![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_3434.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Is a deliverer a hero?<\/p>\n
A hero might be the concept in the popular thinking that is closest to a deliverer, someone who frees us from oppression or danger. In fact, popular culture isn\u2019t satisfied with mere heroes, and moves on to superheroes, characters who are endowed with abilities that make them perpetual heroes, always able to save the hapless and helpless individual some external difficulty (but somehow never from the individual himself). The superhero\u2019s life is almost reduced to a series of episodes in which they save people over and over again \u2014 often without really addressing the underlying causes of the dangers.<\/p>\n
The book of Judges is like this. Israel has to be saved over and over by a series of \u201cjudges\u201d, often through war or physical violence, and also without resolving the issues that led to the need for Israel to be saved. There is never lasting peace with the Philistines, nor are the divisions and failures of Israel itself solved. It seems Israel will always need a new deliverer.<\/p>\n
In contrast to this model, the sections of this lesson actually emphasize our personal involvement, and the things we need to do to be delivered. Unlike the passive victims in most hero narratives, we must act ourselves to use the power of our Deliverer to be saved in a more lasting way.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Also unlike most hero narratives, the source of the problem is usually ourselves. Ultimately, isn\u2019t Christ our superhero and the atonement our salvation? And if the Lord is forgiving us, and providing this salvation, shouldn\u2019t we be helping others to do the same?<\/p>\n
J. L. Townsend, who converted to the Church in the 1870s, wrote 10 of the hymns in our current hymnal. In this poem he explores how we should help others to forgiveness and salvation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Joseph Longing Townsend<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1914<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In addition to giving others a hand, our speech and actions can serve as an inspiration for faith in the Lord and, through that, salvation. There is something important about what others do, humans naturally imitate and compare their lives to others as a way of understanding how to live\u2014and any problems arise when we follow poor examples. But a lot of encouragement and inspiration comes from seeing the success of others who we think are similar to us.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most prolific LDS poet, Joel H. Johnson (who is believed to have penned more than 1,000 poems), here provides an elegy to an unnamed example, someone who had recently died (before 1882). In this poem he suggests how this man\u2019s example influenced others.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Joel H. Johnson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1882<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trust is one of the words associated with the concept of faith and belief. Trusting in the Lord is very similar to having faith in Him. We often demonstrate Faith simply by doing the things that have always worked in the past\u2014although that doesn\u2019t require as much faith as trusting in things that have not happened in the past. We plant our crops or flowers expecting that they will grow, we raise our children expecting that they will grow up\u2014and sometimes a threat comes along to disrupt that idea, requiring more faith. That\u2019s often when trust and faith and belief are challenged the most.<\/p>\n
While the myth of the crickets and the seagulls has been challenged in recent years, the story itself is a story like the above, and I think it can still help us have faith in God when our expectations are put at risk\u2014when our children are ill, or another danger happens. Regardless of the seagulls, the crickets were very real, and most, if not all, farmers lost crops as a result. Any salvation of those crops is a kind of miracle.<\/p>\n
Here Ruth May Fox tells the story of the seagulls and crickets in verse. Fox, an activist, a sufffragist and the 3rd president of the YLMIA (now known as the Young Women), was also well-known as a poet and promoter of \u00a0LDS literature and culture.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Ruth May Fox<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1913<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When we have the kind of faith that leads to miracles, we find strength in the teachings of the gospel, and in keeping our covenants, come what may. While the story isn\u2019t well known, Eliza R. Snow is a good example. In 1856 Snow found herself bankrupt, in a time when not being able to pay your bills was something to be ashamed of, and which could even lead to jail time. But Snow held up her head, and delivered the following poem to one of the nascent cultural groups in early Salt Lake City, the Literary and Musical Assembly<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Knowing that she had done nothing wrong to put herself into this situation, Snow talked back to those who criticized her for her debts. And, she points out that we should all recognize the strength and \u201cwealth\u201d we receive merely by being children of our Heavenly Parents. I love the final three stanzas of this poem, which I will put here separately from the entire poem below:<\/p>\n
I think this not only shows the kind of comfort we should have as His children, but also the relative importance of money itself. I wish more of us really saw the truths here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By Eliza R. Snow<\/p>\n
[Written for, and read before the “Literary and Musical Assembly,” Great Salt Lake City, August, 1856.]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n