God gave us a world filled with all of the requisite necessity for our survival. He commanded us to be fruitful and multiply. He then commanded us to work hard and be industrious in our endeavors. Not long after that, Satan comes along and perverts and distorts everything so much, that we are now competing for the plentiful resources and opportunities.
This is contrary to God’s plan. We must learn to have and exercise a little more faith in the idea that God will provide for our needs (not necessarily our wants). We will need to practice a bit more compassion for our neighbors, and forget about the competition. We can share a little more of ourselves, knowing that we have enough to give – acknowledging that God will provide more energy and resources to cover the expense we put out.
Full Version:
October is one of my favorite months. It is the Month of Leaves here in Missouri, where all the trees begin preparing for winter. The colors are amazing and the temperature is wonderful. It is also, (for me at least) one of the only quiet months of the year. It has a fun holiday at the end of the month, and there are no major birthdays for our family. And at the beginning of the month we have the wonderful experience with General Conference. For those non-LDS readers out there, General Conference is a bi-annual, two day meeting where the leaders of the LDS church address its membership throughout the world. Speakers are chosen to talk on spiritual topics, report on the growth of the church, and sustain new leadership while expressing gratitude for the service of those leaders that are called to other service. To my knowledge, it is a unique event in religious spheres. I know of no other faith that collectively gathers so regularly, or puts out the effort to organize such a complex occasion.
It’s been a few weeks now since Conference, and for those who watched it…well, we’ve all had time to let things settle a bit. It is probably a common thing, but I always tend to walk away from General Conference with a desire to make massive changes in my life. In preparing for Conference, I step back and try to guess, based on the trends and events of the last six months, what messages the General Authorities of the Church will present. As I looked back, I saw that one of the great and pervading issues of the last six months (and even the last few years), throughout the world, has been the overwhelming specter of the economy.
With whole countries fighting to stay financially afloat, the very real potential of financial institutions failing, and whispers of another Great Depression, there is a growing fear about when the other shoe is going to finally drop. Talk of another stock market crash, governments scrambling to prop up failing businesses, raging credit card debt and vicious housing loans, and the global impact of an imperfect economic system…it all adds up to a very unnerving situation for families and individuals. And it’s all going according to Satan’s master plan.
As a stay-at-home-Dad, it falls to me to get the kids ready for school each day. The hustle and bustle of making sure that homework is done and accounted for, shoes are tied correctly, and appropriate clothing is washed and available for wear; remembering special school events, acting the chauffeur to and from said events, and more. When taken all together, it’s all rather exhausting. One of the duties I dread has always been fixing my kids their sack lunches. Yet, all I have to do is take a look at the prices of the food that the school provides, and I feel much better about those nice little brown paper sacks. This is, of course, about the time when I exert some executive authority as Dad and delegate the onerous task to the boys. I figure that if they are going to eat it, then they might as well put the effort into making it. This way they can’t blame me if their food doesn’t taste good.
Isn’t it a strange thing that, in today’s growing unrest, we can worry about something as common as…lunch? I mean, it’s not just lunch. We’re preoccupied with so many other things; things like car payments, water and electricity bills, internet and cable services, and cell phone plans. All of these things, while seemingly vital to our survival, aren’t really meant to be worried about.
I must admit, this idea isn’t mine. I read about it in Brother Hugh Nibley’s super awesome book: Approaching Zion. Brother Nibley addresses the issue so much better than I could ever hope to. To paraphrase his idea: God gave us a world filled with all of the requisite necessity for our survival. He commanded us to be fruitful and multiply. He then commanded us to work hard and be industrious in our endeavors. Not long after that, Satan comes along and perverts and distorts everything so much, that we are now competing for the plentiful resources and opportunities.
Nibley presents the concept better than I, but the idea is fairly straightforward. Satan, in his diabolical cunning, has created a very logical system that requires us to spend all of our time, talents, and considerable focus on the irrational need to make enough money to buy the necessities that God provides to us for free. As with all that he does, our eternal adversary takes something godly and perverts it so thoroughly that it becomes profane. In this instance he’s selected to taint the commandment Heavenly Father gave Father Adam:
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…”Now Heavenly Father, in his infinite wisdom, gave us the responsibility to work hard for our food. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one (to my understanding) is the lesson that hard work gives birth to deep and abiding gratitude. There are other benefits as well: confidence, wisdom, intelligence…the list goes on and on. Satan on the other hand takes this lesson and turns it on its head. His initial whispered communication to us is terribly logical: “You need to eat.” His second is even more logical: “That guy needs to eat too.” Both are true and without further influence, the two parties might pool their efforts to feed one another. However, Satan doesn’t stop there. His next line is a supposition that inspires the first seeds of doubt: “Dear me! That certainly doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough to feed the both of you, does it?”
(Gen. 3:19 – see also: Moses 5:1)
Thus is introduced the concept of rivalry, which in turn leads to hoarding, which inevitably leads to greed and covetousness. The system was built slowly and subtly, and then at key intervals it was inflamed – at which point the system became self-perpetuating. Now, we move forwards in time, to present day. The system has mutated, pervasively expanding into all walks of life. The concept of “Lunch” is still at the foundation of all that we do, and our needs are exploited by vast corporations in an effort to control more of the resource pie. In order to be competitive in our careers, so that we can have a larger and better “lunch”, we have to begin preparing at younger and younger ages. We learn to “distinguish” ourselves in academics, sports, and other activities – all for the express purpose of telling our prospective schools, colleges, and employers that we are more worthy of “Lunch” than that other schlep vying for the same position. The competition becomes contentious, and we find ourselves at war with our neighbors over the most inane things.
Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection, which I believe was a divinely inspired concept that was again perverted for Satan’s pleasure, has become a self-fulfilling, man-made, prophesy. Allow me to explain my take on Natural Selection. If we look to nature, we see a divinely organized eco-system that is complex and balanced. It is self-correcting, and self-sustaining, with no need for overly invasive outside guidance from man. At least it was established that way at the beginning. Left to itself, nature works to ensure propagation and balance. Man misinterpreted the lesson to mean “Survival of the Fittest” instead of “Survival of All.”
There will come a day when Satan’s plan will implode. All imperfect plans do, regardless of how many times it is nudged or corrected. When it does, we will be faced with some very hard times, but at the same time we will finally be free of the massively overbearing societal machine that forces us to compete with one another for our necessities. Zion will be built on the concept that there’s more than enough to go around. The ideal of sharing that we are taught as children, will be revived and perfected, and nature will correct the imbalance that Satan has imposed upon it. Will it be easy? No. But in order to make that shift, we must learn to have and exercise a little more faith in the idea that God will provide for our needs (not necessarily our wants). We will need to practice a bit more compassion for our neighbors, and forget about the competition. We can share a little more of ourselves, knowing that we have enough to give – acknowledging that God will provide more energy and resources to cover the expense we put out.
There is no doubt that we’re still subject to Satan’s system; however, as citizens of God’s kingdom, we can readily draw hope from the knowledge that such a flawed system cannot hope to sustain itself. Take a moment this week to look at some of the ways that Heavenly Father has provided for you. Not just financially, but in all aspects of your life. The moments are there, were providence and serendipity meet your needs and your desires. Look for them. Celebrate them. Take comfort in the knowledge that even though life is difficult, Heaven has provided more than enough lunch to go around.
Have a good week!
Jeffrey
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