Moses said he would be back, but he was gone.
Up the mountain with the thunder and the storm.
Days passed.
Weeks.
Moses was nowhere to be found.
Slowly, panic replaced faith amongst the Israelites.
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods”. (Exodus 32:1)
And in their panic, they turned to the worship of something that was familiar to them, more concrete, unchanging and easy to understand.
(I know, I know, a golden calf seems weird to us but it was a comfortable and logical move for them to make.)
I’ve learned in my life that patience and faith in God are completely intertwined.
“When we exercise patience, our faith increases. As our faith increases, so does our joy.” —Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi
Attending the temple hasn’t always made perfect sense to me.
After first receiving my endowment, there were a lot (A LOT) of things I was confused about.
But I had heard that the more often you go, the easier it is to gain a testimony of temple worship and work.
And I clung to that.
President Nelson has even recently counseled that if we don’t yet love temple work, to go more often.
And slowly but surely, trip after trip, drop by drop, I’ve learned to love attending the temple. I’ve learned, I’ve worshipped, I’ve served, I’ve received priceless revelation.
But it took a lot of patience. And waiting.
AND it took faith in God in waiting for the answer and the testimony to come.
I can think of so many more examples of this in my life with the law of tithing, keeping the Sabbath holy, fasting, following the prophet…
Patience in God’s timing and in His laws and principles takes a whole lot of faith.
Faith that He will actually reveal truths, or fulfill promises, or give us a testimony, or keep His covenants.
But keeping that faith while I wait has always resulted in long-term joy.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
