Trying to find images that go with the poetry I collect for these lessons is often frustrating. It seems like all the images I find in image searches have text written across the image, as if the image itself can’t communicate what needs to be said. In addition, many images consist of hikers or climbers reaching “impossible” heights or accomplishing difficult feats, as if we somehow think that physical feats are exactly analogous to spiritual accomplishments. I don’t think spirituality is predominantly based on testosterone.

I see a similar disparity when looking at the book of Judges, which the lesson portrays as portraying faithfulness and courage in following the Lord. Actually, the book of Judges is more about the failure of Israel to follow the Lord and portrays the tribes as repeatedly resorting to violence to resolve their difficulties. It seems like the message of the book of Judges can be summed up in the phrase it repeats twice in the book: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 21:25) It seems to me that this idea is increasingly true today.

Regardless, we do need to be faithful to the Lord, and have the courage to follow Him, doing that which is truly right, and not just that which is right in their own eyes.

 

God will be with me as I strive to be faithful to Him.

The above suggests that what is important is that we are faithful to Him instead of what is right in our own eyes. I must admit that as I age, I am less and less sure that what I think is right is actually right—there are many factors to consider, and I’m sure I am making mistakes. But, of course, we still have the promise that God will be with us and support us, as long as we are really trying.

I don’t know the name of this poet, beyond the initials W. L—I assume it was someone who was a part of the Nauvoo LDS community in 1841, when this was published. Regardless, I like the description here of how God will be with us.

 

Yes I love thee, and thy holy name

To me is dearer far, than even life;

Thou great Jehovah, even still the same;

In thy calm bosom there’s no burning strife:

But in this heart is held a conflict dire,

Between my love for thee, and passions’ pow’r;

Passions which burst like Etna’s towering fire,

And threaten my destruction in an hour,

And then shoulds’t thy lov’d spirit cease to strive-

Where were my hope? no anchor to the soul,

No helm to guide; tempest wild would drive

But thou art ever gracious, ever kind;

Thy gentle hand to man is stretch’d out still,

Thy spirit calms the anguish of his mind,

And guides him by thy wise and sovereign will;

Compels him not, by arbitrary power,

But gently leads him on in wisdom’s ways;

Showers him the errors of his former course,

Illuminates his path by heavenly rays.

Who but must love the Parent faithful friend

And tho’ e’en life is dear, yet love the more;

Love, praise, and serve thee, always to the end,

And tho’ e’en life is dear, yet love the more.

1841

 

The word of God can make my way prosperous.

The idea of prosperity is likely one area where we misinterpret the scriptures and the gospel, especially in today’s world where it seems like everything is interpreted in terms of our financial status. In part the problem lies in our the increasing amount our society thinks is necessary for life—we don’t just need enough food, we also need a job, a laptop and a health-club membership. Doesn’t prosperity also exist in what we learn, in our family life, in our emotions, and in our physical health? God doesn’t make our way prosperous by making it possible for us to buy a new car.

In the following poem, poet John Jaques, perhaps the English convert best known for his poetry, looks from England at the difficulties the early saints in Utah faced getting food. The rapid increase in Utah’s population along with the difficulty creating the infrastructure there to make raising food possible, along with the well-known waves of crickets that destroyed crops, put Church members there in some difficulty. Of course, eventually they prospered—they didn’t get rich, but they had enough.

 

From the mountains and vales of the West,

The true key, yes, of Joseph’s choice land,

Where are gather’d and gathering from every clime,

The thousands on thousands of honest in heart-

Among men all the purest and best,

From sin and corruption to live far apart,

To purge from their own souls the old Gentile leaven,

To grow in the knowledge and wisdom of heaven,

To prepare for the Lord, who will come in his time,

And unscath’d in his glory to stand,

Come tidings so drear,

That men start and fear,

Who calm in the promise of God ne’er abide,

But trust in their wealth, or in princes confide.

The tidings are these-

The husbandman ploughs, and he sows, and he plants,

That he may have wherewith the bodily wants

Of his nature t’appease.

But scarce has the green blade appear’d through the soil,

When, his prospects to blast and his efforts to foil,

The crickets, bugs, locusts, and grasshoppers too,

In legions on legions,

From the high mountain regions,

Descend in the vales,

(All stopping them fails,)

And to eat up the young crops try all they can do.

The farmer, undaunted, again sows his seed,

And again, and again;

But in vain, all in vain-

The insects resolve they will see him in need,

For their armies increase-like the sands of the seas

Are their numberless hosts, and industrious as bees.

And, to second their labours, a withering drought

Sears its way through the land, helping scarcity out.

Though professedly sadly

Some hear that the Saints are in trouble again,

This news is a treat,

A morsel most sweet,

To our foes, who rejoice,

With unanimous voice,

O’er apparent misfortunes which us overtake.

