Helaman 13:19 “Hide up their treasures unto me”

Why do we hide our treasures in the earth? To preserve them for our future, to keep them safe from robbers. We make investments hoping that they will increase. In these ways we hide our treasures in the earth, or in things of the world. We know that these investments do not always turn out to be productive, and sometimes despite our efforts thieves still break through and steal.

What does it mean to hide up our treasures unto the Lord? When we hide up our treasures unto the Lord, we are also preserving them for our future, but an everlasting future, “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt” (Matt 6:20). It is an investment with a guaranteed interest rate and return. From our perspective now these eternal investments may be difficult to make since we cannot perceive when we will get the return, but I believe that we do get an immediate return in the way of humility, the companionship of the Holy Spirit and access to sacred ordinances. Making the temporal sacrifice in favor of eternal gain require us to change our perspective, to see the big picture. There are many benefits of doing this - it can turn our hearts (desires) over to the Lord. “if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt 6:22) Being in this state of “enlightenment” has allowed me to cope with and even triumph over the diverse challenges of mortality.

What treasures do we hide up to the Lord and how? The most obvious way to do this is to live the law of the Fast and Offerings. We voluntarily abstain from food, the most basic of mortal necessities to demonstrate our willingness to favor the most basic of spiritual necessities. We impart of our substance to the poor and needy, and in doing so we recognize that all we have is given us by the grace of God. We use our time, talents and abilities for physical labor to benefit the kingdom through our callings. Beyond these more apparent spiritual investments there are others that are not seen. Whenever we work to build our faith through testimony, prayer and scripture study we are creating treasures and “hiding them up to the Lord”.

Helaman 14:12 “that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.”

The purpose of every prophet that has ever been called has been to show us the way to Christ. I believe that God will give all of his children every opportunity to come unto Christ, and to some people this means sending may prophets even after they are rejected. Jeremiah and Lehi, Alma and Amulek, Nephi and his contemporary Samuel. The actions of the prophets are sometimes different since the needs of the people to which they serve are different. Many of them have given signs, “to the intent that [we] might believe on [Jesus’s] name”. Samuel declares with great specificity the signs that will precede the birth (light) and death (darkness, destruction) of the Savior. Thus, we see that the signs that are given are not just indicators of the event, they also serve to describe the event. We have also been given many signs to watch for that indicate and describe the next great event we look forward to, the second coming of Jesus in power and glory. (Luke 21: 7-11, 20-27) I feel as though we are seeing and have seen many of the signs described in these scriptures. In 2017 we saw great signs in heaven: the total solar eclipse that traversed the United States, signs in the planets and constellations that appear to match the prophecy in the beginning of Revelation 12. Much of the meaning of the signs we see is still a mystery to me, but beyond the signs, our prophets have declared unequivocally that the time of the Lord’s coming is neigh.

Can the words of Samuel be applied to us when he said, “the more part of them are in the path of their duty, and they do walk circumspectly before God, and they do observe to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments… and they are striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth” (Helaman 15: 5-6) 

What are you doing to act with unwearied diligence? 

Without the weekly reminders we receive as a congregation in church on Sunday, it can be so easy to just “let the time go by” but in doing, little by little we would lose our faith. But we can receive the same, if not greater, weekly reminders in our own homes as we partake of the sacrament. It takes more effort to maintain the same level of spiritual feasting, but the gains are equally greater, “because of their firmness when they are once enlightened, behold, the Lord shall bless them and prolong their days” (Helaman 15: 10)