What if you feel anxious about something the Lord has asked you to do? D&C 19

TODAY’S LEARNING JOURNEY COMES FROM
DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 19

REMEMBER: Always begin your gospel study with a prayer so you can be guided by the Spirit.
You may also want to listen to (or sing along with) a hymn or sacred music such as this one:

   

Psychologists will tell you that anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotion. When a person regularly feels disproportionate levels of anxiety, it might become a medical disorder. Thus, while anxiety always comes with distress, it is not always a medical condition.

Medical News Today reports:

When an individual faces potentially harmful or worrying triggers, feelings of anxiety are not only normal but necessary for survival.

Anxiety preserved our ancient ancestors from being eaten by raising alarms in the body as danger approached. The danger causes a rush of adrenalin, which in triggers anxious reactions in a process called the “fight-or-flight’ response. This prepares humans to physically confront or flee any potential threats to safety.

Few of us spend our days worrying about being mauled by a wild animal. Modern anxieties revolve around work, money, family life, health, and other crucial issues that demand a person’s attention without necessarily requiring the ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction.

The nervous feeling before an important event or during a difficult situation is a natural echo of the original ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction. It can still be essential to survival – anxiety about being hit by a car when crossing the street, for example, means that a person will instinctively look both ways to avoid danger.

But what if you feel anxious about something the Lord has asked you to do?
Does that mean I’m in danger when I’m anxious about keeping a commandment?

SEEK THE SPIRIT • WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS •  BE WILLING TO SHARE WHEN GATHERED WITH CLASSMATES • DESIRE TO “HEAR HIM” 

MARTIN HARRIS WOKE UP after a horrible nightmare where an enormous dog was pouncing on him. The day before, he had picked up the first copies of the Book of Mormon from Egbert Grandin’s printing press. As he held them in his hands, the anxiety he was feeling was unbearable. Six months earlier he had used his farm as collateral to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon. This meant he had 18 months to sell the books and pay off the debt to Mr. Grandin. If he failed to pay off the debt in 18 months, Mr. Grandin could sell Martin’s farm and keep the profits — and Martin would lose everything.

A distraught Martin ran to Joseph with the copies of the Book of Mormon.
“The books will not sell for nobody wants them,” Martin stressed.
“I think they will sell well,” Joseph responded.
“I want a commandment,” Martin demanded, seeking a reassuring revelation.
“Fulfill what you have got,” replied Joseph (referring to Doctrine and Covenants 5).
“I must have a commandment,” Martin said, increasingly anxious.
Joseph did not fulfill Martin’s request. That night, Martin slept over at Joseph’s — and that’s when he had the nightmare. The next morning, he awoke and again demanded a revelation from Joseph. Joseph complied and, with Oliver Cowdery acting as scribe, he received the revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants 19.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR SCRIPTURES TO

DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 19
As you study, record your thoughts and feelings in your Scripture Journal or in your Gospel Library digital notes. As you do this, the things you learn from the Spirit will not fade away and you will receive more.

•     •     •     •     •

CHOOSE YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY

CLICK ON ONE OF THESE OPTIONS

  IS LIVING THE GOSPEL A SACRIFICE OR AN INVESTMENT?

  WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE DOES HURT YOU


  WHAT MIGHT THE LORD SAY TO SOMEONE WITH ANXIETY?

IS LIVING THE GOSPEL A SACRIFICE OR AN INVESTMENT?

In verse 23, Jesus taught Martin how to overcome his anxiety with these words:

Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.

In the next verse, Jesus taught Martin what it means to “walk after the meekness of his Spirit”:

I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will.

We begin walking in the Spirit of Christ by following Jesus. Replace Jesus Christ with your name in the following sentence:

I am (state your name); I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will.

What do you feel when you say it out loud?

Record any impressions that come into your heart as you add your name to Christ’s declaration. 

“It is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give. It is an investment, a greater investment than any. Its dividends are eternal and everlasting” 

—Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 567–68

When we invest in the will of the Father, we will receive the promises of the Father. The big black dogs will get off our chest and we will have peace. 

Study D&C 19:25-38 and answer three questions:

a. What was the will of the Father for Martin?

b. What are the promises if Martin invests in Heavenly Father’s will by being obedient?

c. What are the promises if Martin doesn’t invest in doing the will of the Father?

To sacrifice is to give up something valuable or precious, often with the intent of accomplishing a greater purpose or goal. Sacrifice has always been a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all who have lived or will live on earth (see “Sacrifice” in Gospel Topics).

What if the will of the Father seems like too much? What if the will of the Father makes me anxious?

Read D&C 19:16-24 and ask yourself, “How the Savior can ask us to do these things that might cause us anxiety?”