Mob-drivings and exile the Saints of the Lord

Have fairly outgrown, through faith in His word,

And prosper’d much more

Than ever before,

Though their enemies hop’d that their spirts would break.

And just now, O how gladly

Grasshoppers’ advances,

Betokening chances

Of famine and death, are receiv’d by such men.

And they think and they whisper—”If we’ve always fail’d

“To kill off the Mormons when we’ve them assail’d,

“We have yet the good will,

“And these insects may still,

“Harkee! then, we’ll coolly wait

“While they clean exterminate

“All the vile, the corrupt, the polygamic crew—

“Twill be hail’d through the land as the Mormons’ just due.”

And the taunt flies abroad-

“Where now is your God?

“Let us see, let us see, if His boasted great power

“Can save you, ye Mormons, in this evil hour!”

“Prepare for the worst, while you hope for the best,”

Is a maxim so wise,

It we should not despise,

But act as it says, and with God leave the rest.

And this the Saints will do.

They ever keep in view,

Man’s appointed once to die,

By I AM, who rules on high.

And, though it be treason,

They think, with good reason,

If the time thus appointed for them is e’en come-

If their bodies must crumble, their spirits go home,

‘Tis better to fall in the hands of the Lord,

Than victims to those who regard not His word.

Saints would rather be slain by the armies of God,

Than defil’d by hell’s soldiers, who heaven’s path ne’er trod.

But the Saints do not receive

What their enemies believe—

That by a dearth of food

Utah’s thousands, great and good,

Will be laid low in the grave

With no arm out-stretch’d to save.

Oh no! In six troubles God stood by their side,

And led them safe out,

And now in the seventh He’ll surely provide-

There’s no room for doubt.

There’s a Scripture truly saith-

“E’en according to your faith

“Be it done unto you.”

With this promise in view,

‘Twill be seen before long

Whose faith is most strong.

But there is a word of such wonderful kind,

Its equal the searching of man cannot find.

It outrivals the alchymists’ art, which of old

Affected to change baser metals to gold.

The Magi’s, Diviners’, or Fairies’ fam’d wand

Before this bright word is unworthy to stand.

In all places, all seasons, in every hour,

It makes manifest its most wondrous power.

No moment so gloomy, no prospect so drear,

But it can illumine, and brilliantly cheer.

No fearful misfortune which man can attend,

But it can transform to a good in the end.

A word of such value! O what can it be?

“Tis a word from Jehovah-“ All you that love me,

“It matters not whether

“They seem in the mood,

“But all things together

“Shall work for your good.”

Then truly in Utah this scarceness of food

Will prove to the Saints but an obvious good.

Some happy design it will sure bring about-

The faithless in Zion ’twill help riddle out;

Faint hearts and foul spirits who’ve never been there,

It will keep far away, and for this who will care?

The Saints it will teach not to let Gentiles drain

From Utah the bountiful blessings of heaven,

But the Seer’s words to treasure-“Take care of your grain,

“And economy learn in the things God has given.”

For a purpose most glorious the Lord has in view,

In a way of His own He’ll accomplish it too.

It long has been known as a prophetic word,

That judgment begins at the house of the Lord.

And why begin there?

That’s a very plain matter-

In washing a platter,

The inside, I ween,

Should have the first care,

Then the outside you clean.

This at least is the way of the Lord. He doth deign

First His people to sanctify, then what remain

Of His judgments so dire

Famine, war, plague, and fire,

Through the length and the breadth of the nations will go,

Till the wicked are chasten’d, till all people know

There’s a God lives in Israel, till Christ comes again

As King and as Lord o’er the whole earth to reign,

Till every knee bows at the sound of His name,

Every tongue doth confess, every soul speaks His fame.

But the Saints will rejoice, though the world evince fear,

As the chastenings of God fall on men far and near.

For if Saints are afflicted with violence and dearth,

Who can tell what the sinners will suffer on earth?

If the green tree is scath’d by the fire from on high,

What tongue can describe its effect on the dry.

Let all the earth hearken!

It is for their good-

Though prospects now darken,

The Saints will have food.

It will surely be given,

Though manna from heaven.

And this dispensation

Will prove their salvation

From evils more dire,

Though sav’d as by fire,

And will testify loudly,

To nations who proudly

Rejoice in their strength, and the Lord God forget,

When woe and disaster

Roll fiercer and faster

Than heard of before in the memory of man,

And the great and the wise

All amaz’d lift their eyes,

As no possible way of escape they can plan,

That the Saints are the men

To be sought after then,

Who’ve prov’d equal to every emergency yet.

When famine and dearth

Sweep over the earth-

When the fruitful fields cease

To yield their increase,

And the herds pine and die,

And the rain from on high

Fails to water the ground,

“Twill be told all around—

“There’s corn still in Zion,” and nations will cherish

The tidings, and say-” Let us go, or we perish;

“Let us go and buy food with our silver and gold.

