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34: “I Will Declare What He Hath Done for My Soul” (Psalms 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; 85–86)

Sun Aug 14 11:40:23 EDT 2022
Episode 34

Growing up, did you ever learn about the three Rs of education? They stand for three basic skills taught in school: reading, writing, and arithmetic—which is a little confusing as only one of those words actually starts with the letter “r.” But just as those three subjects are fundamental to education systems, there are six Rs that are fundamental to this week’s lesson. As we study Psalms chapters 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; and 85–86, we’ll learn what those six Rs are and what they have to do with our relationship with Christ.



“It is meaningful to observe that Jesus’s compassionate acts were not occasional or mandated manifestations based on a list of tasks to be completed but everyday expressions of the reality of His pure love for God and His children and His abiding desire to help them” (Elder Ulisses Soares, “The Savior’s Abiding Compassion,” October 2021 general conference).

Segment 1:

Scriptures:

Psalm 71:17 (What God teaches us)

CR: Psalm 78:5–7 (What God wants us to teach children)

Psalm 71:1 (Put our trust in God)

Segment 2:

Picture: Tear Jar

som 34 1.jpg

Scriptures:

Psalm 56:8–12 (Tear jar)

CR: Psalm 6:6–7 (David cries for mercy)

CR: Psalm 61:2–3 (The Savior is the rock)

CR: Psalm 80:5; 86:3 (David cries to the Lord)

CR: Jeremiah 9:17 (Professional mourners)

CR: Luke 7:37–38 (The woman who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears)

CR: Psalm 126:5 (Tears of job)

Quotes:

“In the book of Psalms, King David used the imagery of a tear jar as he prophesied about the coming Messiah. One of the most touching references to the Saviors supernal atonement and his suffering for the sins of the world was recorded in these words ‘put thou my tears into thy bottle’ Psalms 56:8. The moving and tender request that Heavenly Father not forget the tears of the Savior is consistent with Jesus acting as the great advocate for mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus entered Gethsemane, he felt ‘sorrowful’ (deep grief in Greek), ‘very heavy’ (depressed in Greek) and ‘exceedingly sorrowful even unto death’ (Matt. 26:37,38). He knew the gravity of what was being asked. He felt and understood the sorrow, sadness, depression, grief, pain and the tears of water and blood that would be shed for us. It’s no wonder that three times he asked: ‘Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me’( Luke 22:42). Jesus’ reference to removing ‘this cup’ in Greek, is a vessel or figuratively ‘my lot’ or ‘mission.’ Isaiah calls it ‘a cup of trembling’ Isaiah 51:17; 22 and the Savior himself called it ‘a bitter cup’ D&C 19:18” (John Lund, “Put Thy Tears Into My Bottle,” www.drlund.com).

“Righteous sorrow and suffering carve cavities in the soul, that will become later, reservoirs of joy" (Neal A Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, Deseret Book, 1987, 11).

Segment 3:

Scriptures:

Psalm 69:1–3 (David is in despair)

Psalm 69:14–16 (David asks for deliverance)

Psalm 69:33–36 (The Lord hears everyone)

Psalm 57:7–8 (My heart is fixed)

Psalm 56:9 (God is for us)

Psalm 62:2 (The Savior is our rock)

Psalm 63:8 (He upholds us)

Psalm 78:35 (The Savior is our redeemer)

Psalm 51:7–12 (God renews and restores us)

Definition:

Zion = Relief

Quote:

“If you’ve ever felt discouraged, afraid, remorseful, desperate, frustrated, or abandoned by God, reading the Psalms can help you know that you aren’t the only one. But you’ll also find psalms that can encourage you when you’re having such feelings, because the psalmists also praised the Lord for His goodness, marveled at His power, and rejoiced in His mercy. They understood that having faith in the Lord doesn’t mean that you’ll never struggle with anxiety, sin, or fear. It means that you know Who to turn to when you do” (“I Will Declare What He Hath Done for My Soul,” Come, Follow Me­—For Individuals and Families: Old Testament 2022, August 15–21, ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Segment 4:

Picture: Refuge:

som34 2.png

Scriptures:

Psalm 62:5–8 (God is a refuge for us)

Refuge Scripture Chain:

Psalm 57:1; Psalm 59:16; Psalm 62:7–8; Psalm 91:2; Psalm 94:22

Definitions:

Refuge = “Shelter or protection from danger or distress.” Or “That which shelters or protects from danger, distress or calamity; a strong hold which protects by its strength, or a sanctuary which secures safety by its sacredness; any place inaccessible to an enemy” (“Refuge,” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary).

Picture: Area of Refuge:

som34 3.png

Segment 5:

Scriptures:

Psalm 49:1–2 (Everyone give ear)

Psalm 49:6–7, 15 (Only God can redeem us)

Psalm 69:18; Psalm 130:7–8 (There is plenty of redemption for everyone)

Quote:

In colonial times, labor was in great demand in America. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, potential immigrant laborers were recruited in Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries, but many who were willing to go could not afford the cost of travel. It was not uncommon for these to travel under an indenture or contract, promising to work after their arrival for a certain period of time without wages as payment for their passage. Others came with the promise that family members already in America would pay their fare upon arrival, but if that didn’t happen, the newcomers were obliged to pay their own costs through indentured service. The term used to describe these indentured immigrants was “redemptioners.” They had to redeem the cost of their passage—in a sense, purchase their freedom—by their labor. (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “Redemption,” April 2013 general conference)

Segment 6:

Scriptures:

Exodus 34:6–7 (God is merciful)

Other Bible versions of these verses and the word mercy: https://biblehub.com/exodus/34-6.htm

Psalms about mercy:

Psalm 51:1

Psalm 77:9

Psalm 78:38

Hebrew:

Rachum = Mercy or compassion, comes from the root word rechem which means womb.

Mercy spelling:

Reysh = Head

Cheth = Inner room or chamber, separate, protected

Mem = Water, mighty, massive

Quotes:

“The word chosen in 1 Nephi 1:20 is central to understanding the concept of the Lord’s tender mercies. The dictionary indicates that chosen suggests one who is selected, taken by preference, or picked out. It also can be used to refer to the elect or chosen of God (Oxford English Dictionary Online, second ed. [1989], “Chosen”).

“Some individuals who hear or read this message erroneously may discount or dismiss in their personal lives the availability of the tender mercies of the Lord, believing that “I certainly am not one who has been or ever will be chosen.” We may falsely think that such blessings and gifts are reserved for other people who appear to be more righteous or who serve in visible Church callings. I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are available to all of us and that the Redeemer of Israel is eager to bestow such gifts upon us.

“To be or to become chosen is not an exclusive status conferred upon us” (Elder David A. Bednar, “The Tender Mercies of the Lord,” April 2005 general conference).

““The scriptures have countless examples of how the Savior, moved by His deep and abiding compassion, interacted with people of His day and helped those who were suffering and those who had “fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” He extended His merciful hand to those who needed relief from their burdens, both physically and spiritually.

Tammy 0:00

Do you guys remember as a kid being taught the three R's? Now, for the younger generation who's not familiar with the Rs, these were three principles that education was founded on. They're the three basic skills that were taught in schools, which is going to sound so silly right now: Reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yeah, you're right. They don't even start with R; I don't even know why we call them the three R's - we just did. And it was a phrase that was coined at the beginning of the 19th century. But I was reminded of these R's while I was reading Psalms, chapter 42-89, which is what we're studying today, because it has its own version of the R's and we're going to call them The Five Rs of Jesus Christ, which will help us better understand the Savior and our relationship to Him.

