Remove the Clouds: Let the Light Pour In!
Word of Wisdom Class, Part 1
(Based on a Word of Wisdom class given at Church of Jesus Christ, Oak Grove Restoration Branch, February 5, 2020. The archived Livestream of the class is available here.)
1 John 1:5-7
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Clouds can obscure the sun. They can block the light. Clouds can make a day turn dark and dim, even until it is hard to see where we are going, causing us to stumble.
I think about a trail race that I ran in 2019 called the Dizzy Goat. At this race, we ran a 3-mile loop of trail as many times as we could in the time we signed up for. I signed up for 12 hours.
The morning of the race turned out to be heavily overcast. Rain was predicted and a slight possibility of storms. As we started the race, the clouds grew darker. We followed the trail into the woods and it became so dark that I had a hard time seeing the trail. I wished that I had a flashlight or my headlamp, but of course, I didn’t bring those for a daytime race.
I could not see the obstacles in the trail, such as rocks or tree roots, so I just stumbled along, picking up my feet and hoping for the best. Fortunately, I didn’t trip and fall over anything, and soon the cloud cover lightened up, so I was able to see where I was going.
Spiritual clouds can obscure God’s light —the light He wants to shine into our lives so that we can see the right way to go, light that will help us not to stumble, not to trip and fall over obstacles in our path. Spiritual clouds can obscure the light God wants to pour into our lives so that the Kingdom can come—so that the cause of Zion can be established.
The difference between the dark, dim day of cloudy weather and the darkness caused by spiritual clouds is that we cannot control the weather, but we CAN control our choices which can bring the dispersal of spiritual clouds and bring more of God’s light flowing into our lives.
In 1971, High Priest Raymond Huggett was given a vison. He was at a reunion, I believe. He had spent the entire previous day fasting and praying in the woods alone with God. The next morning at prayer meeting, he felt a great endowment of the Spirit of God, a great movement of the Spirit among God’s people.
The back of the tabernacle was rolled back and he looked into the bosom of eternity. He said he saw a marvelous ray of light, so bright you could not look up at it directly, and a countless number of people gathering, drawn to this light.
It was made known to him that this great company of the faithful were those who had already passed from this life, as well as those still in this life, and those yet unborn—and they were united in their purpose preparing for the great culmination of God’s marvelous and mysterious act, the great consummation of Zion.
Brother Huggett said, “Well, I marveled at this experience and I saw, too, the outline of what I perceived to be the Holy City. And you know, it was shrouded with clouds and I knew it must be a beautiful city, and I felt what a shame to think these dark depressing clouds hang over and occlude most of it out so it's obscure to the vision, and I wondered what it meant. And you know, I was told some things and these clouds seemed like such little things that I was really surprised that we hadn't removed them long ago.”
Brother Huggett was told what these clouds were. He was told these clouds have to do with keeping the Sabbath day holy. He saw that we often forget that the Sabbath is a day which commemorates the coming forth of our Lord from the tomb. He said, “It's not our day at all. It's HIS DAY. That our bodies need to be refreshed, replenished. We need to be restored spiritually.”
He was told that these clouds have to do with our stewardship, that we have narrowed it to a mere Mosaic approach to finances instead of the joyous accounting for the totality of life and our full commitment of our lives to his Kingdom's purpose.
He was told that these clouds have to do with the sanctity of marriage and its true purpose, and that marriage in the truest sense is a sacramental relationship where God enters into a covenant between two people.
He was told that we too often accept the morality of the world and too often compromise and accept things that are not of His Kingdom.
He was told that we have failed to worship God with a full heart, but have held back, which has limited our spiritual insights and the blessings of His Kingdom.
He was told that often we are not good stewards over our physical bodies.
He said, “Sometimes we've not become true disciples because we've lacked discipline of mind and body, and we've been controlled by physical appetites rather than preserving this temple of God, holy and sacred and committing it to His expression. These things were impressed upon me as well.”
Brother Huggett marveled that we would allow these things, these “clouds,” to obscure the Kingdom.