“And, if need be, we will bargain, both young men and old,

“That we’ll serve those who’ll save us by giving us bread.

“And though to us grievous,

“If they will receive us,

“We’ll bow to the Saints, and to Brigham their head.”

1855

 

Both faith and works are necessary for salvation.

The U.S. before the Civil War might be another analogy to the book of Judges. Is there any doubt that much of the country was “doing what was right in their own eyes?” Perhaps that is an element of the need for both faith and works — we need faith so that we can hear and understand what God is telling us, and works so that we can see and understand how faith works in our lives. If we rely on faith alone, isn’t it easier to deceive ourselves about what is right? When the results of our works appear, we get a confirmation of whether our understanding is right or not.

This poem was written on the verge of the Civil War. Clegg, remembered as the bard of Springville, Utah, sees the discord in the “states” (as Utahns referred to the eastern US) as rooted in their lack of the true faith and failure to follow faith with true works, exemplified in the prominent axioms of the day that weren’t followed. Especially notable is his observation that “faith and good works, they declare, must abound, / Ere peace and goodwill among men will be found,” which ended up like an excuse for doing nothing, akin to saying “the world isn’t righteous, so we can do nothing.” I think we often say the same thing today.

 

What a motley display of religion and strife

Is distracting the world in all ranks of life!

How they wrangle and rave, contradict and deny,

Yet practise the things they profess to decry.

“United, we stand, but divided, we fall,”

Is a maxim quite true, as admitted by all;

Yet the pathway to union is stoutly decried,

As if all who had uttered the maxim had lied.

“Knowledge is power,” men will sagely exclaim;

Yet the true way to gain it will loudly declaim,

As though maxims were jokes of the highest degree,

And saying and doing must never fee.

“Stoop to conquer,” a favourite auxiom stands;

But many there are who scorn its demands;

Or the world would be blest, and humanity free;

For their rulers would lovers of righteousness be.

“Prepare for hereafter,” all Christendom cry;

“For as the tree falls, it for ever must lie:”

Believe as you like, each take his own way,

Only choose from the popular creeds of the day.”

Now, the “Mormons” believe in good maxims, and more

They practise them too, like the worthies of yore,

Insisting that fruit is the test of the tree,

Whatever its outward pretensions may be.

In axioms true they greatly delight:

No matter from whom they come, they’re right:

But faith and good works, they declare, must abound,

Ere peace and goodwill among men will be found.

The strange and unpopular faith they have got,

That the way to be saved has not changed one jot;

That unity, knowledge, and love will prevail,

When men become humble; till then, ever fail;

That the Gospel will every evil assuage,

Restored as it is in this privileged age;

And all who embrace it and faithful remain

Will glory and life everlasting obtain.

While the world, with their theories and practice ajar,

Are divided and weak, and from happiness far,

See, the “Mormons” are happy, contented, and free,

Determined to reach their high destiny.

1859

 

With faith in Jesus Christ, I can experience God’s “wonders.”

It sometimes seems like a lack of faith is simply looking at the world negatively. We don’t believe hard things are possible, so we don’t even try. So we only do the things that are convenient, and that are “right in our own eyes.”

Here poet Mary Page looks at examples of faith from the scriptures, which often resulted in “wonders.” Maybe the wonders we’re talking about are just the things we thought were so difficult to accomplish.

 

We read that faith the assurance is

Of things the Lord is pleased to give,

If saints will ask in Jesus’ name,

The blessings ask’d they may obtain.

By faith Jehovah fram’d the world,

And many wonders yet untold,

In ancient days, by faith were wrought,

By men who sought the law of God.

By faith an Enoch sought the Lord;

By faith obtain’d a just reward;

By faith beheld his maker’s face,

And triumph’d o’er the powers of death.

By faith Elijah raised the dead:

And for three years the prophet said,

It should not rain in all the land;

‘Twas done by Jesus’ great command.

By faith a Joshua could say,

Stand still thou glorious king of day,

Thou splendid orb of night be still

Till I Jehovah’s word fulfill.

By faith the walls of Jericho

Met with a dreadful overthrow;

For Israel trusted in the Lord,

Believed he would fulfill his word.

But time would fail, the scripture saith,

To mention all who liv’d by faith.

Some quench’d the violence of fire,

And others waxed strong in war.

While some were mock’d, and scourg’d, and ston’d,

Some for the gospel lost their homes;

Others were in the prison shut;

They kept the faith, denied it not.

And many wandered too and fro

As pilgrims on the earth below,

Knowing that they their Lord would see

On Zion’s mount from bondage free.

By faith proud Jordan’s wave was stay’d;

In years to come the Lord hath said,

He will roll back the mighty flood,

Israel pass through the sea dry shod.