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. If you're new to our study group, we 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 enhancer Come, Follow Me study just like my friend Melanie Martinez Proctor. And how cool is this? She actually shared with me on Instagram, that while she was in a team meeting for her work - her job, she shared a story about Moses that she heard on the podcast. So nice job, Melanie. Way to share the gospel at work. Okay, now here's my favorite thing about this podcast is each week, we're joined by two of my friends. And so it's a little bit different. And today, I'm so excited for my guests, because I love these two people so much. They were on back during the Book of Mormon year, and I've asked them to come back because they're so great. And their names are for Rochelle and Brent Baugh. Hi, guys.

Rochelle 1:35

Hi.

Brent 1:36

Hello

Rochelle 1:37

Good to be here again

Tammy 1:39

Here we are, again. We said that because we just spent a couple of days together for Youth Conference. We were on the same committee and we got to help plan it for six months.

Rochelle 1:47

We were, except Tammy was the great educator for everybody, not just on our committee.

Tammy 1:52

Well, tell like everyone listening what we did for Youth Conference this year, instead of Trek.

Rochelle 1:57

It was called "gathering of Israel, hope of Israel, rise in might", based on President Nelson's call for all of us to gather Israel. And it was amazing how we, we were all able to study more about the tribes of Israel and the meaning, what it means to gather Israel, and oh, wow, it was a great experience.

Brent 2:18

It was like Trek where we had families, 12 tribes of Israel, and the groups were broken into tribes and families like you would in trek. And then they had great activities, incredible speakers. It was phenomenal.

Tammy 2:31

Yeah, it was so good. And the kids got to learn the tribe names. I mean, when I was their age, there's no way I would have known anything about Reuben? What? I mean, these kids know the names of the 12 tribes and they know Hebrew. I mean they learned Hebrew words. It was such a cool Youth Conference.

Brent 2:48

So awesome.

Tammy 2:50

I mean, listen, I'm a fan of Trek, but I think I'm a bigger fan of this now because of what it really did teach our kids about preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That's what we got to put our focus on.

Rochelle 3:00

Yeah, modernizing it. Modernizing what they need to learn now. Yeah, it was awesome. Trek is a great appreciation for our ancestors and our heritage but, wow. I mean, this goes back to heritage way, way, way back then, you know.

Tammy 3:14

Old Testament heritage. Totally. It was fun. It was fun to be with you guys. We really enjoyed our time to sit in the camp chairs chewin’ the fat. I love the Baughs. I love you guys. It was fun.

Rochelle 3:25

And that's what we're doing today, too, right?

Tammy 3:27

Yeah, here we are. Well, and I'll say this about the Baughs, because I've always said it. If there's anybody I'm putting on my wagon train if we have to walk back to Missouri, it's the Baughs, because they're doers. They get the job done. And I love serving, any time I get to serve with them or Rochelle, I'm all over it. So you can find pictures and more information about our study group participants every week in our show notes which are at LDS living.com/sunday on monday.

All right, so a little disclaimer for today's lesson, it's going to be a little different than what we've done in the past. Traditionally, we've studied the scriptures sequentially or an order. But Psalms allows for us to do something unique. And quite frankly, it's one of my favorite ways to study: topically. So we are going to study specific topics, the five R's. So we're going to be turning back and forth. And we're going to be cross referencing within this scripture block. And I promise to go slow. And I also promise that you will love the topics that we get to learn about today. So grab your scriptures, something to write with and your journals and let's dig in. Here we go, you guys. Okay, my question for you first off is: I want to know, what is one of the lessons that your parents taught you as a child that has probably had the greatest impact on your life?

Rochelle 4:36

I think an appreciation of nature, but related to - I'll get emotional, that's weird - I feel my parents always instilled in me a love of a Heavenly Father. And I connected that to appreciating nature.

Tammy 4:54

It's a great lesson to learn Rochelle, I like that you shared that. Thank you. What about you Brent?

Brent 4:59

What comes in my mind, I think in my patriarchal blessing, it says that I was born of godly parents. And so I think nature and God and the importance of going to church and serving others, and all those kinds of things that you learned growing up, we learned from our parents and then tried to teach our children the same thing. Yeah, so I don't have one thing, but many things.

Tammy 5:24

Definitely. I've shared this before, but for me, it's for sure prayer, because I can remember my mom praying while I was screaming her name looking for a pair of shoes for school, and she wasn't answering me. And I kicked her door in. And I'm like, "Mom, where's my shoes?" And there she is on her knees praying. Like she did not get up to answer my question. She finished her prayer. And then got up and was probably like, "Wherever you left them, that's where they are." I'll never forget that like, Oh, sorry, mom, as I slowly tiptoed out of the room.

But I think everyone listening, taking the time to just kind of maybe think about what's one good thing your parents taught you, I'd like to think we could all come away with something. And if you can't, and if you are a parent, then this this episode or this segment is for you. Because in the book of Psalms, there's something very specific that the Lord wants parents to be teaching their children. Let's turn to Psalms chapter 71. Psalms 71:17, that's the first verse we're going to read. And then we'll go to a different one. And again, be thinking, what is it that God wants parents to be teaching our children? So Brent, would you please read verse 17?

Brent 6:24

71:17 "O God, thou has taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Tammy 6:30

Okay, we're gonna cross reference that with Psalms 78:5-7. Let's turn there, and Rochelle, will you read verses 5-7 for us.

Rochelle 6:39

78:5 "For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they make them known to their children: 6 "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 "That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments:"

So what did you find? What is it that the Lord hopes that we teach our children?

To trust Him, that they might know God, that God is, will be a sanctuary for them in life in times of trouble.

Tammy 7:15

Yeah. For sure.

Rochelle 7:17

Those verses you said were all like, highlighted as my favorites.

Tammy 7:21

Tell me why?

Rochelle 7:23

Well, wow. Okay, so chapter 71. Just the whole chapter, there were so many things in that chapter that I starred as, like one of my top three of the 50 chapters we studied this time.

Tammy 7:39

Oh, my goodness,

Rochelle 7:40

Just putting our trust in God. Is there anything more that we want our kids to know, parents, we are imperfect. And, and we're not, we're not going to be perfect in teaching our kids. We're not gonna be perfect parents, but God is perfect. And if they can trust, I mean, I hope my kids trust me as well. But with my imperfections, I want them to trust God, no matter what.

Tammy 8:01

Definitely.

Brent 8:03

Verse 7 in the 78th chapter: "That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God." And I think that is all too common. Whether it's recent history of the church, Joseph Smith era, there's things, there's great stories about the time of Joseph Smith. Wilford Woodruff has some amazing stories, stuff like that, that people don't even know about. And then ancient history, and people are forgetting those things. So it's important to remember those things, besides keeping the commandments and doing what's right. It's important that we know our past.

Tammy 8:37

Yeah, I like the verses that both of you pointed out, to set our hope in Christ and not forget His works, and to trust in Him completely. You know, and both of you are getting ready to send your son on a mission. Is there any sort of feeling of urgency right now? Like, did I teach him everything? Is there, like, are you going through your brain? Like wondering, is there any last thing I could, like? What's that like right now?

Rochelle 8:58

Like, does he really know? Is he, is he prepared? You know, all those questions. Now, we're kind of really at the crunch time, and it's more like, Well, what did, what he hasn't learned now, it's not going to come from me. Right? It's gonna come from himself, you know, his own testimony, and his other leaders and, and whatever.

There's thoughts every day that you just think, Oh, I wish, I need to tell them this. In fact, all the time I'm trying to find things to talk to him about that. And then even then, there's so many things I want to say, but I'm probably overloading him.

Tammy 9:31

Yeah. Oh, boy. I felt that urgency too and that, and I do when I meet people going on their missions. I want to sit 'em down and just like pour everything I know into their head that would have helped me on my mission. But like you said, Rochelle, you'll probably learn it on your mission. I mean, that's the great thing about the mission. That's what makes it so wonderful and so hard. And so I'm really looking forward to our discussion today because I think some of these things, the five R's we're going to talk about, kind of go back to Psalms 78:7. I think these five R's will really set our hope in God and not forget His works. That's the whole point of our discussion. So in the next segment, we are going to begin with our very first R and we're going to see how it sets our hope back into Christ.

