Exodus 14-18 Part 1 • Sister Elaine Dalton • April 13-19 • Come, Follow Me

Coming up in this episode on Follow Him. Some days we might feel like we've been miraculously led out of Egypt, only to find that there's another roadblock in front of us. How do we face that? Hello my friends, welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, I'm your host. I'm here with John, by the way, who is bread from heaven. John, by the way, does that fit? John, bread from heaven? Are you speaking, I'm kind of crusty or I'm one of the yeast of these? Your brother in yeast of these? Oh, I love it. No, thou art the manna, John. You are a blessing to me and that bread from heaven was a blessing for the children of Israel. That's out of Exodus chapter 16. John, we are privileged, honored, and I think both of us are a little bit nervous to have our guest, sister Elaine Dalton. Sister Dalton, can I call you Elaine? You can, yes. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I'm just absolutely giddy about this. I'm so honored to be here with you too. So thank you. We feel very blessed to have you with us and to have someone who has done so much for so many. John, when you think of crossing the Red Sea, what comes to mind? I know you're a Charlton Heston fan. Well, I bear a striking resemblance, I'm told, but no. This is the most epic deliverance story that's so big. It's not this little thing happened, but it's parting a sea. If God can do that, wow, maybe He can deliver us through our Red Seas. That's what I'm looking forward to. John, that is beautiful. I think of Nephi. How often does Nephi say, I can do this because I know God parted the Red Sea for Moses? Elaine, as you've been looking at these chapters that we're going to look at today, what are you looking forward to? What are we going to walk away with? I have to tell you first, as I've looked at these chapters and as I study, I ask myself three questions. What did I learn? What did I feel? What am I going to do about what I've learned? I think it's really wonderful to learn all these things, but unless it is applicable to us in our day and unless it changes us in some way, I would love it if everyone could ask those three questions and maybe at the end of this say, okay, because I've heard this, I'm going to change this or I'm going to do that or I'm going to have more faith, whatever it might be. I would love everyone to look for Jesus Christ in everything we're reading right now, His infinite Atonement and how He is the Deliverer and the Redeemer. I think it's also about progress, how we'll have these Red Sea moments, but that the Lord will take care of it all. That sounds wonderful. There's a moment in Exodus 14 where the Lord says, tell the children of Israel, go forward. Let's go. Yes, go forward. First, Moses says, stand still and know that the Lord and then it's no, no, stand still. Now just move forward, progress on in there. I think it's fun just to read this. The Lord shall fight for you. Ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said to Moses, wherefore cry us out unto me, speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. He's nearest. We can go forward. These are hard times for a lot of people. And I hope as we read this, we'll have that spirit witness to us, that the Lord is near us, that He loves us, that He wants us to succeed. And He is a Deliverer. In these chapters, we'll see how patient He is and how good He is. He keeps leading the children of Israel along, even though they murmur. And that's one other thing I'm going to take away. I'm not going to murmur anymore. It can't happen. I love this, Elaine. I'm already feeling the application. There's a lot of things I can do. This relevancy in antiquity is going to be with us today. John, before we go another step forward, that's what the children of Israel are going to do. But before we do that, you and I both have known Elaine for a long time. We know how loved she is by so many. There may be someone who wasn't in the church back in 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, when Elaine was leading the Young Women's Organization. What do you have? What do we know? Has she gone into a life of crime since then? No, not at all. Elaine Dalton was born and raised in Ogden, Utah. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Brigham Young University. She married Stephen E. Dalton in the Salt Lake Temple. Stephen and Elaine are the parents of five sons, one daughter, and the grandparents of 22 grandchildren. She enjoys running and hiking with her family and dancing with her granddaughters. She loves to read, especially the scriptures. She loves the Lord. She has a deep admiration for the young women around the world. Many of our listeners will know as Young Women President, she firmly believes that one virtuous young woman led by the Spirit can change the world. Her favorite scripture and life's motto was found in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, which was a youth theme years ago. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. Boys, that's going to be relevant today. And all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Sister Dalton does work with the Stella H. Oaks Foundation. People are going to go, Stella H. Oaks, who is that? Because that sounds familiar. Well, John, thank you for the opportunity to just share that. It's a very exciting foundation. It's named after President Oaks' mother, who was a single mother. He's told that story. President Oaks' father died when he was eight. She's raised three children who really have an R changing the world. She did it. She went back and got her education. In the process of that, she had a breakdown and had to come home. President Oaks, he recounts that she didn't even know his name at that point. But she recovered. She went back. She got that education and she came back and made such a huge difference. President Oaks is really largely the product and his brother and sister of a single mother and a grandmother who had faith in the Lord and modeled that by their example and blessed those children. We give scholarships for these single mothers now to get an education because we say, when you educate a mother, you educate generations. That is President Oaks and his mother are good examples of that, wouldn't you say? So it's a privilege for me to do that. Thank you for letting me share. That's wonderful. John, am I remembering right that it was President Oaks who said he was like the dumbest kid in the class? He gave a talk at BYU, I want to say, 74, 1975, where he said after his father died and left his family with this medical school debt, he said, I went through a period when I was the dumbest boy in the room. I couldn't do math. Oh, this just hurts. He said, I had an occasion where other children threw rocks at me and called me stupid. I just think, what? He said something after that about those things do not need to be permanently disabling. Feel no envy for those, he said, whose resources make it easy because sometimes those lessons will help you in your life. I'm paraphrasing. Amazing to hear President Oaks share that story as the dumbest boy in the room who becomes a Utah State Supreme Court judge and a law clerk in Chicago and all those things. It's really amazing. So he must have had an awesome mother that helped him through that. Every woman listening to this today has to know that our prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks has the highest regard for women because of his life's experience. He is looking out for each of us and I'm sitting up and paying attention every minute. Hmm. I love that, Elaine. I don't know. I have two sisters who are single moms. I can't think of much more difficults of life's assignment than a single parent. I agree and many of these young single mothers through no fault of their own have found themselves in these situations. Everyone, it's really important to get an education and to finish. You never know what life will bring you. Elaine, thank you. I knew you were going to continue to do great things. I do need to say this, John. I have a wonderful wife, Sarah. She, as I talk about her often on the show, last night, she said, who's on the show tomorrow? And I said, Oh, Elaine Dalton. She had a little gasp. She said, if I could meet anyone, any church leader ever, that is who I would want to meet. Elaine, we might have to arrange a double date or something. I'm in. You got it. I'll be the best husband there is for a few hours. That'll be it though. Then work on it again next week. Yeah. John, let's read from the Come, Follow Me manual. And Elaine, we want to learn. The lesson this week is called Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord. Exodus 14 through 18. The Israelites were trapped. The Red Sea was on one side and the army of Pharaoh was advancing on the other. Their escape from Egypt, it seemed, would be short lived. But God had a message for the Israelites that he wanted them to remember for generations. Fear ye not. The Lord shall fight for you. Since that time when God's people have needed faith and courage, they have told this story. When Nephi wanted to inspire his brothers, he said, Let us be strong like unto Moses. For he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea, and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through out of captivity on dry ground. King Limhi wanted his captive people to lift up their heads in rejoice. He reminded them of this same story. So did Alma, when he wanted to testify to his Son of God's power. And when we feel trapped, when we need a little more faith to see the salvation of the Lord, we can remember how the Lord saved Israel that day. What a beautiful way to start. I'm excited. Elaine, where do we want to go? How do you want to kick off? Can we start back in Moses one? That might seem like a funny thing to do. It's really important to just remember this background that we've already studied. He does know the Lord. He learns that sitting still isn't going to last long. He has to go forward and he has to command the waters to divide. Moses had a lot of confidence because he was given a blessing at that time. And that's in Moses one, verse 25. Here we have this young man receiving this blessing. Then life happens and things go on and on and on. But I wonder if when he was standing there on the banks of the Red Sea, if that didn't come to his mind, if the Holy Ghost didn't inspire him. It would be neat to talk about revelation, how the Lord reveals things to us in advance. He helps us to move forward. Moses received revelation and confidence because he had that. Would you feel confident if you were standing on the Red Sea and been told you were stronger than many waters? Does that come back to your memory? I love that. We go forward and we study about the Red Sea actually parting. It's wonderful to see also that they were not alone. They seemed like they were trapped. They had gone down. They had obeyed the Lord. They were in this place where there was an ocean on one side and Pharaoh's army is coming out of them at the other side. So they felt like they were trapped. But again it says in verse 21 of chapter 14, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. A strong east wind came all that night and I'm sure the children of Israel wondered what is happening to us. Then they woke up and saw what they saw. I try to put myself in that situation. It's just marvelous. It's miraculous, isn't it? They went across on that dry ground and then of course we know the Egyptians pursued and didn't make it. There are chariots got stuck in the mud but the Israelites had dry ground. An epic deliverance story. We have those, as you've mentioned, all through scripture, don't we? As I've thought about this a lot, aren't all of our scriptures about a journey? Aren't they likened to us? We're all on a journey to the Promised Land. Maybe going through the Red Sea is baptism. It could be symbolic of baptism. I know for sure that it's symbolic of the Savior's Atonement and his enabling and redeeming and delivering power. I find myself in awe at this story but also knowing the Lord doesn't like us to stay in a comfort zone. Brother of Jared, you've camped too long on the beach. You've been there and you haven't called on me so get up and let's get moving. Let's go forward. That happens with Nephi. It happens all the way through. Yeah. John, you know how many times on this show someone shows us something I've never seen before? Look at that verse 21. Elaine just pointed out, Moses stretches his hand over the sea and here comes this strong east wind. I wonder if some of the children of Israel, I think I would have. I'd say it just got worse. You stretched your hand. Not only are there the army coming behind us. We got the sea in front of us. Now we got bad weather. Thanks a lot. Moses got worse but it actually was coming to save them all that night. The very thing they thought was maybe getting worse was actually the thing that was going to save them. Do you think when they saw the waters part, were there people who hesitated? Do you think there's some that still said, let's go back? Or do you think they just went happily across? What would you have done? How would you have felt? Would you have trusted that water to stay where it was? There's faith all throughout this story. We think of the moment of faith of the parting of the