For in that day shall they understand them

(2 Nephi 25:8)

Several weeks ago, my wife and I were in the car with my dad to visit his old mission president. This former mission president was notorious for knowing everything there was to know about the scriptures and the words of the prophets. Apparently he had even ghostwritten encyclopedic church manuals that are available today on the Gospel Library app!

Anyway, we had a good visit, and on the way back home, my dad said something along the lines of, “Adam, I know you’ve got the brain. You could know as much as he does if you wanted to.” Not that he was wishing I was someone else—he was just expressing curiosity.

I replied with some thoughts about how I probably couldn’t match the sheer depth of knowledge that this mission president had. But then I said something like, “I know enough for now.”

My dad was confused. “You can always study and learn more.”

“No, I know that,” I said. I struggled to try and word what I meant, and eventually said, “Yes, daily study and ever-expanding knowledge is important. But I wish I could have told my younger self that the true answers to my spritual questions weren’t literally found written down somewhere in the Gospel Library app. Rather, the scriptures point to Jesus Christ and teach us how to listen to the Holy Ghost. And that is where all the answers are really found.”

In hindsight, I might add: being a scripture/gospel encyclopedia isn’t my life mission. It is a good desire. But if I had tried to do that, even if I do have the brain for it, I wouldn’t have had the right motives. I would have wanted the Lord to literally tell me, in writing, everything I should do.

“But Adam!” you might say. “What about the scripture that says ‘the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do’?” Yes, that is 2 Nephi 32:3. The whole point of that chapter is that Nephi cannot literally tell me in writing exactly what I should be doing. It isn’t the scriptures that tell me everything I should do, but the words of Christ. There is an important difference. “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

We are a church that believes in ongoing revelation. The scriptures that have been revealed are intended to support and nourish ongoing revelation. If we treat them as the only source of God’s word and deny the Holy Spirit, we are no better off than any other Christans.

That said, revelation and the scriptures can build on each other in surprising ways. I know many stories where a line from scripture seemed to leap off the page and bear immediate relevance for someone’s life. (For instance, someone who literally needs to go to the state of Ohio reading, “ye shall go to the Ohio” in Doctrine and Covenants 37:1). My main point is that it is revelation that makes all the difference.

The great difficulty is to teach someone what revelation might mean for them. I was a missionary for two years, and I admit there is no single, concrete, foolproof method. The best answer I can give is this: behave like Jesus would, love the person fully, teach abundantly from the scriptures, pray with them, share spritual experiences and personal testimony, and teach of God’s individual love for that person, pointing out specific experiences that are evidence of God’s love. Needless to say, only someone who already possesses the Holy Spirit can do these things. Someone without the Spirit will never be able to teach someone what revelation really means. (And one additional important point: even someone with the Holy Spirit will not always succeed.)

The title of this post is, “For in that day shall they understand them.” This is something Nephi, speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, said to his brothers and descendants, speaking of the people in the latter days who will understand the words of Isaiah. That is intended to mean us, the members of the Church.

In my life, I have tried to be someone that others can turn to to understand not only the writings of Isaiah, but all kinds of spiritual things. I have endeavored to communicate by writing. I am trying (through my ongoing Diaryx project) to remove some of the barriers that are currently unavoidable with writing. I am not an encyclopedia. I am not perfect. I’m not the best person for every problem. There are many ways I fall short. But all I can do is be immensely grateful for the ways He has blessed me, and try to be the specific tool He needs wherever I am at.

Your friend,

Adam Harris