this is going to be a fun discussion. We'll start with that in the next segment.

Segment 5 54:04

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Tammy 54:03

Okay, I asked you guys to read Psalms 1-46, and share with me any that stood out to you. So Jalyn, we're going to do yours first. And you shared with me Psalms chapter 30. And then you wrote after "it's a classic." So let's go to Psalm 30. And I want you to tell me, why did you say it's a classic?

Jalyn 54:19

I mean, again, it's just all these chapters, especially when you read 46 of them right in a row. I mean, they really are like, repetitive. It's 'David gone, woe is me,' then by the end, 'I'm saved, this is the best! Like Christ is good.' Hallah, you know? Everyone kind of takes you through that emotional thing. But this quote is everywhere. It's the whole, you know, he's praising God. But and he says, I guess this is for the women who, or men, I hope men have these moments too. This verse is the one that you think about when you're having that, 'dang life sucks. I am a loser.' Cry before bed. You know when you have that "just cry"

I call it a "bathroom cry", when you're like crying so hysterically that you have to lay on the bathroom tile to like keep yourself cool as you start to like overheat from

Tammy 55:24

Sounds like many days on my mission. Sure, sure I get it. The only time you can be alone, the bathroom.

Jalyn 55:30

Yeah. And this is the verse that we see cross-stitched and whatnot. But it says in verse For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life:" And then the part that I really liked: his "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." And I just, there were so many times when, you know, you feel like a loser. You know, when you're, when you felt life was gonna be over, you know, in your 20s or 30s if you didn't get married. It's a lot of weird pressure. Right? So like, you know, you'd have these moments or every woman has had that: infertility or kid with special needs, it has hospital care. Like it, to me that's always so very consoling. Because it always does every time you're like, it endureth for a night. But then, you know, joy comes in the morning. That like, Okay, now I can face the day, you know,

Tammy 56:26

It does get better.

Jalyn 56:27

Yeah, that's why I love that one.

Tammy 56:30

That's a great verse. I have that totally highlighted and colored. It's so good. Beautiful. I'm going to take us through some of these verses and have us mark some words, I had so much fun with this Psalm. And I want to show you what some of these things mean leading up to that verse, Jalyn. I'm so grateful that you pointed that out. So let's look at some of these things. In verse 1, "I will extol thee'". The word 'extol' means to praise' or 'exalt'. So I will praise "thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." How much do we love that! Underline "hast lifted me up" because we're gonna do a little something with it.

Verse 2, "O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me." Highlight the word 'healed'. I want to tell you what that word means in Hebrew. In Hebrew, it means repaired, completely healed, or whole, to restore back to favor, but I think this is beautiful. It's from a Hebrew root word, or RAPHA, which means to sink or relax. Now that's my kind of healing. Yeah, to just get into my bed when I was so tired. And I have this beautiful extra comforter just on my side of the bed because my husband likes a hard mattress. I like a soft, and it's like this pillow soft. I just sink at night, and I feel so relaxed. Not all the time. Like I'm looking forward to an eternal sinking and relaxing like, now that's my kind of healing, right? "For thou hast healed me." I am relaxed.

And then he says, "O, Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave:" Circle the word 'grave'. In Hebrew, it does not say grave. It's 'shameful,' which means hell. Now that's different: "thou hast brought up my soul from hell. Many people know what that's like. And have felt that. "Thou has kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit." So I want you to draw a line from verse 1 where it says "hast lifted me up" and connect it with "the pit". Because the pit is a physical and spiritual death, like anything that you just feel like you can't get out of, He's going to lift you up. That is His job. Because He is extolled, He is praised, He is exalted. That's His job is to lift us out of any pit that we find ourselves in, including hell.

And then 4: "Sing unto the Lord." Isn't that great? Here we go, let's sing. Here's our opening hymn. "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness. 5: "For his anger" Now, do you notice 'endureth but' is in italics. So anytime you see italics - we've talked about this before - it means it was added, it's not in the original Hebrew at all. They just added it so it would make more sense. I like the verse without the italics, because listen how it sounds: "For his anger a moment;" Like, I don't need to know what endures it at all. I just like 'his anger a moment'. It's just a little bit of time. But the word 'anger' is an interesting word in Hebrew, because it actually means, it comes from the word 'of a face' or 'your nostrils', and 'a heavy breath'. And it just, I have felt that. I grew up with that.

