Lesson 12: Daydream Believer

This week's lesson deals with Genesis 40-45. When we last left our hero Joseph, he had been falsely accused by Potiphar's skanky wife and placed in jail. This week, he eventually gets out and saves Egypt and his family from a seven-year famine. Not very interesting when condensed down so far... I'll go over some of the things which stood out for me, and we'll see how much ground I can cover.

First, after Joseph has been in prison for an undisclosed amount of time (long enough to earn the trust of the prison keeper), Pharaoh's butler and baker wind up in prison. Here's one more reason why Joseph is a hero to me. He sees these two men and asks them, "Wherefore look ye so sadly today?" (Genesis 40:7)

I missed this for years, then it jumped out and bit me. Joseph is in prison, because his former boss's wife was a tramp. He got that job because his brothers sold him to some traveling Ishmaelites, who in turn sold him in Egypt. It seems like the bad luck just keeps coming for him, but he stops to inquire why these two men are having a bad day in prison. I don't know what prison life was like under Joseph's direction, but I wouldn't think it strange that two newcomers were a little depressed.

"I'm sorry you missed milk and cookie hour, but we have craft time just after lunch... "

How often do we get so caught up in our own problems that we don't notice there are people around us who are having a hard time too? There's a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell which has become one of my personal favorites:

"When, for the moment, we ourselves are not being stretched on a particular cross, we ought to be at the foot of someone else’s—full of empathy and proffering spiritual refreshment" (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, April Gen Conf, 1990).

Instead of sitting down to commiserate over the discomforts of prison life, Joseph does what he can to lift their spirits. Turns out they had disturbing dreams, which Joseph interprets for them. Works out well for the butler, sadly not so much for the baker. Butler promises to put in a good word for Joseph, then forgets for two years.

Pharoah has a dream this time, and none of his wisemen or magicians can (or will) interpret it for him. I didn't catch on to this one either until I read a bit more on Egyptian culture...

Dream 1: seven fat cows are eating by the river, seven scrawny cows come up out of the river and eat the fat cows and are still scrawny as ever.

Dream 2: seven good ears of corn grow up on one stalk. Seven shriveled ears come up and eat the seven good ears.

This should've been a no-brainer to the wisemen. Cows were a symbol of the Egyptian goddess Isis, who represented agriculture and food. The [Nile] river represented fertility and life. The ears of wheat would also represent life and sustenance. So seven plentiful symbols of food are consumed by seven scrawny symbols of food... doesn't really take a genius here. The only guesswork left is to figure out they represent seven years. This would be like me not catching on to the fact Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader and is really Luke's father.

Joseph not only interprets Pharaoh's dreams, but offers a suggestion on how to prepare for the upcoming famine. To the credit of Pharaoh, he recognizes Joseph as "a man in whom the Spirit of God is" (Genesis 41:38). Once again, Joseph is placed in the #2 slot. And, unlike his previous posts, he gets to keep it this time.

I bet Potiphar's wife was feeling a little nervous when she got the news Joseph was second only to Pharaoh. How easy it would've been for him to issue the order to have her put in prison, or worse. As we will see when the brothers come to buy food, Joseph possesses a very forgiving heart. But that's another story...

Lesson 11: Dream a Little Dream

"So, I keep having these dreams where everyone is bowing down to me."

"Oh! Oh! Can I be the president of your fan club?"

That's probably not how Joseph envisioned his brothers' reaction when he told them about his dreams, but he had to know that it wouldn't go over well. I've often wondered why Joseph even bothered telling his brothers about the dreams at all. They already harbored enough resentment over the whole coat issue (the Hebrew suggests it was a coat with long sleeves, similar to something worn by royalty).

One thing I've learned through my children is that they have a hyper-sensitive sense of what they perceive to be fairness. It must skip a generation, because I don't remember being that way. I just learned to deal with the fact that I was the only child who wasn't spoiled...

So when Jacob gives Joseph the fancy coat, that didn't go over very well with the other kids. In fact, they "could not speak peaceably unto [Joseph]" (Gen 37:4). That must've made for some incredibly awkward dinner table conversations...

"Nice coat Joseph, looks like a bathrobe. Did it come with slippers too?"

Then Jacob would threaten them with washing dishes or cleaning the kitchen if they didn't stop fighting (just speculating on that part, it's not actually in the scriptures).

So when Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers as they were feeding the flocks (45 miles away), the brothers took advantage of the situation, and little Joe gets sold off to Egypt.

He ends up a servant to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard, and is eventually put in charge of the whole house. Potiphar's wife was a little loose in the morals department and poor Joseph ends up in jail for sticking to his standards.

