Scriptures

Yesterday evening, I was studying the lesson for this coming Sunday's Relief Society lesson in the Gospel Principles manual.  It's about the scriptures, identifies what the different books of scripture are, and the blessings that come.  About halfway through the lesson, the chapter asks "What are some stories from the scriptures that have inspired you?"

As I thought about it, preparing to have an asnwer ready on Sunday, I was surprised - and then not so - when the story of Ruth the Moabitess, daughter-in-law of Naomi the Israelite, came first to my mind. Even after her husband's death and Naomi's encouragement for her and her sister-in-law Orpah to return to their families, Ruth stayed. She was willing to leave her home, family and everything familiar in order to stay with Naomi and care for her. "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go: and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)  Ruth was indeed blessed for her sacrifice. She married Boaz, the man in whose fields she gleaned, and became the great-grandmother of King David and the many times great-grandmother of the Savior himself.

Then, of course there's Joseph in Egypt, who remained loyal to God and virtuous in the face of temptation to break the law of chastity. "There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can i do this great wickedness, and sin against God? ... And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." (Gen. 39:9,12; emphasis added)

There's Eve, mother of all living. She and Adam were willing to be cut off from the presence of God in order to set the Plan of Salvation in motion; to have offspring. "And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concering all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgressiopn my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. And Eve, his wife, ehard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. And adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters." (Moses 5:10-12)
How blessed we are to have the word of God.