Esther

I love the story of Esther!  My husband and I love it so much that we named our daughter Hadassah (Esther 2:7) after her.  Esther is the story of great courage.  And not just by Esther but others as well.  I am going to talk about a few of those courageous people in this post.

Vashti

We don't always talk about Vashti.  She is only mentioned in the first chapter, but she leaves a last impact in that chapter.  The king had a feast of all the princes and Vashti, the queen, had her own feast as well (Esther 1:9).  The king had her beckoned to appear before him (1:10-11) but Vashti refused (1:12).  Out of fear that the women of the land would follow her example, a law was written that the men of the land would rule over their houses and Vashti was dethroned (1:18-22).  The scriptures do not tell us the reason Vashti refused the king but she must have known that she was risking her life to do it.  This shows great courage.

Mordecai

Mordecai also shows great courage in this story.  He actually set the destruction of the Jews in motion through his act of courage.  Mordecai refused to bow before Haman, first prince in the king's court (3:1-2).  We have already established what can happen to those that disobey the king so Mordecai refused to bow before Haman at the risk of his own life.  Because of this act, Haman asked the king to set out a decree to kill all the Jews (3:6-15).  He then asks Esther to risk her own life and go before the king to try and save the Jews (4).

Esther

I just love Esther.  She was asked to do a hard thing from the beginning.  When she was taken into the palace to be presented before the king she had to keep her identity as a Jew secret (2:10).  That in and of itself can be a very hard thing to do.  In chapter 4 she was asked to do the hardest thing of all.  Mordecai asked her to go before the king without being called.  The punishment for that is death.  But she very bravely said she would do it to save her people.

I have learned so much from the book of Esther over the years.  All of these people did very hard things even though their lives were on the line.  They did what was right, no matter the cost.  I strive to have the faith and courage Esther did every time I receive a prompting from the Spirit to do something.  It is not always easy.  But it will always be worth it.

Elijah and Elisha

Elijah was translated at the end of his ministry.  The scriptures say, "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11).  I did some research in 3 Nephi 28 in the Book of Mormon and in the study guide for the Old Testament on what exactly "translation" means.  Simply put, translation means to not taste of death.  To it in common worldly terms it would mean to become immortal.  But not in the sense that we become immortal at the Resurrection.  Translated beings still go through a resurrection of sorts (it is different because they never die).  Because it is not the same as resurrection, being taken up into heaven does not mean that Elijah was taken up into the Celestial glory.  This will happen after the Resurrection, as with all of us.

I think the purpose for translated beings is to further the work of the Lord.  In 3 Nephi 28, 3 apostles ask to be able to remain on earth indefinitely so that they can do His work.  The Lord grants them their wish because they asked with sincere heart and good intentions.  In their case, they remained on the earth to serve and do good.  Elijah was taken up into heaven but we do know he comes to earth to restore the sealing power.

Elisha was to succeed Elijah the prophet after he was translated.  Lord called him through Elijah the prophet (1 Kings 19: 16-21).  Just before his translation, Elijah asked Elisha what his desire was.  Elisha answered that his one desire was to given a double portion of Elijah's spirit (2 Kings 2:9).  Elijah replied that if Elisha saw his translation that he would be given his desire (2 Kings 2:10).  Elisha did witness Elijah being taken up into heaven (2 Kings 2:12).  In verse 15 of 2 Kings 2, we find that Elisha's desire was granted unto him.  When the sons of the prophets that he had met with earlier saw Elisha, they saw that the spirit of Elijah did rest upon him.

Elijah

Elijah lived around the time of 914 BC.  Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah at the time.  He was such a faithful prophet of the Lord that he was translated, or taken up to heaven without tasting death.  He was given the priesthood keys for the sealing power and then restored that priesthood to the earth in our day.

Another prophet that was granted the sealing was Nephi, son of Helaman, in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 10: 4-10).  There are a lot of similarities between this passage and 1 Kings 17 about Elijah.  God promised Nephi that whatever Nephi would say would be done would be done.  This is because of the "unwearyingness" Nephi showed in keeping the commandments.  To me, this shows that Nephi had great faith in God.  The woman in the story of Elijah also showed great faith.  She has enough food for a tiny little meal for her and her son.  Elijah asked her to feed him.  Although she knew she did not have enough she did it anyways.  For her faith she was given enough feed for all three of them to live off of for a few weeks.  And when her son had dies, Elijah used the power of the priesthood to bring him back to life.