We sometimes get stuck in the idea that good things happen to good people and bad things come as punishment. That philosophy makes it very difficult to deal with the tough times that just happen as part of life. Joseph didn't get caught in the self-pity trap, he continued to gain favor and ended up as #2 on the prison's corporate ladder.

One thing we can learn from Joseph's example is his attitude towards trials. As Bishop H. Burke Peterson once said, “Whatever the source of the trial, if properly approached and handled, it will draw us closer to God” (H. Burke Peterson, BYU Devotional, 16 Feb 1996). And that seems to be exactly how Joseph handled his trials, and as a result, "the Lord was with Joseph" (Gen 39:21).

President George Q. Cannon taught:

"No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. ... We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments ("Freedom of the Saints," in Collected Discourses, comp. and ed. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. (Burbank, California: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987¬92), 2:185; emphasis added)."

One of the challenges of this life is to see trials not as punishments, but as God's invitation for us to draw nearer to Him. And since we're going to have trials anyway, it seems to be pretty good company...

Thank You For Everything, Sister Holt

I found out this afternoon on facebook that Margaret Holt, my Grade 9 seminary teacher, passed away today. I haven't seen any other details, but I wanted to put down some of my thoughts and feelings.

Thank you for being so willing to teach a bunch of rowdy 14-year-olds at 7:00 AM every day. Your love of the gospel was transparent and infectious. You put up with a lot from us, but I hope you knew how much got actually through. Sure, we did stupid things like dress up the fire extinguisher, and there was the time Malcolm jumped out and almost gave you a heart attack as you came up the stairs one morning. But we also listened and learned and you made it fun. You gave us some of our first real experiences in learning from the scriptures and from the Spirit. You showed us how to study and learn at home and introduced us to real heroes in class. I hope you realized the impact you had on our lives.

It might be a little selfish on my part, but I feel honored to have had the opportunity to have you as part of my class as you came back to visit during the summers after you moved. Even though I was at the front supposedly teaching, I still learned from you as you shared your insights and thoughts. Each time you came to visit, I wanted to thank you for the way you helped shape my life, but I would always freeze and the words never came out. So I guess this is my way of trying to make up for having missed those opportunities.

Thank you for countless hours of preparation and study. Thank you for sharing your testimony with us. Thank you for the love which always came through your lessons. I wish there was a way to repay you.

"Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God..." (Jacob 6:13)

Lesson 8: Pitching Your Tent

I seem to have missed a couple of lessons somewhere... Oops (in my defense, things have been a little crazy on this end).

This week's lesson deals with Abraham, Lot, and essentially their choices in mailing addresses. After they left Egypt, they found the land couldn't support both of them because their herds were so great, and their herdsmen apparently weren't getting along. Abraham, not wanting any strife between the two families, gave Lot first pick on where to settle (Gen 13:9). Lot saw the Plains of Jordan and how well-watered they were and called dibs. Abraham stayed in the land of Canaan at Bethel.

Seems rather innocent, doesn't it? Here's the kicker, "...Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen 13:12, emphasis added). What could be so wrong about that? Well, read the next verse.

"But the men of Sodom were wicked ... exceedingly" (Gen 13:13).

Did that make Lot a bad person just because he chose a view of the city? No, it's clear from later events that Lot was still righteous, but he ends up paying a price. And somewhere between chapters 13 and 14, Lot has moved into the city.

Meanwhile, Abraham is visited by three holy men (see JST Genesis 18:23 for clarification), they tell him, among other things, Sodom and Gomorrah are about to be destroyed because of their wickedness.

Abraham then prays to the Lord on behalf of the righteous, asking if the cities could be spared. The Lord replies that if he (Abraham, not God. See JST Gen 18:29) can find fifty righteous, the city would be spared. I'm not sure if Abraham knew that was a tall order, but he continues his "negotiations" until the Lord agrees to spare the city for the sake of five righteous people.

The three messengers from the Lord visit Lot, warn him, and help him to escape with his wife and two daughters (couldn't even find five righteous people to save the city) before Sodom is destroyed. His sons-in-law thought he was crazy, so they stayed behind, along with their wives (Lots' daughters) and Lot's grandsons. On the way out, Lot's wife looked back (or went back) and perished as well (see Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk "Remember Lot's Wife" for a more in-depth discussion). So Lot comes out with only his two unmarried daughters, who weren't overly stellar examples of the Young Women values, and no mention of any of his prior wealth.

How many times do we, like Lot, pitch our tents towards Sodom? We know there are evils and dangers in the world, and yet we sometimes try to keep "one foot in Babylon and one foot in Zion" (Carlos E. Asay, "Be Men!," Ensign, May 1992, 40). He may have thought there was no harm in facing his tent towards Sodom, just as I'm sure he was convinced he could still live his standards while surrounded by "exceedingly wicked" men in Sodom.

