Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read Ezekiel's vision of the valley of bones, which refers to both the resurrection of the dead and the renewal of the House of Israel. Sidney B. Sperry said: It will be seen from this passage that the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is involked to symbolize the restoration of Israel's exiles to their own land. The exiles are represented--so it seems to me--as having lost hope (their bones are dried up) of ever living again as a nation. But the Lord shows them that they can be restored through His mighty power even as the dead will be raised in the resurrection. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body is assumed. Some writers contend that the idea of resurrection was not known among the Hebrews at this early time. But the fact that Ezekiel speaks as he did would seem to me an indication that the doctrine had long been understood in Israel. Any true prophet would understand the doctrine of the resurrection, so Latter-day Saints believe, and Israel had had many prophets long before Ezekiel's time. The symbolic meaning of this prophecy as it relates to the gathering of Israel is apparent. The bones represent Israel in its lost and scattered state; the graves indicate where Israel is as well as its condition of spiritual death. The spirit means the new spirit of righteousness the people will have when they have been resurrected, that is, restored from their fallen state. The source of this new life will be the Holy Ghost. Ezek. 37: 1-14 "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord."

In the D&C I read that we need to be wise stewards because we will be called to give account to the Lord for our stewardships. If we are faithful and wise, we'll inherit mansions prepared for us by our Father. What are our stewardships? If we have a church calling, that is a stewardship and we'll be held accountable for how well we magnify our callings. If we're parents, our children are our stewardships. Whatever the Lord has asked us to do is our stewardship and we need to do a good job at whatever is required of us. D&C 72: 3-4 "And verily in this thing ye have done wisely, for it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. For he who is faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us that it is good and pleasant when brothers live together in unity. How important it is for us to live harmoneously with those around us and do our best to get along without contention. Ps. 133: 1 "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"