Like when my parents, when my mom was mad, it was a heavy breath out of her nose. You know that everybody listening knows an angry mom when she doesn't want to yell, but it comes out of her nostrils. That is, that's the anger we're talking about. Like, He's so mad, He's without words, right? He's just gonna hold His tongue. “His anger a moment; in his favor is life:" And there it is: "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

And verse 6: "And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved." And I just wrote at the end of that "I'm a lifer." Like, I'm all in. I'm not going anywhere. Like even 'in my prosperity, I shall not be moved because of all of the greatness.' And that's what's being sung here by David. And then there's just some really awesome other words, but I just love those first 6. And so, like you said, Jalyn, it's a classic and I wrote that next verse 30. So in the next segment, we are going to talk about Aliah's Psalm, and I'm looking forward to this discussion.

Segment 6 1:00:39

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Tammy 1:00:40

All right, Aliah, take it away. I want you to talk to me about your psalm.

Aliah Hall 1:00:45

I don't think we can like leave this batch of Psalms without talking about 23. It is the only scripture other than "My father dwelt in a tent" that I've ever memorized. Yeah. And it's just, I mean, I hear what Jalyn is saying and like that scripture for me, that's like, you know, "bathroom tile crying" is Psalm 23. Like it is, when I am just in the valley of the shadow of death. Like I like I think of those words like, there have been times in my life where I'm like, I am in that valley. K, let's just start and it says,

(23) My "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 his name's sake. 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 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."

Tammy 1:02:11

Now I know your life, some of it. And as you were reading that I was like, this is Aliah's Psalm, the psalm of Aliah. I'm even gonna put that right there. Talk to me about that, in light of all that you've gone through.

Aliah Hall 1:02:25

Just like, I think as a therapist, like I, part of the reason I became a therapist is when I was 20 years old, my father passed away quite suddenly. And I remember in that time, like, so, like my dad was one of 13 kids. And so my grandmother was there, my grandfather had already passed away. My dad was in the hospital, his siblings were there. And like, my grandma only had like, one cookie cutter, you know. She just made like, all the boys look exactly just like my dad. There were like 11 men that looked just like my dad in in this room. I think there was just like nine or seven of them at the time, but they were all with like different versions of my dad. And I remember thinking, like, somebody should be here to help us through this. Like, you shouldn't have to go through such a hard thing alone, you know.

And I remember knowing that that's what I wanted to do with my life is to make sure that people didn't have to suffer a little. I couldn't take away the suffering, it's part of life. Suffering is part of living. If you don't get it one way, you're gonna get it another way. Whether it's you never marry or you never have children or the children you have, you want different ones, like whatever, whatever it is. But you shouldn't have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death on your own. And, and this Psalm says you don't have to. Like, the Lord is our shepherd. And because of that we shall, we won't want. We will lay down in green pastures and He will lead us besides still waters, will restore our soul, you know.

Jalyn 1:04:17

I love that restoring, restoring your soul.

Aliah Hall 1:04:21

Because there's been many times where my soul has needed restoring.

Jalyn 1:04:24

Right? Yeah, where you are hurt at a soul level. And, and that's, that's what you have to do. Like that, that just sounds like that rest that you're talking about.

Aliah Hall 1:04:34

And even He goes on from that, like He anoints my head. Not only is my cup full, but it runneth over. And I think about that, and I talk, actually talk to women about this a lot because I think women in general, the LDS women in particular, like we are constantly giving and giving and giving and oftentimes we are like giving from the dregs, like we're like at the bottom. Yeah, I'm like, what would it be like if we gave from an overflowing cup, take care of ourselves, you know, and loved ourselves and tended to ourselves so much so that our cup was overflowing and that the people in our lives got from the run-over and not from the dregs, not from the bottom, you know. My cup runneth over, like, the Lord wants our cup to run over. And then everybody gets, when my cup runneth over, everybody gets.

Jalyn 1:05:35

It, it's, you know, as you bring that up too, you talked about, I mean, this stuff of what your cup is running over if we knew we were good enough. If we like, it all stems from our thoughts, right? Your cup running over, is just a matter of believing what the scriptures say: I'm just really trusting in the Lord and having confidence in that. But your cup can run over with just the switch of your thoughts, instead of, you know, looking at all the hard stuff. Like even job, like going through all the hard things, is still looking at all the positive, you know, instead of dwelling on the negative part, you know.