My life has been directly affected by Elijah the prophet.  As I mentioned earlier, he restored the sealing power to this.  For those not familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the work we do in the temple, this is the power to seal families together for all eternity and to do all saving ordinances for the living and dead.  I have partaken of these saving ordinances.  I have been baptized, received my endowments, and have been sealed to my husband for all eternity.  My life would be completely different if it were not for these ordinances.  I would not put as much focus on my family.  I probably would not even be married with kids at this time in my life.  I would not have the blessings that come from knowing my husband and children.  I would not have pure joy in my life.  For that is what these ordinances have brought into my life, pure joy.

David Anointed King

Who doesn't love the story of David and Goliath?? What amazing faith David had! I'm going to be talking a little about David post Goliath.

Some of David's Accomplishments (2 Samuel 1-10)
-Kills the Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul (Ch 1)
-Anointed king over the house of Judah (Ch 2)
-His followers defeat Abner and those of Israel (Ch 2)
-David becomes stronger (Ch 3)
-All of Israel anoints David (Ch 5)
-Takes Jerusalem and is blessed by the Lord (Ch 5)
-Conquers the Philistines (Ch 5)
-Takes the ark to the city of David (Ch 6)
-His throne is to be established forever through Christ (Ch 7)
-Defeats and subjects many nations (Ch 8)
-Executes judgement and justice unto all his people (Ch 8)
-Finds the son of Jonathon to whom he restores all the land of Saul (Ch 9)
-Israel defeats Ammonites and Syrians (Ch 10)

In 2 Samuel 7, David offers to build a temple unto the Lord but he is denied by the Lord through Nathan. There is not really any explanation as to why the Lord denies this worthy request. We find the answer in 1 Chronicles 22: 7-8. It says,

"7And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God:

8But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight."

David was denied because he had shed too much blood.

I think it would be a hard thing for me if I were in David's situation. It would be hard to be denied when you want to build a temple unto the Lord. It would be an expression of faith for me and it would be hard to be denied that of the Lord. I also would be a little confused why I would be blessed with such great things but not be able to do it. Luckily, David had a much better reaction than I did. In the last half of chapter 7, he does nothing but praise the Lord. He accepts the Lord's decision and is willing to do what the Lord asks. What an example!

"Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go"

(I am in love with this picture)

I love the story of Ruth. Who doesn't? She went through so much and stayed strong through the whole thing and was blessed for it in the end.

What was the situation in the land of Judah when Ruth and Naomi lived?

Judah was a fairly peaceful place. There was not a whole lot of fighting going on there like there was in areas surrounding it. It was a land of agriculture but it was prone to experience drought from time to time. Such was the case at this time. There was drought and famine in the land which caused Naomi and her husband and two sons to travel to Moab.

List the trials Ruth faced in Ruth 1.

-Her husband died (verse 5)
-She leaves her family to live with Naomi (verse 16-17)
-They had nothing when they arrived in Bethlehem (verse 21)

Choose one trial that is like one you have faced and briefly describe it.

I have also had to leave my family. I was born and raised in Minnesota. I left to come to school here in Idaho, got married and have stayed in Idaho. It was harder when I got married than when I went to school because while I was still single I knew that I would be home for months at a time on my off semester. Getting married was different, I was now going to be establishing my new life with my husband and because of work would be stayed in Idaho for an undetermined amount of time, only being able to visit home for a week or two out of the year. It was very hard. I can imagine it was very hard for Ruth as well.

Explain what you think motivated Ruth to go with Naomi. In what ways would it have been hard for Ruth to go with Naomi?

I think Ruth was motivated by empathy. She knew Naomi was all alone, no husbands and no children. She would have been going back to her home land but she probably did not have anyone to take care of her in her old age. I'm sure Ruth understood how it must have felt to be alone and did not wish that for Naomi. I'm sure it was a hard decision. She was leaving her family and traveling to a land she did not know. Facing uncertainty is not easy for anyone.

Why was Boaz so impressed with Ruth?

Boaz was very impressed with all that Ruth had done for Naomi. He was impressed that she would leave her family and home to live with Naomi and take care of her. (Ruth 2:11)

Explain what you can learn about facing your challenges from the examples in this chapter.

If we face our challenges head on, relying on the Lord after all we can do, we will be blessed. Ruth did what she had to do. She stayed with her mother-in-law and she did what she needed to do to get them food and she was blessed for it. Boaz saw all that she had done and made life a little easier for her.

