Dear Sisters,

This Sunday Sister Pugmire taught about the value of scripture study.  Here is the lesson synopsis.  May the Lord bless you as you study, learn, and increase your faith!

LESSON SYNOPSIS            

AUGUST 1, 2010         

SISTER SHANNON PUGMIRE

God has commanded his disciples on many occasions to search the scriptures in order to learn how to live the doctrines of salvation.

During his mortal ministry, the Savior stated:  John 5:39

During his appearance to the Nephites following his resurrection Christ quoted from the scriptures then said in 3 Nephi 23:1, “…ye ought to search these things.  Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently.”

In our day the Lord says:  D&C 1:37

The Savior also revealed to the Joseph Smith that it is possible to hear his voice and know his words through the scriptures:  D&C 18:34-36

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In order to come unto Christ and be perfected in him, each person needs to receive a testimony of the Lord’s words. Some falter because they fail to open the books, others because they read casually. As one would expect, there is a difference between diligent searching or “pondering over the scriptures” and casual reading. A Church history story illustrates the difference.

A small six-year-old boy wandered away from his handcart company during a storm and was lost. When the storm subsided, Robert and Ann Parker realized their boy was missing and began searching. For two days an organized search was unsuccessful. The decision was made that the company must move on because of the approaching winter.

A pioneer journal records the following:

“Ann Parker pinned a bright [red] shawl about the thin shoulders of her husband and sent him back alone on the trail to search again for their child. If he found him dead he was to wrap him in the shawl; if alive, the shawl would be a flag to signal her. Ann and her children took up their load and struggled on with the company, while Robert retraced the miles of … trail, calling, and searching and praying for his helpless little son.”

One suspects that he did not just casually look behind a few trees or leisurely walk along the trail, but that he vigorously investigated every thicket, every clump of trees and gully or wash.

“At last he reached a … trading station where he learned that his child had been found and cared for by a woodsman and his wife. [The boy] had been ill from exposure and fright. [But] God had heard the prayers of his people.

“Out on the trail each night Ann and her children kept watch and, when, on the third night the rays of the setting sun caught the glimmer of a bright red shawl [above her husband’s head], the brave little mother sank in a pitiful heap in the sand. … [She] slept for the first time in six … days.”

The story illustrates the difference between just looking and searching diligently. A casual, infrequent exposure to the scriptures will generally not open the door to the whisperings of the Spirit or provide insights into the Savior’s life and character. We need to search the scriptures with the same vigor that Robert hunted for his son and with the consistency of the mother searching the horizon if we expect to hear his voice and know his words.

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I find that casual or inconsistent reading and studying of the scriptures is ineffective and that many of us simply don’t know how best to start and keep studying.  Let’s discuss some ways to accomplish this:

Nephi says in 1Nephi 19:23 - I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.

1.   The key to successful scripture study is to simply start, and then do it over again and again.

2.   Pray for understanding and ask for help of the Holy Ghost

3.   Choose a subject in the Topical Guide that you need to know more about

4.   Start at the beginning of a book of scripture and look for specific teachings

5.   Look past the story and find the principle being taught.  Example: Nephi commanded to build a boat, though he had never built one before he went about the task with great personal effort and received divine help.  We may not be asked to build a boat, but we may be asked to do things that seem beyond our abilities.

6.   Substitute our name or others names for names in the scriptures.  1 Nephi 3:7: I______, will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. Or, Matt 19:19 … Thou shalt love thy (neighbor) as thyself.

Quote from Sister Beck:  “It would be impossible to learn the lessons the scriptures contain by reading them only one time through or studying selected verses in a class.”

She also said, “Through my scripture reading and the prayers that accompany my study, I have gained knowledge which brings me peace and helps me keep my energies focused on eternal priorities.”

I love the scriptures… all of them!  They teach with “plainness, even as plain as word can be” (2Ne 32:7).  They testify of Christ.  They tell us all things we should do.  They “make us wise unto salvation.” (2Tim 3:15)