Sunday, January 27, 2008

Isaiah 26 & 27

The 26th chapter of Isaiah contains some wonderful verses about trusting in the Lord and prayer.

Trust in the Lord

The first verse about trusting in the Lord is found in Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." To me, this simply means that if I trust in the Lord and constantly remember and think of the Lord, then I will have true peace in my life.

Ezra Taft Benson referenced this scripture once in a talk. He said, "Let your minds be filled with the goal of being like the Lord, and you will crowd out depressing thoughts as you anxiously seek to know him and do his will. “Let this mind be in you,” said Paul. (Philippians 2:5.) “Look unto me in every thought,” said Jesus. (D&C 6:36.) And what will follow if we do? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” (Isaiah 26:3.) (Ezra Taft Benson, “Do Not Despair,” Ensign, Nov. 1974, 65)

We trust in the Lord when we strive to remember him in all that we do. This is another reason why we need to partake of the sacrament each week. We will only have the Spirit with us as we "always remember him" (see Moroni 4 & 5). If we can train our mind and heart to stay on the Lord, then remembering Him will be much easier.

One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."

But how do we trust in the Lord and keep on mind focused on Him?

Prayer

Isaiah 26:9 holds the answer to this question. "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I seek thee early."

President Thomas Monson often likes to quote the hymn "Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire" (Hymn 145)

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast. …

O thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way!
The path of prayer thyself hast trod;
Lord, teach us how to pray.

The Resurrection

Isaiah references the resurrection in this chapter as well. "They dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead" (Isaiah 26:19).

This free gift from God is granted unto all regardless of the life we have lived on this earth.

Leviathan

To point out how little I know, I've always know that Leviathan was a deep sea monster and that there was a movie made about it. I had no idea it is a creature that has roots in the creation and ancient biblical texts.

Isaiah 27:1 says, "In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."

As Ludlow points out, the footnote in the LDS KJV notes that leviathan is "a legendary sea-monster representing the forces of chaos that opposed the Creator." The forces of chaos are Satan and his followers.

The Wikipedia entry on Leviathan goes into more detail about how this creature is described in Judaism and Christianity.


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