Read that quote again: “. . . we've lacked discipline of mind and body, and we've been controlled by physical appetites rather than preserving this temple of God, holy and sacred and committing it to His expression. “
Our bodies are the temples of God. Are we preserving them holy and sacred by the care we give our bodies? How many times has ministry that one of us could have offered been hindered because we were sick, in pain, or weak from poor physical health?
We need to come out of Babylon and touch not the unclean thing. This applies to what we eat, too. Much of the food available to us has not been manufactured for health, but for profit, designed by the hearts of conspiring men.
I think everyone reading this post would say they want the Kingdom. We want Zion to become a reality. But do we want it enough? Do we want it enough to discipline our minds and bodies and yield to God in obedience?
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| The author running Mines of Spain 100-mile race. |
You know, when people learn I run 100-mile races, they often marvel and say, “I could never do that.” It seems like an impossible thing to do. Just last October, during a 100-mile race in a public park, I encountered a man and his wife who were hiking the trails. They asked me how far along I was in my race. At that point, I had run about 90 miles and had 11 or 12 left. They marveled over that.
The man said, “I could never do that!”
And I told him, “But you could. If wanted it badly enough and you put in the weeks and months and even years of training as I have, you could do it.”
He laughed and said, “I don’t want it bad enough.”
Is this us with the Kingdom, with Zion? We don’t want it badly enough to discipline our lives and put in the “training” it takes? If we are willing to discipline our lives, day by day, and “train” under the hand of God, yielding to Him, we can do things that seem remarkable, things we thought were impossible!
God has told us how to preserving our bodies—these temples of God—holy and sacred. He has told us how to commit our bodies to God’s expression. He has given us instructions for our temporal salvation, with promises of spiritual blessings as well for those who will give heed to His counsel. We call it the Word of Wisdom.
The preface to Section 86 says: “To be sent greeting, not by commandment, or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom; showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all Saints in the last days. Given for a principle, with promise; adapted to the capacity of the weak, and the weakest of all Saints, who are or can be called Saints.”
I have heard people say, “Well, it says it’s not a commandment, so I don’t HAVE to abide by it.” That’s true. You do not have to abide by it. You don’t have to abide by the commandments of God, for that matter, because we have our agency. We can choose, but when we choose, we also are choosing consequences. The choice and the consequence come together in one inseparable package.
We are told that the Word of Wisdom is the WILL of God given to us by REVELATION. If we do not abide by it, there will be consequences. And I’m pretty sure that no one will like those consequences. This is GOD, the MAKER of our bodies, giving us instructions on how to care for our bodies. It is plain foolishness to ignore His counsel.
God says in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 58:6c, “for, behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”
And Doctrine and Covenants, Section 83:7a: “And now I give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life; for you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.”
Do you still think it doesn’t matter if you ignore the Word of Wisdom?
And here’s the most important part: The Word of Wisdom is NOT just for our temporal salvation. Brother Huggett was shown that when we do not discipline ourselves to care our bodies, which are the temples of God, in the way God has shown us, this is hindering the coming of Zion. Not keeping the Word of Wisdom is hindering the Kingdom. It is causing spiritual blessings to be withheld. This is serious!
When we heed God and obey Him, He blesses us! We will receive blessings as we make an effort, as we TRY our best to keep the Word of Wisdom.
God said in Section 86:3c and 3d, “And all Saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel, and marrow to their bones, and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
"and shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint; and I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.”
Do we want wisdom? Do we want great treasure of knowledge, even hidden treasures? Do we want Zion? Do we want these things badly enough to discipline ourselves to “put in the training”?
I think we do. I think you do. I think most of you are reading this today because you know the Word of Wisdom is important, and you are looking for encouragement and help to move forward in obedience to this part of God’s Word. I think most of us just need some direction and encouragement on how to move forward and “train for the race.”
And the best thing is that if we ask Him, God will help us! God never calls us to do something without making the way for us to accomplish it. He will make a way for us to accomplish His will, if we ASK Him!
So let’s dig in and put together a training plan.
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