Tuesday, February 8, 2011

God Pays Attention to Us

I was just asked to teach Gospel Doctrine along with Jamie this week, so I'm reading the scriptures in the lesson this morning. Here's what jumped out at me from Matthew 10:

22And ye shall be ahated of all men bfor my cname’s sake: but he that dendureth to the end shall be saved.

23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.


29Are not two asparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30But the very ahairs of your head are all numbered.

31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more avalue than manybsparrows.

These verses actually seem somewhat opposite of one another. Verses 29-31 say that God is very mindful of the entire world, even sparrows, and by extension, is very mindful of the apostles. Verses 22 and 23 say that the 12 will face extreme opposition.

As a conclusion, we should not equate passing through tough times as a sign that God isn't mindful of us. That is not at all the correct metric.

LaDon

2 comments:

leisa said...

I've sensed a theme in your posts recently and that is: 1) You have faith that God is with us through our trials and 2) You admire deeply those people who show that faith outwardly through their own personal, deep trials.

There are times in our lives when scriptures stick out more at certain times for whatever reasons. But for me, these kinds of scriptures (about the Lord being by our side) stick out ALL the time.

I came across James 1 the other day and verses 2-4 really stuck out to me. Usually we focus on 5 and 6 (for good reason), but I like the focus on patience:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The Lindes said...

Great point on patience. Patience is a great way to show faith. I really enjoyed Elder Robert Oaks' talk on faith a few years ago in conference. He said, showing a lack of patience and trust in the Lord is inherently saying, "I know better" which is a lack of faith.