Taught By a Toddler

This weekend we attended the baptism of our granddaughter, Anna. Her little brother, John, is a rambunctious two year old who can’t sit still for even a few seconds. I’ve never seen so much energy! But to add fuel to the fire, he is also very loud. He doesn’t know the meaning of whisper or quiet and when he wants to talk he talks despite what else is going on. There is no shushing him. Therefore D7 had taken him into the hall while the speaker was instructing us about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When it came time for the confirmation, I walked into the hall to tend to John so that D7 could return to the chapel to hear the blessing. To entertain John I walked around the hall and had him identify Jesus in all the pictures lining the walls. As we came to the last picture, D7 returned. The picture we were then at was the popular picture of the Savior appearing to the Nephites at the temple in Bountiful, a part of which is above. The full picture shows people bowing and crying and the destruction of the temple. I asked John where Jesus was and he pointed to the Savior. Then he said, “Trouble.”

John doesn’t speak in sentences yet, but the word trouble was very clear, and he kept repeating it so I pointed to some of the crying people and asked, “Is this trouble?”

John shook his head yes. Then I pointed to Jesus and asked, “Is this trouble?”

“No,” John said. “Help.”

I was stunned. Two years old, so active I can't figure out how he ever learned that from any lesson ever presented to him, and yet John knows. It makes me wonder if what he knows wasn’t taught to him at all, but is knowledge he brought with him into mortality.

"Here Am I"

In the book of Abraham we read of the premortal council when God the Father presented His plan of salvation to us. During that council God said, “Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27).


The Hebrew word that is translated “Here am I” in these verses is hininee. And it means more than just “I’m here.” It is the kind of word a servant would say to a king when beckoned. It means “Whatever you want me to do, I will do. That’s why I’m here.” In the Old Testament we find the word hininee over and over again. Abraham says it to God (Genesis 22:1), Isaac says it to his father Abraham (Genesis 22:7), Jacob says it to the angel God sends to him (Genesis 31:11), Joseph says it to his father Jacob (Genesis 37:13), and Moses says it to God when God calls to him from the burning bush (Exodus 3:4). It is what Samuel said to Eli when awakened in the night (1 Samuel 3:4), and what Isaiah said to God when called to be a prophet (Isaiah 6:8).

All these examples urge me to turn to the Lord and say, “Hininee! Here I am ready to serve and do what you want!” But there is one use of the word in the Old Testament that is different, a usage that touches my heart very deeply. In Isaiah chapter 58 the Lord chastises the people who are complaining that God has refused to answer their prayers. He tells them that the reason He has not answered is because they are not resting from their own pleasures on the Sabbath day and that they are not caring for the poor when they fast. Then He says, if you will rest from your own pleasures on the Sabbath and care for the poor when you fast, “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I” (Isaiah 58:9).

Every time I read that my heart warms. The Lord is calling to me, “Hininee. Hininee! I am here to help you. What do you want Me to do?” As Isaiah goes on to explain, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Isaiah 58:11).

There's Help!

I’m preparing to teach a series of classes on C. S. Lewis again this year for BYU Education Week. This means I’m re-reading many of his books and marveling once more at his wisdom. This morning I read in Mere Christianity, “When a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: A thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right . . . . Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.”


This is so true. As we grow closer and closer to the Savior our understanding expands and we realize how far we are from where we want to be. The amazing thing is that this realization while uncomfortable doesn’t sink us into despair or bog us down with discouragement. Instead we sorrow for what we have done wrong, we wish to be better, but we strive all the harder for righteousness because we understand that Someone is helping us. We are not in this alone!

It is that awareness that we are and will be helped along the path of righteousness that brings peace into our lives. And oh, what a wonderful blessing that is!

Doing the Impossible

Long ago the Lord instructed Gideon to go to battle against the Midianites, and so Gideon called for men to join the army of Israel. Many came, but to Gideon’s surprise the Lord told him there were too many. If such a large army went against the Midianites, the people would think they had won the war and God wanted them to know that it was by His hand the war would be won. So He instructed Gideon to send all those who were afraid back to their homes. Relieved by the announcement, 22,000 men returned home leaving 10,000 to fight the battle.

You can imagine that Gideon was a little worried. The Midianites and their allies were as numerous as grasshoppers and their camels were more than the sands of the sea, and he was to fight them with only 10,000 men? But the Lord spoke again to Gideon saying there were still too many soldiers.

This time the Lord instructed Gideon to take the men to the water to drink. Most of the men got down on their hands and knees and put their mouths into the water. With their faces down and close to the water they were vulnerable and unaware of any approaching enemy. But three-hundred of the men gathered water into their cupped hands and brought the water to their mouths thus staying upright and alert to any danger.

At this point the Lord told Gideon to send the 9,700 men home and to fight the battle with the 300 that stayed alert. I can’t imagine what Gideon felt as he realized he was to fight the vast army of Midianites with only 300 men.

But the Lord continued to instruct Gideon as to how he was to win this battle. He equipped each man with a trumpet, a clay pitcher, and a lamp within each pitcher. Then he divided the men into three groups and in the middle of the night the three groups surrounded the Midianite camp and at Gideon’s signal blew their trumpets, broke their pitchers so the lamps shined in the dark and shouted, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon” (Judges 7:20).

Awakened by the noise the Midianites grabbed their swords and in the dark began to fight each other! Those not killed ran in panic leaving Gideon’s 300 soldiers to claim victory.

I love this story for many reasons, one reason is it teaches me that even when things look absolutely impossible, if the Lord is with me I will succeed. Another reason is that when tasks before me seem impossible, I need to move forward with courage because the Lord is wanting to show me that He is there helping.