Segment 2 10:09

.....

Tammy 10:10

Okay, I think we all can agree there are a lot of tears being shed in the book of Psalms. Let's read a few references to tears. This is going to set us up for this really great word we're going to talk about today. Turn with me to Psalms 56:8, and I just want to say I have been holding on to this verse of scripture since we started doing Come, Follow Me because I have been looking forward to Psalms 56:8 and a couple of other verses because Psalms evokes - did you guys notice as you read these, there's a lot of sadness and tears and Psalms? David is crying a lot, right? Your heart just breaks for him, right? Now there's something significant about tears in Scripture. And there's a reason why we talk about tears. And I brought something kind of cool that I want to show you so I'm going to hold it up right here. And here's this fun little chart. Can you see that? Describe what you're seeing.

Rochelle 11:03

Very slender. You know, a pretty maybe art piece only three inches tall, if that's a little opening at the top, almost kind of a funnel-like opening.

Brent 11:17

Like an ancient test tube.

Tammy 11:20

Yes, it, you could totally say ancient test tube. Nice job, Dr. Baugh. And the top, you're right. It's kind of a funnel, fluted opening. Okay, so this is called a Tear Jar. And I love the symbolism of a tear jar. And there's mention of tears and crying in Psalms. So we're gonna read these verses of scripture and then I'm gonna come back and tell you about this tear jar. Let's go to Psalms 56:8, and we're gonna do a little scripture chain because I love a scripture chain. So we'll start with verse 8. I'll read this and then we'll cross reference it, here we go.

56:8 "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?"

K, I'm gonna need a cross reference let's put Psalm 6:6-7, and when we get there, Rochelle will you please read verses 6 & 7.

Rochelle 12:07

6:6 "I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. 7 " Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies."

Tammy 12:20

I mean, seriously, how about that description of tears? "I water my couch? I could swim in my bed. Boy, there's a lot of us here that can relate to that. Ho, that's heavy. Okay, let's cross reference that with Psalms 61:2-3. And when we get there, Brent, we you please read verses 2-3.

Brent 12:39

I will

61:2 "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 "For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy."

Tammy 12:51

I love that, especially with the word 'rock,' meaning the Savior. Okay, let's cross reference that with Psalms 80:5.

Psalms 80:5 reads, "Thou feedst them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure."

Okay, highlight that. And then we're going to go to Psalm 86:3, and Rochelle, will you please read that?

Rochelle 13:16

86:3 "Be merciful unto me, O, Lord: for I cry unto thee daily."

Tammy 13:24

Thank you. Okay. Now the reason why I brought it to your chart is this is such a cool thing that we need to know. I love this. So it's very interesting, in that these tear jars date clear back to the time of ancient Pharaohs in Egypt and in the Middle East societies. It was a very common practice to collect the tears of people who mourn. In fact, at deaths, at funerals, you were actually - there's a scripture in Jeremiah that says - you are to be appointed professional mourners and people who would collect your tears. And it was believed that you would collect tears in these bottles. And then you would cover them with wax or stop them at the top with something, and you'd bury the dead with all of the tears that were shed for them. Or you would also collect the tears for times in your life where you were sad, during depression any type of grief, any type of fears that come from suffering from sins, which is what David's talking about here. You would collect these tears in this jar. And then again, they would be buried with you.

And so it's this incredible practice that, and I have a lot of notes and you can definitely, we'll put them in our show notes so you can read about it. But we have these tear jars where these tears were collected, buried with the dead, or sometimes you would then collect them on your mantel. And you would have them in there as a reminder of the times that you've cried, and the situation experienced surrounding them. In Luke 7:36-38, the sinful woman enters the home of the Pharisee and she's weeping and she's going to bathe the Savior's feet with her tears. Every time I've told that story it's like, Oh, she must have cried so much that she cried enough. But according to some scholars, they believe she brought her tear jars and she emptied them on the Savior's feet. So she literally bathed His feet with the tears she had collected from all of the sin and sadness and sorrow and grief she experienced in her lifetime.

Brent 15:13

That's amazing.

Tammy 15:14

Now, all of this to say, I want us to go back to Psalms 56:8, because one of the things that David does throughout the book of Psalms is he speaks messianically. And according to Dr. John Lund, Psalms 56:8-12, are verses about the Messiah. Now as I read these verses, I want you to think of the Savior entering Gethsemane. So here we go.

56:8 "Tho tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into the bottle: are they not in thy book? 9 "When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. 10 "In God will I praise His word: in the Lord will I praise His Word. 11 "In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. 12 "Thy vows. The Vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee."

Now, some of those verses seem obvious, but verse 8, you were kind of like, wait, what does that bottle have to do? And I remember when John, when I read this, when John had written that, I was like, John, what does a bottle have to do? "Put thou my tears into thy bottle." Now listen to this. Here's what he teaches. This bottle can also be translated as a flagon or a cup. Verse 8 is unique. And if you're wondering what tears in a bottle have to do with the Savior, here's what Dr. John Lund teaches, and we are going to put this in our show notes so you can go to his actual article because it's phenomenal.

"One of the most touching references to the Savior's supernal atonement and His suffering for the sins of the world, was recorded in these exact words, "Put thou my tears into thy bottle in Psalms 56:8. The moving and tender request, that heavenly father not forget the tears of the Savior, is consistent with Jesus acting as the great advocate for mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus entered Gethsemane He felt sorrowful, which is in Greek 'deep grief'. where he felt very heavy, it says, And in Greek that means depressed, and I like this, he was exceedingly sorrowful and to death. You can read about that in Matthew 26. He knew the gravity of what was being asked. He felt and understood the sorrow, sadness, depression, grief, pain, and the tears of water and blood that would be shed for us. It's no wonder that three times He asked, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Jesus's reference to 'removing this cup' in Greek is a vessel or figuratively, my lot or mission. Isaiah calls it 'a cup of trembling', and the Savior Himself called it 'a bitter cup.'"

Christ knew He had to drink from that trembling and bitter cup so He could truly succor His people in all of their infirmities. That bitter cup conquered sin and provided a way for the return of the children of God. That trembling cup was a symbol of sorrow so great, that the only one who possessed divine power could drink it. It's possible that when Jesus said, 'Remove this cup', or 'let this cup pass from me', He may have meant the amount of grief and sorrow You're asking me to carry, is a 'tear cup' larger than I can bear. However, there was no other way for God's will; the cup could not pass from Him. He drank from the cup of trembling tears, even the dregs of the sinful tears of all humanity and fulfilled His divine mission. And in a very literal way, Jesus both drank the cup of trembling, and filled the cup with his tears for the grief, sorrow, depression, pain, sins of every kind of emotion that would fill the tear jar for all of God's creations. Truly a bittersweet cup.

And so when we look at that verse, Put thou tears into thy bottle, or collect my tear jar, I just, I love the beauty of this verse, because David's talking about the tears he will shed, and then he's alluding to the Savior, who will drink from that bitter cup or that tear jar. And so it's just such beautiful messianic verses. Tell me some of your thoughts as we've gone through that.

Brent 19:14

I have never heard of a tear jar before. That is the symbology of that. And I was recently in Egypt and at a museum in Egypt, we saw different amulets, things that people were buried with. And there's some very interesting things and it just yeah, that was an important thing that they thought that they needed to carry with them. But boy to compare that to the sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That's amazing.

Rochelle 19:43

I don't recall, right? I mean, the recognition that the bottle referred to in Psalms is the tear jar. Anyway, that's just kind of mind-blowing to relate it to the Savior, not drinking of the bitter cup. I've never made that connection at all. So thank you. I am like, oh wow, I gotta go study this more and make more notes in my scriptures.

