Choosing to search

From now on it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can survive.
– Pope John Paul II

My last semester at BYU I needed three classes to graduate with my degree – a theater for elementary teachers class, a computer programming class, and another computer science class of my choosing, I chose computer ethics.

But I took seven classes (I never really know when to stop). The extra four I took were Portuguese, Pearl of Great Price, Mormon Folklore, and Writings of Isaiah. Not exactly underwater basket weaving. The latter two ended up being two of the four classes in my higher education career that changed my life.

I took Writings of Isaiah from Sister Ann Madsen, a very fortunate happenstance in my life because of her approach to teaching it, which I’ll get to. The first day of class she asked us each to say why we were taking the class. 3 Nephi 23:1 states “And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.” We’ve been commanded to study Isaiah, I decided I wanted help getting started with that.

So I chose to get some help. And that class made Isaiah my favorite prophet and changed how I viewed my relationship with my Savior.

Today the question of what is the difference between reading scriptures and studying scriptures came up. There were several shared comments about looking for lost items, but those comments assumed you knew what you were looking for in the first place. If you don’t know what you are looking for, can you really search?

A week and a half ago I was substituting in a science classroom and the plans for the day asked the students to read a chapter in the book and answer the questions at the end. I told them they had two strategies. They could read the whole chapter, hope they pay attention to the important parts, and then answer the questions. Or, they could jump to the end of the chapter, check out the questions, and then search through the chapter to find the answer. One student pointed out that either way they were pretty much going to be reading the chapter, which is true. But which of them would be searching? Which of them had a better chance of paying attention to the important parts?

The same is true with the scriptures. If we don’t know what the questions are at the end of the chapter we run the risk of not paying attention to the important parts and missing out on the information there for us. But if we know what the questions are that we are trying to answer as we read we’ll be much more likely to find them.

The reason I enjoyed my Isaiah class so much and got so much out of it wasn’t because we just started at the beginning and read through it. We searched. But the question at the end of the chapter wasn’t “What was Isaiah telling the ancient Israelites?” although that was definitely part of the class. No, the underlying question at the end of the chapter was “What is Isaiah telling me?” We were searching for ourselves in Isaiah, for the conversation he was having with each of us individually.

By having questions laid out before beginning to read the scriptures, you’ll be able to find the answers to them as you read. Every six months for General Conference I choose 3 topics or questions I need answers to. As I listen I search for the answers. Because I am searching General Conference and not just listening, I always come away from Conference edified and uplifted.

I need to choose to search more often. The answers are there.

Seek me diligently and ye shall find
Doctrine & Covenants 88:63
(see also Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9)