Record the following:
• What is He asking of you?
• What is He offering to you in return?

 Record your thoughts and feelings about how this knowledge blesses your life.

YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR

WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE DOES HURT YOU

Alfred Hitchcock is a famous movie director known as the “Master of Suspense.”

He is one of the most influential and broadly-studied filmmakers in the history of cinema. He taught:

“It’s what you don’t see that frightens you, what your mind fills in, the implicit [unseen] usually being more terrifying than the explicit [seen].”

Look how closely that fits to what Joseph Smith taught:

Knowledge does away darkness, suspense and doubt, for where Knowledge is there is no doubt nor suspense nor darkness. There is no pain so awful as the pain of suspense. This is the condemnation of [those who don’t look to God]; Their doubt and anxiety and suspense causes weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. In knowledge there is power. God has more power than all other beings, because he has greater knowledge, and hence he knows how to subject all other beings to him (


Discourse, 8 April 1843, as Reported by William Clayton–B

What we can’t see gives us anxiety. In the following verses, look for a reference to sight. Highlight in your scriptures/app what the Lord calls Martin in this part of the revelation:

38 Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof.

39 Behold, canst thou read this without rejoicing and lifting up thy heart for gladness?

40 Or canst thou run about longer as a blind guide?

41 Or canst thou be humble and meek, and conduct thyself wisely before me? Yea, come unto me thy Savior (


D&C 19:38-41).

Look up the footnote to “blind guide” in D&C 19:40. According to the cross-reference, what is blinding people in the Savior’s day? 

Read D&C 19:26. What is blinding Martin?
In Knowledge there is Power | Find out what is causing you suspense or anxiety?
First | What is making you anxious?
Second | Remember Joseph’s teaching: “Where Knowledge is there is no doubt nor suspense nor darkness.
There is no pain so awful as the pain of suspense.” What knowledge are you lacking that is causing you suspense?
Third |  Martin’s revelation is one of the only places where the Savior gives a first-hand account of his suffering in the garden of Gethsemane. It’s the place where the Savior gained the knowledge of all suffering. His understanding of all suffering equips him to end all suffering. If we are suffering we are also educating ourselves. This education is called repentance. 

President Nelson recently taught, 

Too many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Satan. He tries to block us from looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify, and sanctify us.

The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. The prefix meta- means “change.” The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean “mind,” “knowledge,” “spirit,” and “breath.”

Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies.

Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ (“We Can Do Better and Be Better,” April 2019 General Conference).

Study D&C 19:15-23 and answer the question: How does repentance bring peace?

Fourth | Through the process of repentance, we can change what we know, how we think, and what we see. The fourth step, then, is what are you willing to change in order to gain what your Father in Heaven and Savior know? 

YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR
DILIGENT PERSONAL STUDY

WHAT MIGHT THE LORD SAY TO SOMEONE WITH ANXIETY?

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Martin’s mortal heart was under tremendous pressure. Six months earlier, the same heart was bursting with joy, exclaiming “It is enough! It is enough!” as a heavenly messenger appeared to Martin and Joseph, displaying the gold plates, the Liahona, and the sword of Laban.

But now, financial ruin was hunting Martin like a wild dog and his ‘fight-or-flight’ response was kicking in.

Read D&C 19:1-9 and answer the following questions:

1. What words in verses 1-3 offer comfort to an anxious person?
   
2. Study verses 4-7. If anxiety is a healthy emotion designed to protect us, what should we be anxious about?
   

In verse 7 the Lord mentions that he uses “more express” words like endless torment and eternal damnation “that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men.” This is a healthy anxiety about our standing with God. When you or I cannot feel anxiety towards sin we begin to experience what the New Testament and Book of Mormon call being “past feeling (see Ephesians 4:9 and 1 Nephi 17:45). We could say we are past the feeling of anxiety towards those things that are dangerous.

Brother Brad Wilcox of the General Young Men’s Presidency adds,

“The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Heavenly Father and His Son did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If the Father and the Son did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Heavenly Father and His Son did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are” (“

His Grace is Sufficient,” Ensign, September 2013).

3. Read verse 9. What is the Lord offering to those who are anxious?

Martin wants a good night’s sleep. But until his debt is paid off, his anxiety keeps him up at night. Such anxiety consumes all our thoughts and feelings. All anxious souls want rest. Martin wants rest.

Conclude your study today by digging into D&C 19:13-23

Using what you learn and in your own words explain both:

a) how it’s possible for Christ to give us rest, and
b) what we are commanded to do that we may obtain it?

YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR
DILIGENT PERSONAL STUDY