Tammy 20:05

So all of this talk about a tear jar and about sadness and sorrow. This is our first R and the word is REMORSE. And oftentimes we immediately just think remorse means, Oh, I'm sorry for doing something bad, but it doesn't. If you look up the word remorse, it includes just tears and being sad. And so all of us have experiences with tears and adding to that bitter cup. The Savior gets it. He understands your remorse, your sadness. And so there is a beautiful scripture we can cross reference this with because all of our sadness, all of our tears, will then become joy. Let's go to Psalms 126:5. Read that for us Rochelle.

Rochelle 20:43

126:5 "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

Tammy 20:48

Ahhhh. That reminds me of this quote by Neal A Maxwell, and he said: "Righteous sorrow and suffering, carve cavities in the soul that will become later reservoirs of joy."

Rochelle 21:00

Any scripture that talks about joy is something I'm drawn to like, I just like I want to read that more. I want to know more about that, because we all want joy. And I love it in the scriptures.

Brent 21:12

Righteous sorrow and sufferings. Of course, the cavities part jumps out to me. (Laughs)

Tammy 21:21

Describe that for us. Brent's a dentist.

Brent 21:26

So it is, it is just holes, things decay in your mouth. And, and you remove them. And when you remove the decay, there's a hole in your tooth. And you fill it in so it can't come back. And so righteous sorrow, sufferings carve cavities in the soul. And to think that's decay, that's death, that's necrotic. That's evil, it's bad, just hard stuff that are in your soul, that can become later reservoirs of joy. That's just cool.

Tammy 21:58

Yeah, especially to think you pack it with joy, instead of, you know, the metal from the 70s. I know you have nicer stuff now. To think that that hole then will get packed with joy.

Brent 22:09

Yeah, that's awesome.

Tammy 22:11

So I wanted to know, because I was thinking about both of you. Has there been a time where your tears have become reverse for joy in your life? Or are you still waiting for that?

Rochelle 22:19

I think recognizing that tears, sometimes it's just nice to know that there's the hope that the tears aren't gonna last forever, right? And it's that hope that can translate to a joy later.

Brent 22:33

It seems like when we've dealt with someone passing away, a death of someone, whoever it might be close to us, there's a lot of tears then. But there's also the Comforter that comes and blesses you with peace. And I think you get a little bit of taste of that as you go through those very hard times when you lose a loved one. And so if there's any time in my life that I've maybe felt that or noticed that's as probably at those times.

Tammy 22:33

And I know you shared with us two years ago, Brent that your sister passed away. Was that one of those times when you were younger?

Yeah. Yep.

What did that feel like?

Brent 23:12

You feel empty; it's scary, it's hard. But then, you know, often when you go to the funeral, the viewing, it seems like the people who are closest to that person are the strongest and they're building other people up, they're coming to pay their respect. And I think that's when you're buoyed up by the Comforter. And then through your testimony, you know, that there's life after death.

Tammy 23:38

Yeah, definitely. Thank you for sharing that both of you. Those reservoirs of joy. Cool. Okay, well, the good news about that remorse and the sadness and the tears is that it's not an eternal emotion. It's only temporary and it's only part of this mortal experience. So we're going to talk about that in the next segment.

Segment 3 23:58

.....

Tammy 23:59

All right, I want to start the second R with a scripture quote from the Come, Follow Me manual as it relates to this week's lesson, because I thought it was so cool. So here's the quote and Rochelle will you read this for us?

Rochelle 24:09

Sure, "If you've ever felt discouraged, afraid, remorseful, desperate, frustrated, or abandoned by God, reading the Psalms can help you know that you aren't the only one. But to also find Psalms that can encourage you when you're having such feelings. Because the psalmist also praised the Lord for His goodness, marveled at His power, and rejoiced in His mercy. They understood that having faith in the Lord doesn't mean that you'll never struggle with anxiety, sin, or fear. It means that you know who to turn to when you do."

Tammy 24:42

Isn't that good? That should be on every church program for like the rest of the year. Because I think what's neat is that just having faith in the Lord, it doesn't mean that you're never going to struggle with any of those feelings that it started out with. We are going to be remorseful, frustrated, desperate, we will feel abandoned by God at some point in our life, and it's okay.

Brent 25:04

In this world of social media, and everyone comparing their best against someone else's, or your own worst, you know worst. There's so much anxiety nowadays and I'm not talking sin or fear, maybe fear, too. But yeah, we just need to remember that you have an eternal perspective on life and remember our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, and then we can get through our anxiety and when we sin and whatever fears we might have,

Tammy 25:34

You're absolutely right, Brent. And that's what the Savior does for us. This is the second R. The second R is RELIEF. He can give us relief because many of the Psalms are laments that come out of times of great distress and trouble for David, and many of David's unashamed, cries for help, for salvation, for rescue, and relief. That is what he wants, to feel this sense of relief. So let's look at some of these verses. We're gonna go to Psalms chapter 69. Okay, Psalms 69:1-3. And verses 1-3 are the situation that we're dealing with. And then we're going to read what David's ask is in these verses. So here we go. Psalms 69:1-3. And Rochelle, will you read those verses for me and then Brent, I'm gonna have you read verses 14-16.

Rochelle 26:17

69:1 "Save me, O God'; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2 "I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 "I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: my eyes fail while I wait for my God."

Tammy 26:36

You just feel right there's this situation. So here's what he's asking for, verses 14-16. Go ahead, Brent.

14 "Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. 15 "Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. 16 "Hear me, O Lord; for the lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies."

Thank you. And then we're going to turn the page and we're going to read verses 33-36. And here's what it says,

33 "For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. 34 "Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein. 35 "For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession."

And I think this is so beautiful, because that place of Zion is known as a place of relief. It's where all of our troubles and cares will be gone. Highlight that word Zion right there. We've talked a ton about it last year and this year, but God will save Zion: His people, the pure in heart, and He will offer us relief. And then I asked you to come prepared with any verses you felt like were verses of relief in Psalms.

Rochelle 27:55

I have four pages of notes in my notebook, listing all those verses that meant relief to me. And you know, I'll share a couple of them.

Tammy 28:06

Please do, oh my gosh.

Rochelle 28:08

Psalms 56:9, "God is for me", like, okay, he's my support. He vows upon me. He's delivered my soul. Chapter 62, My salvation, my rock salvation, my defense, my mercy. He upholds with me that, 63:8. In fact, that one I noted that it reminded me of when we mourn with close friends that have lost loved ones and

Tammy 28:33

Isn't that amazing that our baptismal covenants really our relief, like we are offering relief, we mourn with those that mourn ,comfort those who stand in need of comfort. I'm so grateful you brought that up, Rochelle. She's so good. I love you, Rochelle.

Rochelle 28:46

You're great. (laughs)

Tammy 28:48

Okay, share another one. What else you got? You have one more Rochelle?

Rochelle 28:51

In Psalms 78:35 God was their rock and He was their Redeemer. And that's, that's relief, just to know that, just to have that, the knowledge, the confidence, that testimony of that. That's relief to me.

Tammy 29:08

It's a great definition of relief. I have, I went back and marked that - 78:35. So cool. Thank you. What about you, Brent, what did you find?

Brent 29:16

I highlighted a bunch through all those chapters, but I'll read one in Psalms. Well, I'll read several verses that are together, Psalm's 51:7-12.

Tammy 29:27

Let me go there, Psalms 51:7-12. Hit it.

Brent 29:31

51:7 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: washed me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice. 9 "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

So I love that, I love being washed clean whiter - your sins shall be whiter than snow; relief from our sins and ultimately returned to the salvation of our God and eternity.

Tammy 30:10

Thank you, you did, both of you an excellent job teaching us about relief in the book of Psalms. And I got to be honest, when I gave you the assignment, part of me was like, good luck. Like I have found some that I was like, I don't know if they've got time, they're gonna be busy. That's a lot of Psalms to read. We'll see what they bring to the table. You knocked it out of the park. I love you two so much. Because it just again, it reinstalls that are, like the Psalms will teach us about remorse and then relief. I mean, who doesn't want to feel real relief from remorse, right? And everything you shared is perfect. He is our rock. And He will do that for us. So good. So in the next segment, we're going to add to our list of R's, and this one has a place. It's pretty cool.

Segment 4 30:49

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Tammy 30:52

Okay, I'm so excited about this R because a couple of years ago I went with one of my really good friends and we went to this youth conference to speak in Alabama. And while we were traveling around, we saw this big, gigantic Central Baptist Calvary Church and they were having a fish fry. So of course we have to go. So we walk in, and the first thing that catches our eye, were six very large letters on the wall. So here's a picture of what it looks like. And Rochelle and Brent, what do these letters spell out?

Brent/Rochelle 31:23

REFUGE

Tammy 31:23

Isn't that amazing? Like

Rochelle 31:25

That is cool!

Tammy 31:27

In fact, my friend loved it so much that we went to an antique store later. And she's at the antique store we were at -they actually had really cool letters that were made out of metal that they were selling that they've just pulled off of different buildings and things throughout the years. And so she spelled REFUGE with those letters in her home. And I think this is so powerful because we're going to read about refuge and talk about that. Let's go to Psalms 62:5-8. And Rochelle, will you read that for us please.

Rochelle 31:54

62:5 "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. 6 "He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved. 7 "In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. 8 "Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah."

Tammy 32:20

We do love Selah, because it means you take a break or you get louder towards the end right there. So I'm just imagining, just as loud as the singers can sing verse 8: "trust in Him at all times; ye people pour, out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us." Okay, this word refuge is so cool. Here's the definition according to the 1828 Webster's dictionary. "That which shelters or protects from danger, distress, or calamity. A stronghold which protects by its strength, or a sanctuary, which secures safety by its sacredness. Any place inaccessible to an enemy." Now, this is amazing because I want to connect this definition to the Savior; how is He a refuge for us, knowing that definition? Protecting us? I want us to think about all the ways that we can connect the Savior to this definition - how is He a refuge?

Rochelle 33:13

Again, it just comes in having that knowledge, the testimony, the faith that Christ is our Redeemer. Right? And, through Him everything, we will have protection through the hard things. We don't know all the hardships we'll face in this life. And we know, you know, we'll have some. Some people are saying, I've had my fair share. I tell my kids often like, 'I want to be prepared when those hard things come.' I just, we all want to just ride it out evenly, enjoy the floating along, right? To know that our Savior has been there, He's experienced that. Our savior has, He didn't have shelter because he was taking it for us, right? He was in distress and calamity and He knows how, He'll know how to help us overcome that. He'll be that refuge.

Tammy 34:07

Wow, hold on, I'm writing that down. I like how you said He didn't have shelter because He was our shelter.

Brent 34:12

When I look at like the last part of this definitions that refuge can be a sanctuary which secures safety by its sacredness, and any place inaccessible to an enemy. And I think, Okay, my home. I want my home to my family and anyone who comes here to be a sanctuary and a refuge to the world, to sin, to whatever. But at the same time, like you said, a flood could come. And so even though my home can be a refuge in the grander sense, no matter what if, if I'm killed by my enemies, Christ is still my refuge. He will still save me from death, from physical death and spiritual death. And so the greater meaning to refuge to me is it doesn't matter what happens physically, if there's a flood, that Christ is still our refuge to us. Man, I love that.

Tammy 34:12

Yeah, exactly. Well, and how have you made your home a refuge? What are some specific things the two of you have done throughout your marriage to make your home a refuge for people that come in?

Brent 35:14

Maybe artwork that we've done, we dedicated our house. We have family prayers here, we make an effort to have family dinners together, we at times do Come, Follow Me. We try to make our home a sacred place for our family that they can feel the spirit.

Tammy 35:37

Great example of that. Thank you. Well, let's go back into our scriptures, then because we have a really cool scripture change for the word refuge. We're going to start in Psalm 57:1. We're just going to take a turn, so we'll go Brent, Rochelle, me, Brent, Rochelle, me because we have a couple. So here we go. Brent, go ahead and read. Psalms 57:1. verse two

Brent 35:54

57:1 "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast."

Tammy 35:54

Okay, let's go to Psalms 59:16

Rochelle 35:56

59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for that hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble."

Tammy 36:20

Excellent. Let's go to Psalm 62:7-8. And you may say, well we've read them, but we'll do it again. "In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8 "Trust in him at all times: ye people pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us, Selah." And let's cross reference that with Psalm 91:2.

Brent 36:41

91:2 "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."

Tammy 36:49

Excellent. Let's cross reference that with Psalm 94:22.

Rochelle 36:53

"But the Lord is my defence; and my god is the rock of my refuge."

Tammy 36:59

Thank you, and then put 57:1 and it takes you back. So there's your scripture chain. So we've learned about how the Savior is a refuge for us. But I want to take this one step further. And Brent, you kind of already did with homes, which I thought was so perfect. So I have another picture for you. I was in the Oakland, California Hospital two years ago with my mother-in-law, because she had knee surgery. And I was walking down the hallway and I saw this sign hanging and it totally caught my eye. I had to take a picture of it. So there's a picture of a wheelchair on this sign hanging from the ceiling and next to the wheelchair.......can you read what it says?

Rochelle 37:30

Area of refuge?

Tammy 37:32

Isn't that so cool?

Rochelle 37:33

That is cool.

Tammy 37:34

And I saw it on every floor. I was like, WHAT? Like there is an area of refuge in this hospital on every floor where you go in case there's an emergency or something happening. And I thought it was so cool, because then I thought, Oh my gosh, I wish we could put this sign above every entrance of every church. When you come into sacrament meeting, a but in every building "area of refuge". Because I don't think we use this word enough in our religion. I think we should have big letters spelling REFUGE on our wall, when we walk into every church building. Because the Savior is our refuge, and He has created areas of refuge for us here on Earth. So I want to know from the two of you, what are some of the areas of refuge that you have experienced? Are there places you've gone to feel safe?

Brent 38:20

Number one - temple, and then of course, our homes, and church. Churche is a refuge, but I'd say number one where you feel more calmness, and that would be the temple.

Tammy 38:34

Yeah.

Rochelle 38:35

You know, it was interesting, after we had, you know, been in our homes, having Home Church for so long with COVID which, in and of itself, that was a beautiful experience. And that was great for our family. And I think many families have enjoyed that. But when we did come back to church, I, it was a beautiful feeling also to feel, I did feel refuge with, with other saints with you know our ward members, our ward family. So first thing you know, of course, the temple, bar none. That's the place to go to leave the cares of the world aside and feel close to God.

Tammy 39:09

Well and when you consider the definition, a place for enemies cannot come in, cannot enter, then it even gives more significance to these areas of refuge. Ah, there have been moments in my life where I have walked into the chapel and physically felt the heaviness just leave my shoulders, where I just needed to sit. And just sit. That's all I wanted to do. And listen. I would love to see a sign that says, 'area of refuge'. We need to really focus and teach everybody that that's what church offers us. That's what the Savior offers us is relief from remorse, and it's a refuge, a place where you will be able to be safe. I love that the Lord has created places of refuge so we can be reminded of Him who is ultimately our refuge.

Rochelle 39:52

I think of the word refuge and we think we see refugees all throughout the world. And often there's negative connotation with refugees and refugees are in hard circumstances, and again, we need to care for those people. I mean, we can only do so much mortally and with the means that we have, but we need to help refugees of any kind find refuge.

Tammy 40:17

Oh my gosh, because we are their area of refuge, like our homes. I love that you brought that up, Rochelle; you are absolutely right. We can be a refuge for people, by doing, again it goes back to our baptismal covenants. Oh my gosh, that is so good, Rochelle. Thank you. I'm grateful that you brought that up. Hold, please, because I'm writing that down. Brent, go for it.

Brent 40:41

So as I think about a church house, I think okay, where would you put that sign? Would it be in the nursery? the primary? But as I think about the different places in a church house, is it in the chapel? It's at the bishop’s office. That's where you go/

Tammy 40:54

Now I love that. Why did you think of that?

Brent 40:57

The bishop represents the Savior. So people can go there and, work out their salvation and confess their sins or get help they need from a bishop.

Tammy 41:09

I will Amen that. That's where we find refuge. In the middle of the bishop's door. Wow. Let's make a sign for our bishop. I think we should. We'll give it to our bishop. We're in the same word, so, beautifully spoken. Thank you, Brent. Thank you. Okay, beautiful. So in the next segment, we will talk about another R.

Segment 5 41:12

.....

Tammy 41:30

Okay, Brent, is there something you do to get people's attention when you want everyone to be quiet? Are you a Whistler? Or is it Rochelle. Are one of you whistlers?

Brent 41:39

Naw, we can't whistle very loud, Rochelle, just yells.

Tammy 41:44

Rochelle just yells. What do you yell when you get, want everyone to be quiet or get their attention?

Brent 41:49

If it's time for prayer we might say, It's time for prayer. If someone's talking we might say their name.

Rochelle 41:57

Yelling up the stairs, DINNER!

Tammy 42:00

OH, yeah-yeah-yeah, the dinner yell for sure.

Brent 42:03

Or you'd find someone in the crowd that knows how to whistle and have them whistle to get their attention.

Rochelle 42:07

We have a sister-in-law that can whistle, we find hers to silence the people.

Tammy 42:12

I love a whistler, yeah, something to get everyone's attention. Okay, let's turn to Psalms 49:1, because that's what's going on right here. We're trying to get attention. This is fun. Psalm 49:1. I always wished that I could whistle really loud and I can't

Rochelle 42:27

We could probably practice and learn that skill.

Tammy 42:30

I've actually moved now, I don't even yell it's time for dinner anymore. I just text the whole family in a group text. That's how lazy I am. Okay, let's go to a Psalms 49:1, and look at this verse. It says, "Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:" Now there it is. He is trying to get our attention. There is something that we need to know in this Psalm. 'So everybody listening, you better be paying attention.' And we're going to go into this and we're going to find out what David wants us to learn. We're going to read verses 6 and 7. And then verse 15. And we're going to talk about what can be learned, Oh, this is so good. Here we go. And I also think it's interesting in verse 2: "Both low and high, rich and poor together." Like who does He want to have listen?

Rochelle 43:13

Everybody.

Brent 43:14

Now this reminds me of proclamations that our recent prophets and apostles have made. There’s the Proclamation to the Family. This is a proclamation to, of The Living Christ, whatever, we want everyone to know. Here all this all you people.

Tammy 43:29

I wrote Proclamation right next to that, next to Psalm 49. It is a proclamation from the Lord to us. 'Y'all better listen up. Because here we go.' Okay, let's read what He wants us to know. We're going to just read a little part of it, verses 6 and 7, and then we're going to go over to verse 15. Okay, Rochelle, hit it.

Rochelle 43:47

6 "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God or ransom for him. And then go to verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me say law. There it

Tammy 44:07

is, what's our redeem, redeem Very good. Write that down market. Only God can redeem. Is that interesting how he sets that up? And six and seven? Like what is the message he wants us to learn from those two verses?

Brent 44:21

Well, again, after recently going to Egypt, and you see these huge pyramids and the work they did and the costly things they did to build pyramids: the gold the, all the stuff that where these Pharaohs thought they could take with them to the other side. You go into the tombs, and here's where they think - they have hieroglyphs where they are taking food with them to the other side. And you can't. Here's David, he's just up from Egypt. He's like, sorry, these guys can't take this with them. Only God can redeem them.

Tammy 44:53

Brent, that is an awesome description of that. Thank you for summing it up; you did it perfectly, that's exactly it. I love it and none, you can't take it with you and the only person who's going to save you is the Savior. Now this word redemption is so powerful. And I asked Rochelle to help us teach this. It comes from a talk by Elder Christofferson in April 2013 called "Redemption". And so I asked her to tell us the beginning because I love the way he described what the word redemption is. So hit it, Rochelle; give us this part of his talk.

Rochelle 45:19

Okay, so in the early days of America, the colonial times, there was a great need, a great demand for people to come and work, they had to build up this country. And so they, people were recruited from Europe, and they were willing to come and work but they did not have a way to get to America, or they didn't have the funds to travel to America. So they would commit to work or there was a contract that they would commit to work a certain amount of years to pay off their traveling expenses. And so they were known as indentured servants or redemptioners. They were called redemptioners because they had to redeem the cost of their passage. They had to basically buy their freedom.

Tammy 46:06

Okay, perfect. Thank you for that description. I didn't know that indentured servants were called redemptioners. Like that's another word for them. Okay, so then let's talk about this word, redeemer or redemptioner in light of the Savior Jesus Christ, because there's a couple of cool verses, and then I want to what your thoughts are. Let's go to Psalm 69:18, and Brent, will you read that for us?

Brent 46:28

69:18 "Draw nigh unto my soul and Redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies."

Tammy 46:33

Okay. We're gonna put next to that Psalm 130:7 and 8. And Rochelle, will you read that when we get there. Psalm 130.

Rochelle 46:41

130:7 "Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord, there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 8 "And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

Tammy 46:51

Tell me what that means to you there, "And with him is plenteous redemption."

Rochelle 46:57

Oh, I love it. I like that. We're not going to run out. Don't worry about it. We're not going to run out. Everybody can be redeemed.

Brent 47:05

That's an awesome scripture.

Tammy 47:07

Tell me why.

Brent 47:08

So Lord has capitalized which then eventually could have said Jehovah, right?

Tammy 47:12

Or Yahweh. It would be. The holiest of holy names.

Brent 47:19

And so there's mercy. And there's, there's just enough redemption for everybody. There's plenteous redemption. And then He shall redeem Israel. That means everybody, from all our iniquities. That's a, I love that. That's big.

Tammy 47:35

Yeah, when it says plenteous redemption, do you think that means plenty enough individually? Or can you sometimes maybe use all your redemption?

Never,

Never

Rochelle 47:45

There's plenty for everybody: the worst sinner and the best person. There's, there's enough there.

Tammy 47:52

I think sometimes we really, that Satan does such a great job of making us think, 'You've already repented of the sin too many times, there's no more chances. You don't get any more. You're, you failed. There's, you're not gonna make it.' And I just, I love this: there's plenteous redemption, there is enough for everyone, as much as you need - plenteous. Oh, it's such a good word right there.

Rochelle 48:14

It is a great word.

Brent 48:15

Awesome.

Tammy 48:15

We need to teach that to our teenagers. I wish I'd known that when I was a teenager. That there's enough, you can never exhaust the amount of redemption that there is for you from our Savior.

Brent 48:25

That's awesome.

Tammy 48:26

That's a powerful truth. I'm just now letting that soak in. Hold on, I'm gonna write that down.

Rochelle 48:30

So how do we teach that to our youth, though, how do we, or not just our youth

Brent 48:34

everybody, It's not just for the youth.

Rochelle 48:35

Right, right.