Aliah Hall 1:06:19

And I think that's where it talks like, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Like, again, that that idea of being a lifer, you know. But that like, even when you're walking through that valley, that to be able to see that 'goodness and mercy has followed me'. Even when my dad died, when my mom died, when my son was born, you know, super premature with all of the medical needs that he had. That even in all of those times, that there was goodness, and there was mercy all around. There were people who loved and tended my family. There were like, the spirit rested upon me daily as I tended to him in the hospital. Like, surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.

Tammy 1:07:13

Yeah, and that's

Gosh, that's beautiful.

Jalyn 1:07:16

That's the grace of God, right? By the grace of God, you know, you were even able to, to do all of that. That's, I mean, yeah, yeah. I love that.

Tammy 1:07:27

I do too. Aliah, I'm so grateful that you pointed that out. Both of your Psalms 30 and 23, wow. Incredible lessons that we can apply to our lives. So, thank you, friends. It was beautiful. That's the end of our episode; that's Psalms, Psalms 1-46. Again, there's so much, so you can't just read it one time and be done. It's a great thing to just keep reading, keep studying. There's so much good in there. So thank you, ladies. All right. So take some time, gather your thoughts and just share what your takeaway was.

Aliah Hall 1:08:01

So my takeaway was what you said Tam, about, like these being Psalms sung at the temple and at the tabernacle. I don't know why, but that just like, changed everything for me. Like, the temple holds such a special place in my heart. And then to think of these songs being sung at the temple, in front of the temple, just makes me look at the Psalm, all of the Psalms completely different.

Yeah, that was fun to watch that, and to have you teach us through that. That was awesome. So very good. What about you, Jalyn?

Jalyn 1:08:39

Mine was Aliah's clarification of our Heavenly Parents holding up the shield with us following behind. And the fact that they're always holding the shield, whether or not you're choosing to get in the path and stay behind it, or if you're wandering off. If you, which is really by repentance, not recognizing, you know, and I think that we all need to give ourselves grace for a lot of those things. And then that image of like, yep. Every time you look at any parent, it's true. They are holding up the shield. They are just wanting the kids to 'Please, I'm trying to get you to heaven, and you're all kicking and screaming behind me.' But you know,

Tammy 1:09:26

They're a bunch of jerks, it turns out.

Jalyn 1:09:28

Yeah, exactly. But yeah, just that they're always holding that shield, and then it's, and that protection is available at any point.

Aliah Hall 1:09:38

Always.

Tammy 1:09:38

Yeah. Thank you, Jalyn, and Jalyn, that was mine from Aliah when she, the Heavenly Parents are, that the shield is Christ and that it's for everyone. It's already been done. They're already there. And so we just have to choose. And you don't have to be close; it's not like a distance, it's not a proximity thing that makes you better. Doesn't matter where you are if you just, you're just choosing to be protected. And I'm, I hate pain, like I'm going to choose to be protected. I'm big baby that way. Have there been times that I've wandered away? You bet there's times when I've tempted fate a little like, la-la. But that's because I chose not to repent; not because I sinned - we have to remember wickedness is not the sin - it's not. It's choosing not to repent, and that's what Satan wants to make us do. So I like that so much, Aliah.

And then Jalyn, when you said, "trusting in the Lord requires action", I like how you pointed out each trusting in the LORD verse had an action associated with it. I'm gonna go back and study that, because that was so cool. So thank you. I love you guys.

Aliah, Jalyn 1:10:32

We love you, too, Tam.

Tammy 1:10:33

Well we would love to hear what your big takeaway was from today's episode on Psalms. And if you haven't already joined our discussion group on Facebook or Instagram, just go follow. It's so fun. And you can ask questions throughout the week, you can post on other people's questions. It's just awesome. And at the end of the week, we do a post asking for what your big takeaway was. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and let us know what you've learned. And then you can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode on LDS living.com/sundayOnMonday. And it's not a bad idea to go there anyway because that's where we're going to have the links to all the references as well as a complete transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out.

The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Desert Bookshelf Plus original and it's brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me Tammy Uzelac Hall and today our fun, so fabulous study group participants were Aliah Hall and Jalyn Peterson, or "Jaliah". And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living.com/sundayonMonday. Our podcast is produced by Katie Lambert me; it is edited by Hailey Higham and recorded and mixed by Mix at Six Studios. And our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.

Thanks for being here, we'll see you next week. And please remember, you are God's favorite!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai