Come, Follow Me
Hidden Treasures
As you dig into your scripture study this month, you can unearth a wealth of lessons and truths.
Illustrations by Emily Jones
You’ve probably heard that there’s a difference between reading and studying the scriptures. When you study, you’re focused, engaged, curious, prayerful, and open to the Spirit. You make connections and learn personal lessons and eternal truths.
Here are a few examples of some lessons and truths we unearthed as we studied the scriptures covered in this month’s Come, Follow Me study plan. What kinds of treasures can you find?
The pages were lost, but the Lord had a plan.
The gold plates began with Mormon’s abridgment of the book of Lehi. Joseph Smith translated 116 pages’ worth of it—but then Martin Harris lost the pages.
Couldn’t Joseph just retranslate it? Yes, but Joseph’s enemies had the lost pages and would look for differences between the two translations (or invent some) to attack him (see Doctrine and Covenants 10:29–32).
Fortunately, the Lord had a plan. Centuries earlier, He had commanded Nephi to make a second set of plates that covered a lot of that same material but focused more on spiritual things (see 2 Nephi 5:29–33). Then the Lord inspired Mormon to include these smaller plates with his abridgment of everything else (see Words of Mormon 1:3–7).
The Lord made sure we still had a record of things like Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life and his family’s voyage to the promised land. Someday the missing portion will be restored. In the meantime, we have all the more reason to study and love what we do have, considering all the effort the Lord took to make sure we have it.
Oliver Cowdery joined the team and had unforgettable experiences.
Imagine you’re Oliver Cowdery, a 22-year-old schoolteacher who has met the Joseph Smith Sr. family and learned of the amazing things their son Joseph is doing—and then you get involved!
Next thing you know, you’re transcribing Joseph’s dictated translation of the Book of Mormon. What an experience! When Oliver said, “These were days never to be forgotten” (Joseph Smith—History 1:71, footnote), that must have been quite an understatement.
While Joseph and Oliver were translating and transcribing the Book of Mormon, they had questions about baptism. You can learn what happened when they took their questions to the Lord, resulting in more sacred experiences that neither man would ever forget.
The Lord brings people into our lives to help us—and for us to help.
Here’s a valuable fact: Being successful usually requires help from other people.
Heavenly Father puts people in our paths who can bless our lives (and whose lives we can bless). This goes for both spiritual and temporal matters. Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery because Oliver, a schoolteacher, had met Joseph’s parents in the course of his work. Oliver was already friends with the Whitmer family, who were soon converted and started doing work that Joseph couldn’t possibly have done all by himself.
So many great things were accomplished because these people “happened” to come into one another’s lives. Do you think it was a coincidence that they met? No!
When you ask Heavenly Father for help, be open to the possibility that the Holy Ghost might whisper the name of someone in your life who can provide the assistance you need.
And don’t forget the opposite side of that coin: Whose path have you been placed in? Whose prayers can you be an answer to?