Tammy 48:36

I think for me, it's telling my own personal story about how I've used the Savior's redemption, redemptive qualities in repenting, I think it's really powerful. There's a study recently that came out about why so many millennials are leaving the church. And it's because they felt like there was a disconnect between authority and them, that there was no sense of mercy or grace. And basically put, we didn't understand what they were going through, because none of us have ever sinned. And I think sometimes we kind of like, I grew up thinking my leaders had never sinned, because I didn't know their stories. And so I just assumed I was the most wicked kid in the room. And so I want everyone who's ever come in contact with me to know: Oh, I've repented. You bet I have. And I will tell everyone, I'll shout it from, I did. I shouted from the rooftops at Youth Conference, I told all my kids my repentance story about how I had to kick the can with my Mission President and repent of some things. And that's okay, that is redemption right there. I think we need to share our stories, let 'em know.

Rochelle 49:31

exposing our vulnerability, right? That we all have had those hardships and whatever that is, and it's okay. It's normal. It's normal, but we need to we need to turn to our Savior and allow that redemption to come.

Brent 49:44

People need to know that we've had challenges. As you say that, I remember my best friend that is married to Rochelle's sister. His dad was our bishop and we always tried to get him to tell stories of things he did when he was our age. And he's like, Oh, no, I...he would never tell us but you know, they played around and messed up and did stuff. They just wouldn't tell us. And so people. I don't know, I guess our kids need to know that we've had our challenges and we've overcome them, and they can overcome theirs too, or gain testimony or whatever it might be.

Rochelle 50:15

It is interesting. Through reading the Psalms, there was a lot that affected me with mercy. Like, David is recognizing there's mercy from God. And I've, and then there were many Psalms that talked about all his enemies. And so a physical enemy, a person, or all the, I think hardships against us, temptations in life can be considered enemies, right? And there are so much out there now where people are recognizing that sometimes those of us that really try to keep our covenants and draw closer to the Savior, some people tend to ridicule us maybe, and make it look like we're shallow, or we're not educated enough, or you have blind faith, or whatever, whatever. And I think it was interesting to see, to read Psalms, read many of the songs we read, to see like, God will take care of that, you know? Don't worry about your enemies, don't worry about those people ridiculing you for your beliefs. God's got our back.

Segment 51:20

You're absolutely right, Rochelle. And what I love about what Michelle said is she talked about how much there is mention of the word mercy throughout this and that the Lord has for us. And so, guess what? In the next segment, we're going to talk about that word. And you're like, it doesn't start with an R. But it does and I'll show you where in the next segment.

Segment 6 51:38

......

Tammy 51:39

So we're gonna go to Exodus 34:6-7, and I'm going to read these verses. Now, here's what I want us to look at. What's the very first word used in the name of the description of God when it says, "The Lord, the Lord God," and then what is He?

Rochelle 51:55

Merciful?

Tammy 51:56

Yes. Now go to verse 7. Tell me something else about the word mercy and Him.

Brent 52:01

Keeping mercy for thousands.

Tammy 52:04

Wow,

forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin.

Yes. Like this word is big. So I'm showing my guests different versions of Exodus chapter 34:6. The NIV, which is the New International Version, the NLV, the ESV. As you guys are looking at this, will you tell me what other word they use in place of mercy? What's another common word they're using? It says, "The Lord, the Lord, the" what? Now kind of just scroll down your eyes and see what other words they use instead of mercy.

Rochelle 52:33

Compassionate, and gracious,

Tammy 52:36

Yes,

Rochelle 52:37

slow to anger. Compassionate,

Brent 52:42

compassion, and mercy.

Tammy 52:44

Very good. Mercy and compassionate, they're going to use those back and forth. Now, neither word begin with R, right? And I said that these are the five R's. This is so cool, because the word for mercy in Hebrew starts with an R, and it is the word for RACHUM. That's how you say mercy in Hebrew, RACHUM. Now, this word means mercy or compassion. But both of these words - the word rachum stems from a Hebrew root word, R E C H E M. And that word in Hebrew means a womb - a mother's womb.

Rochelle 53:23

Oh, wow.

Tammy 53:25

Isn't that fun! So help me connect this because the words mercy and compassion are connected to a womb. And they invite us to imagine a mother's tender feelings for her child. Now, I'm excited to hear your answers from a male perspective, and female. But here's what I want to know from the two of you. What type of emotions are conveyed through and connected to a womb?

Rochelle 53:47

Tenderness, bonding, connection, love.

Brent 53:53

And the male side of that is we're jealous because we don't have that connection that the women do with having the womb and giving childbirth. There's a different connection between the mother and their child than the father and their child generally, I think. When our daughter who's on a mission wants to call on her church P day, she's always calling Rochelle, not me. There's a different connection with mom than there is with me.

Tammy 54:18

Oh, that's sweet.

Rochelle 54:19

Yeah, I mean, we read The Proclamation to the Family and we know it's pointed out to us more kind of what a woman's role is. And, and we have that womb and that sacredness to be able to become a mother.

Brent 54:34

Even in the animal world. You never get between a mother moose and her calf, or you sure avoid any bear with any young-uns since it's usually the mom and, I mean this, you see it in all aspects of life.

Tammy 54:50

Tell me everything a womb offers the baby.

Brent 54:55

Oxygen, nutrition, warmth

Rochelle 54:57

nourishment,

Brent 54:58

nourishment,

Rochelle 54:59

a place to grow and thrive. Hopefully thrive,

Brent 55:05

The infant hears its mother's voice, I assume all the time, even while they're in the womb? I would think there's even some other connections that way.

Tammy 55:13

Um-hmm. Okay, I love all these answers. So you gave me all of the things the womb can do air, nourishment grow, thrive, and like, hear the voice for sure. I'm writing all these things down. Very good. So these are the physical things the womb does. Now, give me the emotional. What's the emotional words you would use to connect to a womb?

Rochelle 55:35

Safety.

Brent 55:37

For many, refuge.

Tammy 55:39

Oh, I like that, yeah. Very good. Any other words?

Brent 55:44

There's no concern. When a baby's born, they're happy. But when they're hungry or tired, they get upset. I would think in the womb they can sleep when they want and they're always fed.

Rochelle 55:56

Their needs all are taken care of.

Tammy 55:58

Oh, I like that. Okay. I'm writing all of this down. Because that is what mercy is. Isn't that interesting?

Rochelle 56:09

Yeah.

Tammy 56:10

It's so fascinating that the Lord would use the word Rachum, which stems from Rachem, which is the womb, to describe what He feels for us. This mercy that He has mercy for 1000s according to his name. He has this mercy for 1000s. And that mercy looks like this. It's a place where we can be nourished, where we can grow, we can thrive. I like that. We thrive in His mercy. Now you understand why David asks for it so many times throughout the book of Psalms, he just wants mercy. And then I loved how you'd tell us it's a place of safety, a mini refuge. That was so great. It's a comfort, and it's easy. Like our needs are taken care of. Isn't that interesting that the word mercy could mean that for us? That the Lord, we've learned today, He can take care of our needs, right, through His mercy. So the Lord offers us this mercy, this. I loved it, Brent, when you said a mini refuge.

And so when David's begging for mercy, He is begging for all of these things: a place to thrive, a place to grow, where it will be easy, where he can overcome all things. Now, there are so many different Psalms about mercy and we're just going to share a couple of them. So, do you guys have any specific ones that stood out to you?

Rochelle 57:20

Chapter 51:1

Tammy 57:23

Hit it,

Rochelle 57:23

It says mercy upon me, according to the loving kindness and according to the multitude of tender mercies will blot out our transgressions.

Tammy 57:32

Very good one. That's one of the ones I marked; I like that a lot.

Brent 57:37

I like Psalms 78:38. "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned to his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath." So he has compassion or mercy and forgave their iniquity and didn't destroy him. I think there's been times where God has given up on him and has destroyed his people.

Rochelle 58:07

He never gives up.

Brent 58:08

Here, yeah.

