King Benjamin teaches his sons concerning the value of the scriptures, without which they would dwindle in unbelief. He testifies of the truthfulness of the word of God and encourages them to diligently search the sacred records. Let us come to realize why the prophets continually exhort us to search, hearken, and live by the word of God: The word of God is given to nourish us that we might know the commandments and understand the mysteries of God.
Without the word of God, the iron rod, we would have no knowledge of the plan of salvation, the goodness and mercy of God, and all the commandments we should obey. We would live in ignorance. The only sure way to overcome temptation and return to the presence of God is to feast upon the word of God, holding to the iron rod so we can live by the word of God. Do we have a scripture study plan in place in our homes—a time, a place, and a way to search the scriptures together?
Memories: The Precious Student
A blessed event some years ago was the birth of a precious and beautiful granddaughter. I thought it not inappropriate to select a verse of scripture to share with her parents during the initial visit to the hospital by the doting grandparents to celebrate the new arrival. Quite by coincidence I was pondering at the time one of my favorite passages concerning the transition of God’s children from the First Estate to the mortal world: “Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men” (D&C 138:56). Looking down upon the newborn babe, only a few hours old, I wondered at the wisdom already invested in her heart and mind by virtue of the preparation and instruction she had received in the premortal realm. What she would later find arrayed in the scriptures, and what her parents would soon be teaching her about the gospel of Jesus Christ, would be a harmonizing echo of distant lessons already learned, a wondrous review of divine instruction gleaned firsthand from the Creator Himself.
It is the nature of scripture study to be an adventure in remembering. Those who read and ponder the word of God through the Spirit will experience that remarkable sensation of seeming to recover, line upon line, what was known long ago before the veil of forgetfulness was placed upon them at birth. Thus the messengers of the holy scriptures will speak to us, “and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit” (2 Nephi 26:16; compare Isaiah 29:4). According to this perspective, our learning is essentially an “unforgetting”—as the ancient Greeks expressed it, not knowing how close upon the heels of the truth they really were. This is what awaited our newest grandchild—to be able to relearn in life, by a process of unforgetting through the blessings of the Spirit, what the Father and the Son had already taught her in her previous home on high. (Richard J. Allen)