Remember saints, the scripture saith,

The Lord doth work only by faith

Among the sons of men below,

By faith he doth his wonders show.

O then ye saints of latter days,

Come, let us study wisdom’s ways,

Shake off the power of carnal sloth,

Obtain this glorious living faith.

Help us, O Lord, to fear thy name,

Help us this mighty faith to gain,

That we with ancient saints may stand,

When Christ shall reign on Zion’s land.

Then let our faith and works agree,

Until from all our sins we’re free;

O, may we practice peace and truth,

That we may dwell with Christ on earth,

1841

 

Obedience invites God’s power into my life.

There is faith and courage and strength that comes in obedience to the Gospel. If there is a blessing or blessings associated with each commandment, then obeying those commandments gives us the power of those blessings. This idea is so simple that it’s too often dismissed—and I think it’s dismissed on two levels: First, because the connection is obvious — of course smoking doesn’t lead to better health. And second because no connection seems possible — paying tithing doesn’t lead you to having better finances. But in both cases the dismissal is more about perception of the gospel instead of actual truth.

In the following poem Parley P. Pratt looks at the power that comes from receiving the ordinances of the gospel — the easy dismissal of their efficacy simply because they either seem to be obvious (and therefore not involving religion or belief) or not connected (and therefore coincidental).

 

How foolish to the carnal mind

The ord’nances of God appear,

They count them as a puff of wind,

And gaze with a contemptuous sneer.

What! buried now beneath the flood,

To wash away your guilt and sin?

Are not some other means as good,

Nay, better? why appear so mean?

Thus they despise the proffered grace,

And die and perish in their sins:

So the Assyrian leper thought,

What! wash in Jordan and be clean.

Nay, in a rage he turned away,

And would remain a leper still;

But, lo! his humbler servants sway

Prevailed at last, and turned his will.

He washed in Jordan’s rolling flood,

And straightway found his flesh renewed;

The virtue of the word of God

Thus by experience he had proved.

Poor sinners now would fain perform

Some great and meritorious deed,

Bow to the systems men have formed,

And from their leprosy be freed.

Then, why not yield to simple means?

The Gospel is the power of God;

‘Twill save the vilest from their sins

Who yield obedience to the word.

1840

 

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”

This statement may well be the best known phrase from the book of Judges, and it fits well as a concluding statement for the book. Instead of doing what is right in our own eyes, we should choose to serve the Lord. And instead of being passive, we can take action, taking strength and courage in the gospel.

In this poem, Eliza R. Snow urges us to choose the Lord, despite pressures from the government and society around us. Writing in 1885, Snow was addressing the situation in Utah, when the government was actively prosecuting church members.

 

Dark clouds have gather’d aft and fore—

The lightnings flash, the thunders roar—

The fierce blasts sweeping here and there,

The stately forest trees uptear,

While raging elements at war,

The lovely face of nature mar.

     * * * * *

“Offences must needs come”—but lo!

God has pronounced a telling woe

“On them by whom they come”—the evil

Who choose and love to serve the devil.

But there remains a glorious rest

For those by wickedness oppress’d—

For all the faithful Saints of God,

Who own His hand and kiss the rod;

All who in faithfulness abide,

With texture and with heart strings tried;

E’en such as now in sorrow mourn

Their sires and husbands ruthless borne,

Unstain’d with guilt or crime, to dwell

Within a prison’s loathsome cell.

Ye Saints of God, fear not—stand fast,

Nor cringe nor cower before the blast;

And Oh, be wise, and understand

The treach’rous kiss and velvet hand,

Which proffer life and liberty

At cost of your integrity.

You’d better risk the lion’s den,

Or the thrice-heated furnace; then

On Israel’s God you can depend,

Be true, and God will be your friend,

And you far better sacrifice

Your mortal life, than jeopardize

Your ALL— yes, ALL will be at stake,

If you your sacred covenants break;

And mark! this demon-like ordeal,

God will o’errule for Zion’s weal.

Prosperity has never served

To sift out those who heedless swerved

From duty—those whose lives were spent

In carving their aggrandizement,

Or, pampering a morbid taste,

Let time and talents go to waste;

The hypocrite, with cordial kiss,

More dang’rous than the serpent’s hiss—

The fawning sycophant, whose smile

Is fashion’s trade mark, to beguile,

And for this purpose, God will use

Those whom the rights of man abuse.

     * * * *

The reckless crusade will not cease,

Nor will the righteous dwell in peace,

Till all the hypocrites, with fear,

Dismay and trembling disappear;—

Till lying hordes, in silent gloom,

With traitors, meet their horrid doom—

Till Freedom, Truth and Justice reign,

And equal rights for all sustain;—

Till all true Saints, as one, unite

To serve the Lord with mind and might.

Then will the powers of Heav’n come down

And Zion’s courts with glory crown.

1885