Tammy 58:10

Here he won't. He has mercy. He wants you to be safe. He's nourishing you and you're growing in that womb. I love the beauty of that. I liked the connection to the word tender mercies. Oftentimes you're going to see that in the book of Psalms. I marked the Psalm 77:9. "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah." Like, no, he is still providing tender mercies for us in our lives. And we use that term often. And it is such a great way to phrase things. I really appreciate when people tell me stories and that you will say 'it was such a tender mercy.' Like it's such a great way to tell a story. And I was wondering, do either one of you have an example of a tender mercy in your life? A story that comes to mind?

Rochelle 58:57

Yeah, I'll share. I was traveling to Boston to be with my daughter to have her first baby. And we're trying to figure out the best day to travel, right, because she wanted me there but not too soon. We don't know when the baby's going to be born, all those things. So there were so many tender mercies in that experience. First of all, that I kept my original flight even though the night before she said, I mean, I was ready to fly out sooner if something happened. I had refundable tickets. But anyway, she's like, "Don't come, it's not going to happen for a week or anyway. But I just said, No, I'm going to stick with my original plan. And that was a huge blessing. There was a huge storm in Boston. So my flight was rerouted.

So it was a tender mercy - number one - that it was rerouted. Because if I had had a direct flight, I wouldn't have even been able to fly out. So that was another tender mercy. And then in this time, you know of course I was a little stressed, right, but I couldn't just, I Just felt God's love throughout the day. I got off the plane, I was one of the first people off. I was the first one in line to get to figure out how I was really going to get to Boston because then I was stuck in Chicago. They weren't putting anybody on flights, they were putting everybody on standby. But the ticket agent, (sorry), the ticket agent that helped me, he's like, "I don't want you to be on standby. I want to get you a flight."

So he put me on the flight to Nashville. And at first I was thinking, I'm flying all over the country. This is so funny, but it secured a seat. And yes, I was delayed, you know, five hours layover here and there. But that secured me a seat. And it got me, and it got me to Boston. And everything about the situation I just felt God's hand. It was a tender mercy the whole time. And I got there at 2 in the morning, I was able to get an Uber. The Uber driver was patient and waited and made sure I was in the right place and I wasn't in the right place. And so he drove me around to like the other campus of the block or whatever. And, and my, things were going wonderfully well for my daughter who, who had gone into labor. And everything about it was purely a tender mercy.

Brent 1:01:14

You got there before the baby was born.

Rochelle 1:01:16

Yep

Tammy 1:01:17

You made it in time. Oh, Rochelle. See, I love a tender mercy story. That is fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. And it is, I'm sure you were nervous. Your first grandbaby, your daughter, your firstborn giving birth and everything. I just believe in tender mercies, I do. And some people are like, Well you probably, this is just coincidence. Doesn't matter. You can call it, I'm calling it a tender mercy because I will give credit to God for all these good things. So, thank you, Rochelle. That was a great story. Thank you. Okay, what about you, Brent, do you have a

Brent 1:01:47

I agree with Rochelle. I think tender mercies happen, they're around us all the time. And I looked up a talk given 17 years ago by Elder Bednar, "Tender Mercies of the Lord. And he mentioned that there's so many that happen around us and that they happen to the people who are chosen. And we need to decide if we are chosen by living the commandments and being righteous, I think, and you'll see miracles or tender mercies in your life. I just have a simpler one. And I think simple ones happen all the time. I thought of yours that you shared with us at Youth Conference. about making cookies for your neighbor.

Tammy 1:02:27

Oh, yeah.

Brent 1:02:29

And so when our daughter that's on a mission right now, went on her mission. Was home MTC the whole time. We dropped her off at the airport. And that's a super anxious time, right? You're finally going, you're heading back east, you don't know what's going on. It's kind of exciting and highly anxious. It just happened our son-in-law was flying home from Boston for a business meeting. And he never flew to Salt Lake. I think he flew here one time, and this was the day. And he gets off his plane and she's back already, she's back already waiting for the plane. And here comes our son-in-law to see her after she's already gone through security. Simple things like that, I think happen all the time.

Tammy 1:03:09

Yeah, I think you're right. Because when we studied with John Hilton and we did "Lectures on Faith", I love how John Hilton said, "Everyone needs a book called "Your Greatest Hits", which are just a record of all your greatest experiences, tender mercies, spiritual experiences, so you can remember them. Because I'm like you. I have so many and I remember them and then I forget them. And then then like, Oh, I gotta write that down. And so yeah, everybody write down your greatest hits, of moments of tender mercies or moments of mercy in general and compassion, because they're all around us. We're going to finish this whole episode with this quote, and this is by Elder Suarez in the October 2021 General Conference. And here's what he had to say about the word mercy. Rochelle, will you read this for us.

Rochelle 1:03:51

"The scriptures have countless examples of how the Savior, moved by His deep and abiding compassion, interacted with people of His day, and helped those who were suffering and those who had fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He extended His merciful hand to those who needed relief from their burdens, both physically and spiritually. It is meaningful to observe that Jesus's compassionate acts were not occasional or mandated manifestations based on the list of tasks to be completed, but every-day expressions of the reality of His pure love for God and His children and His abiding desire to help them."

Tammy 1:04:28

Thank you. Yeah, there's not a list of tasks you have to complete in order to have tender mercies or the Lord's mercy in your life. It is given freely and willingly and abundantly. And we have definitely discovered that today. So thank you, both of you for sharing your experiences and your testimony and for coming prepared. This was a great discussion of Psalms and, and the six R's. So remember them. Teach 'em; it is awesome. So thank you for joining me today, you guys.

Rochelle 1:04:55

Thank you

Brent 1:04:56

Thank you for letting us be here.

Tammy 1:04:57

K, so just think of what your takeaway was, something you learned from today's discussion?

Rochelle 1:05:03

Um, probably the tear jar. It's nice to be reminded of that, but I want, well, I want to recognize that my tears don't go unnoticed. And, and the connection of the tears with Christ's Atonement, and how it's through the Atonement that we can overcome the pains, the pains that are producing our tears, if you will.

Tammy 1:05:30

Those are good takeaways. Thank you. What about you, Brent?

Brent 1:05:33

Me? So reading this section of this Come, Follow Me, it was all about looking for refuge from your physical enemies and sin. And I loved that you had the five R's and the things that jumped out at me, like Rochelle was the chair jar and the connection of, of Christ going on in Gethsemane and what he had to go through to redeem us. And then the, the understanding of that word, mercy. That we all need mercy to be saved and it just, words give that so much more meaning, as we've gone through this, and understanding that

Tammy 1:06:16

Definitely. Thank you, both of you. My takeaways from you, I have two - one from each one of you. But Brent, when you said that we should put 'The area of refuge' above our bishop's office - that really hit my heart. And that's, that's where the sign should go. And then your connection to refugees, Rochelle, and that we are people's area of refuge. And it just made me question like, how am I doing? And boy, I could definitely be doing better in being someone's area of refuge for these refugees, of all kinds. So I'm grateful for those connections that you both made. That was really powerful. So thank you.

Rochelle 1:06:50

Thanks, Tammy. Bye.

Tammy 1:06:55

Well, we would love to hear what your big takeaway was from this episode. So if you have not already joined our discussion group on Facebook or Instagram, you totally should. Because it's so fun. People ask questions throughout the week, and everybody answers them. And it's just a really cool, powerful community. I love all of you. So at the end of the week, on a Saturday, we also do a post asking for your big takeaway. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and let us know what you've learned. 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 because that's where we're going to have the links to all the references as well as all of the Scripture chains that we talked about today, and a transcript of this entire discussion. So go check it out.

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 fabulous study group participants were Rochelle and Brent Baugh. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living.com/sundayonMonday. Our podcast is produced by Katie Lambert and 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 and we'll see you next week.

And please remember that you really are God's favorite because He has so much mercy for you!

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