Sabbath Devotional :: To Love as the Savior Loves

I attended the adult session of stake conference tonight. Elder R. Scott Runia of the Seventy was there. He brought us greetings from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and shared with us what he characterized, with great emotion, as “probably the last message I will hear directly from his lips.”

What our prophet said to Elder Runia and the others leaders in attendance at that meeting was this: “Brethren, we need to prepare the Saints for the Second Coming. We all need to be better. We need to love more as the Savior loves.”

Love.

That is how, according to the living prophet of God, we need to prepare for the Second Coming — not by frantically stockpiling food and clothing and fuel and then buying guns and ammo to protect it all, not by building bunkers or studying survivalist strategies, not by scouring the scriptures for lists of signs that we then proceed to check-off like eager doomsday criers, but by loving more as the Savior loves.

How does the Savior love?

It’s easy to answer that question by looking to the New Testament or to those tender and moving chapters in 3rd Nephi. But what about the Savior as the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament? Isn’t his love more demanding and capricious, more exacting and inscrutable? Nephi delighted in the words of Isaiah, and Christ himself commanded the people of the New World to search them, “for great are the words of Isaiah.”

What can we learn from Isaiah about the true character of Jehovah/our Savior and how to love as He loves?

Isaiah, the great poet-prophet who was married to a prophetess, has always been my favorite Old Testament writer. Many of my most beloved scriptures come from the book of Isaiah:

“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).

“. . . yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15–16).

“. . . he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives . . . To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning” (Isaiah 61:1,3).

“. . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

“. . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).

“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm” (Isaiah 25:4).

“and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11).

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

“For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (41:13);

“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted” (49: 13)

“But now thus saith the Lord that created thee . . . Fear not: for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior” (43:1-3).

These beautiful passages paint a very different picture of Jehovah than we often get from scriptures in the Old Testament that portray Jehovah as vengeful and easily provoked. Inscrutable. Recently, my husband and I read Isaiah chapter 55 together during our nightly scripture study. We immediately recognized verses 8 and 9 as old seminary Scripture Mastery scriptures: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We had both always been taught that this scripture was about the fact that, no matter how hard we try, we can never understand God’s mind and actions. As we studied these verses in context, though, they took on an entirely different and much more specific meaning. A close reading of this chapter (Isaiah 55) reveals an elegant treatise on God’s abundant grace, mercy, and love. These are God’s ways.

And, sadly, historically, they are not the ways of man. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than man’s, which, too often, are characterized by tribalism, retribution, vengeance, selfishness, and violence. Far from telling us that we can never hope to understand Him and, therefore, shouldn’t even try, what God actually seems to be doing here is trying to tell us/show us who He is — to reveal to us his true character and nature.

The chapter begins with an open invitation to all to come unto God and receive salvation: “Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters . . .” And the price is free. “Come ye, buy . . . without money and without price.” We then learn, in verse three, that God wants to make an “everlasting covenant” with us — with all of us, not just David and his seed. And in verse seven, He calls for us to forsake our sins and return unto Him, for He will have mercy upon us and will “abundantly pardon.” This is followed immediately by those oft-misunderstood Scripture Mastery verses: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”

In other words, unlike we mortals with our vindictiveness and lust for revenge and punishment, God is abundantly forgiving and loving. Unlike humans, who are often retaliatory and stingy, God is merciful and generous. Divine abundance and joy are contrasted here with mortal scarcity and fear. “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace,” is God’s promise to all who come unto Him. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree.”