Sixteen Stones, White and Clear

This particular blog entry is about the way that our lives are led by God into paths that we would not normally follow. But we find great treasures through obedience and focused effort. I have personal experience which convinces me that what I am about to describe is true for everyone. But I will restrict my examples to those found in the scriptures. (It's that pearls and swine thing¹; no offense intended.)

The first example that I would like to refer to is, perhaps, the most obscure with respect to the point I wish to make. Esther is a true follower of the God of Abraham, living in the time of the Babylonian captivity of the tribe of Judah. And she has been selected to replace Vashti as queen to Ahasuerus. Her “uncle”² Mordecai, a minister to the king and also a Jew, refuses to bow to Haman, someone of greater rank³. Being offended, Haman hatches a plot to kill all Jews⁴, not realizing that the queen, Esther, is also a Jew⁵. At the point of crisis Mordecai tells Esther that she must approach the king and foil Haman's scheme⁶. But to come into the king's presence without being summoned means death, unless he is in a good mood.

Mordecai's argument, persuading Esther to act, is interesting because he knows that God will save His people. And now is Esther's time to choose to be an instrument in God's hands or leave it to some other method that the Lord might devise.

13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.

14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?⁷

Mordecai was pointing out that Esther could neither go forward nor backward with respect to other options. Her circumstances required that she go not around but through the problem. Her answer to Mordecai was to have all the Jews in the vicinity of the palace to fast and pray for her for three days⁸: not that she could make up her mind, but that she might survive and succeed. And she concluded with this phrase, “... and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”⁹ Esther did survive and pointed out to the king that Haman was up to no good¹⁰. Haman's plot was foiled. He died instead¹¹, and Esther was the savior of her people.

The Lord puts us in situations that test our faith. And these things happen more often than we might think. He tests not only the leaders of the people but the rest of us as well. Mordecai's phrase, “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”¹² haunts us because it implies that we are not always aware when we are the person intended to act at a particular time. We often rely on our circumstances to guide what happens next.

For the second example, I would like to refer to the story of Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. My story begins with the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Daniel, as you will recall, is the one who interprets the dream¹³, and Nebuchadnezzar offers him a cabinet post as his reward¹⁴. Daniel then suggests that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego receive appointments under him as governors over the province of Babylon¹⁵. This is done, and within only a few scripture verses the crisis is upon them: will they bow to the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up?¹⁶ The answer, of course, is no, meaning they are going into the “fiery furnace.” More importantly, their answer is, “God will save us, but if not, we still won't do it.”¹⁷ Yes, they are saved by a miracle, but more than that, it is the Lord, Himself, who visits with them in the furnace¹⁸. And I submit that they were set up to go down that path to their potential destruction so that the Lord, already knowing their faith in Him, could perform the miracle in front of everyone else. Most miracles are not so public.

The last of my examples is the source of the title of this entry. It is the story of the man known only as the brother of Jared, a name-reference which was probably easier for Moroni to engrave in the small space he had¹⁹. Jared's brother was named Mahonri, but their last name, Moriancumer was probably too much to write. He was the one who was commanded to build barges capable of crossing the great deep²⁰. And because they were “tight like a dish”²¹ he was forced to go back to the Lord for clarification on his instructions. These barges were so tight that no light nor air could get in²². And the Lord's answer left him with a problem to solve:

23And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

24For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

25And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?²³

Notice that the Lord asks Mahonri what He should prepare for him. As Mahonri studied the problem he turned it around and asked himself what he should prepare for the Lord. The answer was a set of sixteen stones. There would be required, two, one for either end, for each of the eight barges. And these stones would have to be made from the best rock, melted out of quartz, or something like it. And these stones were white and clear²⁴. He took them before the Lord, knowing that a being who lives in glory can make other things glorious as well²⁵.

The Lord knew the outcome of this conversation would be that Mahonri, he of so great faith²⁶, would see His finger and be permitted to see so much more that we can't begin to fathom it²⁷. Knowing then, that Mahonri would seek the Lord's help in this way, He led Mahonri down this path to the point of being allowed to enter His presence.

Each of us is on such a path. We may not recognize it, but we are being nudged into pondering our own problem of getting more light in our barge. And we are being told that windows are out, and fire is out. And the only path that will solve our problem takes us straight into the arms of the Lord.

