34 These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man;
35 For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them;
I sat there stopped in my tracks. Was this saying what I thought it was saying? I just sat there and pondered on verse 36 and reread the context a few times. I was thinking about a lot of things pertaining to hearing the voice of the Lord. I then turned to the study manuel and found this:
“Brigham Young was so impressed by it that he copied it in his laborious handwriting into his diary. I am impressed by it likewise. These are the words: [D&C 18:34–36].
“The thing that impresses me about this is, and I have never thought of it before, when I read a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants I am hearing the voice of the Lord as well as reading his words, if I hear by the Spirit.
“Now I have heard it said many times by men that they have often asked the Lord for a special testimony and oftentimes haven’t had it. They seem to want to hear the voice of the Lord. I confess I have often wanted to hear the voice of the Lord, without knowing that all these years I have been hearing it with deaf ears. This woke me up.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1963, p. 74.)
Pretty cool that Brigham Young and I had the same experience over a set of scriptures. Like seriously cool! I wonder if he was the fist bumping type, cause that would be awesome.
This is a perfect example of what I've been trying to communicate about seeing with different eyes or having a change of heart. My scriptures are full of red markings that denote the words of Christ. When we receive patriarchal blessings, it is the words of the Lord. When we get any kind of blessing it is the words the Lord would speak to you through the mouth of the person accessing the priesthood on your behalf. I knew that the Doctrine and Covenants were a book of revelation - revelation from the Lord to the Prophet- essentially his voice. When I've had a question about something and open up my scripture and the answer is there, what category was I putting that in my mind? When I've been prompted to do something with a thought in my mind, what is that? All these things I have known -on some level- that this was the voice of the Lord. Somehow, I was discounting it as such thinking that I needed to hear an actual voice from, perhaps, the sky or something, for it to count. Reading those verses really "woke me up."
A couple more examples of this "awakening" were, when after years and years of hearing AND saying "you just need to read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to the temple, etc…." and all things would be know unto you what you should do…blah de blah blah - I think we really do start thinking like that when we hear those words and become "yeah, yeah whatever"! I said it, I believed it, but I also was always hoping for some magical string of words together or some super awesome thing I was supposed to do that would yield some prophetic results in my life. Some magic pill to spiritual greatness. I can still remember the day when it dawned on me what the answer was. "wait. what? I get it! All you have to do is read your scriptures and ponder them, you just need to ask and pray, you just need to go to the temple. They were all the same words but they brought new meaning and understanding with them this time. I can say all those words to someone else and they will be just that, words. Until those words take meaning in your heart and open your eyes they will be nothing more than words. That's why the oil cannot be removed from your lamp and given to someone else. The oil will just be oil, just like the words are just words. This was an example of my brain being "on board" before my heart was.
Another example was a couple of years ago when I began studying the old testament. I had a testimony of the BOM already. I mean, I joined the church over it. I believed it with my heart. I knew it was true and didn't really have any "evidence" other than the feelings of my heart and some things that happened that testified to me of it's truthfulness. That testimony grew and flourished but I would say that it was confirmed deep in my soul once again in a new way. It was because of my study of the old testament and seeing the pattern of God. Seeing how consistent he was. Seeing how the books began to testify of each other. Realizing just how impossible it would have been for a man, JS, to come up with scriptures that so accurately followed the pattern of God. He didn't mess up and have him do something that he wouldn't do. There is no explanation for the consistency other than it is what it claims to be. I don't remember what it was specifically that I was studying, but I had the magnificent moment again, like I had before. "wait! Oh my goodness. This is so cool! The BOM really is another testament of Jesus Christ." My eyes were so open. I wanted to run out and tell everyone this exciting thing that I just discovered. This was an example of my heart being on board before my brain. The brain and the heart coming together brought a conversion in both instances. A foundation that feels more unbreakable than ever. I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but Elder Bednar talks about this brain heart connection. :0)
All this talk about conversion probably warrants a post on the difference between testimony and conversion, but not this time and there are plenty of talks out there that cover it much better than I ever could - especially from the before mentioned.
My question is; what would it do or change if you knew that you had been hearing the voice of the Lord?
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