August 22, 2010
Are we an “is” or a “was”?
In D&C 39 it talks about James Covill. It is so beautiful in verse 7 where the Lord says to Him - I have looked upon thy works and I know thee. What a beautiful statement to have said by the Lord. It is so definitive of where James is at this time of his life. Then in Verse 8 The Lord continues His declaration of where James is by saying - And verily I say unto thee, thine heart is now right before me at this time; and, behold, I have bestowed great blessings upon thy head;
The Lord also declares in Verse 9 that He is aware of the struggles that He has gone through to get to this point and then in Verse 10 that the hour of his deliverance is here. And then He lists in the next 4 verses all the blessings that await him because he is faithful and ready to do all the Lord comands. It is wonderful. Any of us would love to have these gifts and promises given to us.
But then…
You turn to Section 40 and the Lord teaches a beautiful lesson on continuing in faithfulness to the end and not succumbing to the world’s temptations and tribulations In verse 1the Lord makes a statement that would be absolutely crushing to me if it were said of me - BEHOLD, verily I say unto you, that the heart of my servant James Covill was right before me, for he covenanted with me that he would obey my word.
Notice the difference in the statement before. He is and now He was.
Then comes this clear statement of what happened to a man and to many of us who declare that we will give all to the Lord, just tell me and I will do it. It makes me question… ”Where am I really?”
2 And he received the word with gladness, but straightway Satan tempted him; and the fear of persecution and the cares of the world caused him to reject the word.
3 Wherefore he broke my covenant, and it remaineth with me to do with him as seemeth me good.

Doesn’t that just shiver your timbers. It brought me to a place of re-evaluation. It seems that the scriptures do that to me so often. I am – not afraid really – but maybe careful - in my daily and especially weekly (during the Sacrament) assessment of where I am, to see if the cares of the world have gotten me off track. I usually find some area that needs a correction and a little or sometimes big change or repentance session. I want to always stay in the “IS” place with the Lord, Not the “WAS” place.