Do we come prepared for the meeting, or are we going to be empty-handed? Paul, no doubt because of his experience on the road to Damascus, described the sensation of being unprepared by saying, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”²⁸

Let us, therefor, study and pray and prepare for ourselves, sixteen stones, white and clear, that we may be ready when we reach the end of the path that leads us into the hands of the living God. May our experience bring understanding. . . and joy.

1 See Matthew 7:6

2 See Esther 2:5-7

3 See Esther 3:1-2

4 See Esther 3:5-13

5 See Esther 2:10

6 See Esther 4:7-8

7 Esther 4:13-14

8 See Esther 4:16

9 Esther 4:16

10 See Esther 5:2-3, 7-8; 7:1-6

11 See Esther 7:9-10

12 Esther 4:14

13 See Daniel 2, especially v. 27-28

14 See Daniel 2:48

15 See Daniel 2:49

16 See Daniel 3:1-6 (the next six verses)

17 See Daniel 3:12-18

18 See Daniel 3:25

19 See Mormon 8:5

20 See Ether 2:16

21 Ether 2:17

22 See Ether 2:18-22

23 Ether 2:23-25

24 See Ether 3:1

25 See Ether 3:4

26 See Ether 3:15

27 See Ether 3:25-27

28 Hebrews 10:31

Refuge from the Storm

In these times of frustration and worry, I have been reminded that all storms can be weathered, but not all can be survived. I say that because we are sometimes called upon to submit to the will of the Lord, in all things, and to even lay down our lives as witnesses of the truths we know. In the process, we lay down all that we are and take up something new to replace it. And in that sense we have not survived, but rather been reborn. This is the nature of the storms of the soul.

Such a storm was experienced by the Jews of Daniel's day, and their leaders, which included Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They were commanded (along with all Jews, captive in Babylon) to worship an image of gold created by Nebuchadnezzer. This they refused to do. And a great furnace was prepared, to threaten them if they didn't comply. During the confrontation the king asked what god would save them? Their answer is profound:

17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

The significant phrase, "but if not," indicates their willingness to become victims of Nebuchadnezzer's wrath rather than break the commandment of the Lord.

As we know, they were delivered. The Lord, himself, was seen conversing with them in the furnace. But they were willing to let it be otherwise. Or in other words, their will was swallowed up in the will of the Lord.

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“The Hiding Place” is a book by a woman named Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman caught up in the Nazi occupation of Holland in World War II. It talks about helping the Jews of Holland to escape the Nazis.

In 2009, I found the book on the shelf again and re-read her story. She was imprisoned, and suffered all kinds of things because she was caught trying to protect these people. Most were helped to move to the Dutch countryside with forged papers. But some looked "too Jewish" to be helped that way. These people stayed in her house. She had a special wall constructed in her bedroom so that these people could hide if there was a raid. The hiding place was eventually discovered, most of her family was killed, and she and her sister, Betsie, were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Betsie died there, but Corrie survived. And she spent her time after the war healing the wounds caused by the conflict. And she gave lectures about her experience, telling of the power of God's forgiveness.

During one of these lectures, a man approached her, who she recognized as one of her former guards, one of the cruelest.

“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he said. “I was a guard there. . . . But since that time, . . . I have become a Christian.” He explained that he had sought God’s forgiveness for the cruel things he had done. He extended his hand and asked, “Will you forgive me?”

Corrie described the experience:

“It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

“ . . . The message that God forgives has a . . . condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. . . .

“ . . . ‘Help me!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’

“ . . . Woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. As I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“ ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart.’

“For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then.”

Corrie ten Boom

Until 2009, I had always imagined that the “Hiding Place” was talking about the tiny space behind the special wall in the ten Boom's home. What I found out was that she called Jesus, The Hiding Place. He was the one who helped her through her trials. And it was He who helped her extend her hand to the Ravensbruck guard.

Sometimes the sacrifice we are called upon to make is not to be cast into a furnace, but to extend a forgiving hand. And yet, in the moment of decision we receive the reward.

One of my favorite LDS hymns, because we use it during the moments before the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is called "Where Can I Turn for Peace?". I recommend you go to this page to experience it.

The Lord is our Hiding Place, He visits us in the furnace of our affliction, and He is the one who stills the waves, and whispers, "Peace."