Ruth is truly an amazing example. She sacrificed so much, and not only did she sacrifice it but she did it willingly. I have seen the same outcome that Ruth had in my own life. In high school, I sacrificed a lot of sleep to attend early morning seminary and was blessed a hundred times over for it. I did better in my performance at school and I was blessed with the Spirit while at school to protect me from all the filth I was surrounded by. I, too, got married and left my home and family. I and my family have been blessed so much for that. My husband has a wonderful job, I am able to attend a wonderful school, we live in an awesome ward and we have been blessed with so so so much more. I know that as we sacrifice things in our life, the Lord will bless us a hundred times over.

"Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve"

I have loved reading the book of Joshua. Joshua is a prophet that I never really knew about. I have loved learning about him. He did a lot of really awesome things for the children of Israel. He helped them get to the promised land and conquer all of their enemies. One thing I thought fascinating about the true power Joshua had is found in chapter 10. The Israelites are battling the Amorites and Joshua commands the sun and the moon to stand still. As the student manual pointed out, it was actually the earth that stood still as we know that the sun doesn't move. It is easy to see that and think that it totally contradicts science so the Bible couldn't possibly be true. But it is! Heavenly Father controls the laws of nature. He can change them as He wishes. And, how would you explain all that is supposed to happen during the second coming?

The Israelites fought against a lot of different nations. By reading the chapter headings of chapters 7-22, here are the outcomes:

Failures
-Defeated by people of Ai


Successes
-They defeat Ai
-Gibeonites are made servants to Israel
-Defeat Amorites and their allies
-Conquer many cities and nations
-Conquer two kings on east of Jordan and 31 on west
-All the tribes receive their inheritances
-The Lord fulfills his promises and the Israelites are able to rest.

In the final two chapters of Joshua, Joshua gives his final address to the children of Israel before his death. He spends most of his talk encouraging the Israelites to serve the Lord. Based on the list above, I think he chose this topic to confirm to the children of Israel that they can accomplish great things with the Lord on their side. And it is true. We CAN accomplish great things with the Lord on our side. We can accomplish the impossible, for nothing is impossible for the Lord. I know that as we strive to follow the Lord, He will be on our side and fight for us every step of the way through this life.

Obedience Brings Blessings; Disobedience Brings Curses

I think everyone can say that the main thing to be learned from the children of Israel is the importance of obedience. At the beginning of Deuteronomy 10, we get a sense of just how important the commandments are to the Lord. Moses is commanded to keep the tablets with the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant. The ark was of great importance and was kept in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. The Ten Commandments were so important that they needed to be kept safe. From the JST for Deut. 10:2 and in Doctrine and Covenants 84, we see that the children of Israel denied themselves of the everlasting covenant of the priesthood, Melchezidek priesthood because of their disobedience.

There are several scriptures in Deuteronomy that talks about loving God and keeping his commandments. We also read in Matthew 22 that the first great commandment is to love God. This is very interesting if you think about it. Love is an emotion. Can we be commanded to have a certain emotion? My answer to that is yes. As we follow the commandments and draw closer to God, we learn to love Him. We see all that He has done for us and so begin to love Him. So when we are commanded to love God, we are being commanded to follow Him.

Why is there such an emphasis on obedience? Because Heavenly Father wants to bless us and for us to be happy (Mosiah 2:41, D&C 130:20-21). Heavenly Father can only bless us when we deserve it, when we follow His commandments. He is a merciful God that only wants our happiness, which can only come through obedience.

What do we receive when we are obedient? Deut 28:1-14 gives us the answer:

-We will be set high above nations
-We will be overtaken with blessings
-Our work and homes will be blessed with abundance
-Enemies will be smitten
-Everything our hands touch will be blessed
-People will see that we are called of God
-We will have plenty of goods

Pretty cool, huh?? Now, what are the consequences for disobedience? The rest of chapter 28 lists them:

-We will be overtaken with curses
-Everything we touch will be cursed
-We will have all manner of sickness
-Our enemies will smite us
-We will be cursed with famine
-Our hard work will be in vain
-We will be given things but will not be able to enjoy them
-And the list goes on....

Helaman 12:3 states that the Lord punishes disobedient people so that they will remember Him. The Lord is a very merciful Lord. In Mosiah 26, it says that as many times as we repent, He will forgive us. In Ezekiel 18, He says that He would rather the wicked repent and live than stay wicked and die. And this is evident all through the scripture. Every time He destroys a wicked nation, He allows them the chance to repent beforehand. He lives to bless us. He does not want to punish us but He has to if we do not follow the commandments. Our God is a very merciful God that loves us eternally.