Abraham on the other hand chose to stay in Bethel (which means "House of God"), much like the Nephites who chose to set their tents "with the door thereof towards the temple" (Mosiah 2:6).

In our day, we are constantly bombarded by the evils of the world. President Hinckley said, "All of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil ("Living in the Fulness of Times," Ensign, Nov. 2001, 6.)." The direction in which we have pitched our tents will largely determine our ability to withstand and remain faithful.

Lesson 5: Raising Cain

I'm going to try posting before the lesson this week, see how that goes...

Lesson 5 contrasts the lives of Cain and Enoch. I'll look at Cain this time around and see if I have time to cover Enoch later in the week.

Adam and Eve had high hopes for their son Cain. If we read the Genesis account, it sounds like Cain is their first son, but in Moses it's clear that they had several sons and daughters already (see Moses 5:12). By the time Cain comes along, it sounds like there are many who have chosen not to follow the Lord, and Eve's desire for Cain was that "he may not reject [the Lord's] words..." but sadly his attitude was, "Who is the Lord that I should know him?" (Moses 5:16)

Adam and his posterity had been commanded of the Lord to "offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord..." as "... a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten..." (Moses 5:5, 7). We need to know that part before the next part makes sense.

Satan told Cain to "Make an offering unto the Lord" (Moses 5:18). Either the record left out a few parts, or Cain could be trusted to mess it up on his own. Instead of offering the firstling of the flock, he brought some of his crops.

This doesn't make sense, why would Satan tell Cain to do something righteous? Because he either knew Cain wouldn't do it right, or he told him to offer crops instead of the required firstling. It wasn't exactly a suggestion from the Lord that if you happen to have a firstling kicking around, that'll work. Otherwise, whatever you have will be fine. God specifically set forth the terms of an acceptable sacrifice, it had to be specific if it was going to be symbolic of the Savior's great sacrifice.

When God approved of Abel's offering but not Cain's, Satan was happy and Cain was "very wroth" (Moses 5:21). This confused me a little too. Why would Cain be so upset that God didn't approve of his offering, which Satan told him to do in the first place? Cain "loved Satan more than God" (Moses 5:18), so you wouldn't imagine approval from God would be high on his priorities.

A scripture from the Book of Mormon helped a little. Mormon saw the sorrow of his people and was hopeful they would repent and turn from their wickedness.

"But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin" (Mormon 2:13, emphasis added).

There is no happiness or divine approval to be found outside of the Lord's commandments. Satan knows this and Cain just learned the hard way.

Satan makes a deal with Cain saying, "If you swear your allegiance to me, I'll hand over your brother Abel and you can do whatever you want to him" (paraphrasing Moses 5:29).

Medium story short, Cain does, Satan does, and Abel winds up murdered. Cain exclaims, "I am free" (Moses 5:33). Just as Cain learned there is no happiness in sin, he now learns there is no freedom in wickedness. He is cursed to roam the earth as a fugitive and vagabond.

One of the other questions which came to me was, "Why didn't the Lord warn Abel?" Abel was clearly a righteous man, that has to count for something, right? 'Hey Abel, your brother wants to kill you for a few sheep.' Abel gets to live, Cain gets upset but doesn't kill anyone, seems like a happy ending.

We sometimes get caught up in the idea that faithfulness somehow equals an easier ride through life. Ask Job how that worked for him. He was allowed to be tried and tested because he was so righteous and faithful.

Amulek asked a similar question of Alma as they watched the many faithful women and children being thrown into the flames by the wicked judges.

"But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that ... the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day" (Alma 14:11).

In the end, Cain is forced to wander the land and doesn't get his brother's flocks like he thought he would. Apparently he didn't read the fine print on his contract, "Terms and conditions apply. Subject to change without notice. Dealer may sell for less, or just walk away altogether and leave you to take the blame for everything."

Marriage Advice from Adam & Eve

I had the best of intentions to get this up last week, but between work and a much-needed weekend away I never got around to posting it. So I'll post this one from last week's lesson and then get this week's post done in the next day or so...

If we only had the Genesis account, we'd be pretty upset with Eve. After all, it seems at first glance that she blew it for everyone by eating the forbidden fruit (which was probably zucchini, in my opinion). They got kicked out of paradise and we're stuck in a world of thorns and thistles. Moral of the story, be a little more cautious when your wife wants to try out a new recipe...

Fortunately, we have more information available to us. The prophet Lehi taught his son Jacob about the effects of the fall of Adam:

"And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden..." (2 Nephi 2:22)

That doesn't sound too bad so far.

"And they would have had no children..." (2 Nephi 2:23)

So now it seems Eve knew what she was doing when she ate the fruit. They were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, something they could not do in their current condition. So, what does that have to do with marriage? Well, if we don't understand why Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit and leave the garden, the rest doesn't really make sense.

Tip #1 - Support your spouse.
When asked why he had eaten the fruit, Adam responded that the "woman thou ... commandest that she should remain with me" gave him the fruit and he ate it. He's not trying to pass the buck or blame his wife, he's saying he transgressed one commandment in order to obey the higher one. As is often the case in marriage, we sometimes give up something good for something even better.

Tip #2 - "thy desire shall be to thy [spouse]" (Moses 4:22)
How many of today's marital problems could be avoided or eliminated if each spouse held the other in the #1 position? President Gordon B. Hinckley taught:

"When you are married, be fiercely loyal one to another. Selfishness is the great destroyer of happy family life. If you will make your first concern the comfort, the well-being, and the happiness of your companion, sublimating any personal concern to that loftier goal, you will be happy, and your marriage will go on throughout eternity" ("Excerpts from Recent Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley," Ensign, Dec. 1995, 67)

Not just devoted, but "fiercely loyal". He's not just talking about letting another person take the place of your spouse, but activities and interests can become more important to you than your spouse if not done in moderation. Online games, time at the office, sports, etc., although not inherently "evil", can be placed in the position which should be occupied by your spouse.

Tip #3 - Work with your spouse
After they left the garden, "Adam began to till the earth... to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow... And Eve, also, his wife, did labor with him." (Moses 5:1).

One thing that frosts my hide (and I hope I'm not guilty of this) is fathers/husbands who feel that when they get home from work their duty is done. One of the best, and arguably more important, places to work with your spouse is at home.

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." (The Family: A Proclamation to the World, emphasis added)

Don't start "keeping score" of the things you do vs. what your spouse does, because we are by nature very poor score keepers. We tend to see the things we do and miss the other stuff that goes on around us. We only keep score when we want to win, which tends to promote a competitive atmosphere. Marriage is not a competition, it's a cooperation.

Anyhow, those were my thoughts from the lesson...

"I Am a Child of God"

I'm a little bit of a procrastinator. This is not news to some of you. In an effort to correct this little flaw, I am going to try posting something relating to the upcoming lesson ahead of time. Crazy, I know. Especially considering I haven't really done much with this page over the past year.

This year (2010), we are studying the Old Testament in Gospel Doctrine class. Lesson 1 deals with the first chapter in the Book of Moses where the Lord speaks with Moses on "an exceedingly high mountain". We're not really sure when this vision took place, but it was sometime between the burning bush (Moses 1:17) and the Exodus (vs. 25-26).

What transformed Moses from someone who was so reluctant to accept the call to someone who could walk into Pharoah's court and confidently demand that he release the Israelites?

I believe the answer is in this experience with the Lord. God appears to Moses and speaks with him face to face, introduces Himself as "the Lord God Almighty" (vs. 3), then says "behold, thou art my son" (vs. 4) and twice more refers to him as "Moses, my son" (vs. 6-7).

From this introduction, Moses quickly learns that God lives and has a body, not just a voice speaking from a burning bush. He also has a powerful confirmation that he is a son of God.

President Thomas S. Monson taught:

"...we need to reflect on the counsel of Maxwell Maltz, who declared:

'The most realistic self-image of all is to conceive of yourself as made in the image of God.' You cannot sincerely hold this conviction without experiencing a profound new sense of strength and power." (Thomas S. Monson, Go For It!, Apr 89 General Conference).

It is one thing to know that God lives, it is quite another thing to learn that we are His spirit children. What does it really mean to know that we are literally a child of God? Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught:

"Consider the power of the idea taught in our beloved song 'I Am a Child of God.' ...Here is the answer to one of life’s great questions, 'Who am I?' I am a child of God with a spirit lineage to heavenly parents. That parentage defines our eternal potential. That powerful idea is a potent antidepressant. It can strengthen each of us to make righteous choices and to seek the best that is within us. Establish in the mind of a ... person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God, and you have given self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life" (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 31; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 25).

How would it affect our own lives if we really knew and felt that we too were children of God? I suspect it would bring more focus and direction to most of us. I think many of us know or believe that we are children of God, but how many of us really feel it? What can we do to strengthen that feeling? I can only speak for myself, but I know if I "called home" more often on my knees, that would help. The times when I have really opened my heart in prayer, whether to seek for guidance or just to express thanks, are when I have felt this parent-child bond the strongest.

"Never forget, my dear ... friends, that you really are a child of God who has inherited something of His divine nature, one whom He loves and desires to help and bless." (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, "You Are a Child of God," Ensign, May 2003, 117