Red Sea but even in the crossing, you're ... I hope this works. Yeah. We learn that faith is absolutely crucial to every journey, not just this one but to our journey and that faith is a principle of action, don't we? You have to move forward. You have to act on the faith that you have in order to progress. The Lord gave them the promise that He would lead them across. He would be a pillar, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. I don't think the Egyptians could see them because I think they probably were surrounded by a cloud. I don't know. I'm speculating here. He himself led them on this journey. As I studied it, I started thinking pillar, a pillar of fire. How many times in the scriptures do we also see pillars of fire or pillars of light? There are lots, aren't there? I can compare Moses to Joseph Smith and to so many other prophets because the Lord appears and says, here's who you are and I have a work for you to do. Then He gives them the big vision. That same thing happened to Joseph Smith. He spoke with the Lord and it's happened to probably every single prophet we've ever had that He teaches them first their identity and then He explains the work that they have to do. That's a really important acknowledgement. We all have to know our identity. President Nelson was so good about teaching us what that is. We are children of the covenant. That covenant that was made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which Moses was a child of the covenant. We all are. We need to remember that. Our identity defines our actions and our reactions. If we know who we are, we really know who we are. It changes everything. How do you find out? A lot of young women will have asked me that. You find out just the same way Moses did. You desire and you pray and you live for that. Back to the Red Sea. Have you had any Red Sea moments in your life, John or Hank, or any of you listening? Have you had any Red Sea moments when something seemed absolutely impossible and you saw the hand of the Lord in your life? That was a beautiful question. Something that we would hope every listener would stop for a second. I'll share mine while you think. I saw a Red Sea moment when I was the Young Women General President. That Red Sea moment was the moment that the Temple recommend was approved for the youth. That happened during my time. That was a parting of the waters. That was miraculous. It was a divinely inspired, guided thing that happened. The Lord knew he had bigger vision than we did. That was one of the Red Sea moments when the waters parted and I witnessed the hand of the Lord like never before. All you youth, if you're listening, the Lord was in this. He knows who you are. You need to know who you are. He has a work for you to do, just like Moses. Elaine, I love that idea of identity. I loved what President Nelson said. I believe if the Lord were speaking to you directly, the first thing he would make sure you understand is your identity as a child of God. That's exactly what happened. You just described with Moses in Moses chapter 1. Thou art my son. He tells him three times. Thou art my son. With that understanding of who you are, then he later tells him, I'm going to make you mighty and even can command the waters. It all goes back to who am I and who is God? Those questions get answered in the book of Moses. I wonder if President Nelson was thinking of that or that was part of why he feels so strongly. Then do you remember Hank? He said those three identities for the young adults to memorize, child of God, child of the covenant, disciple of Christ, to never let anything replace or displace those. That identity comes by personal revelation, doesn't it? These chapters we're studying here have a lot to do with revelation as well and being worthy to receive that revelation and then having the faith to act upon it. Hank, I'm not going to let you off the hook. Have you had a Red Sea moment in your life? I can think of a few. You know, Elaine, I have a place on my phone. I tell my students at BYU this. I tell my own children this, to have a place to record these moments. When you have these moments, record them. Actually in these chapters, the Lord is going to say, I want you to remember these days because there are times where you might feel like your faith is waning and I think the Lord wants us to be able to recollect these moments. So I actually went to that place on my phone. As you asked, I said, okay, well, let me go look at my Red Sea moment note on my phone. Let me tell you about one of these. I think it tells the Lord something that I value these kind of things. I write them down. It was, it's like Elaine's White Rose. Elaine, you told that story in general conference about the White Rose. I'm sure you wrote that down and said, I need to remember this. Here's one. John, I've shared on the show a couple of times about my childhood that things weren't easy. There was police and drugs and problems in my childhood home. I was home from a mission. My next step in life was going to get married. I didn't see how that was going to be possible given the difficulties of my childhood. I thought, I don't think I'm equipped with the skills to be married. I was very worried as I went to the Lord for help. I met my wife. Can that count as a parting of the Red Sea moment where I thought this is not going to occur? I did not come from a happy home. How can you make a happy home if you've never come from one? I was very worried that Pharaoh's army coming to my past would destroy my future. But the Lord had prepared a way. And I met my wife, Sarah, who I'm not saying all marriages need to be this way. And I'm not saying we have some sort of soulmate, but in my particular situation, the things she'd been through prepared her to be married to someone like me. She was used to trials and tribulations, I guess you could say. I think for me, that was a Red Sea moment. I definitely agree. Do you remember the talk by President Eyring that he records in a journal every day and he answers the question, have you seen the hand of the Lord reaching out to bless me or my family today? He has kept a daily log of how the hand of the Lord has reached out and blessed his family. And Hank, the hand of the Lord has been in your life all the way along. I've known you long enough. And the same with you, John. The Lord's directed your paths and it's just so wonderful. I love that idea, Hank, of recording on your phone. I have a Google doc. I call it a field document. F-E-E-L is an acronym for feelings, experiences, evidences, and then logic or reason. I wanted to use reason, but that would have spelled fear. So I don't feel. It would have spelled fear wrong. Yeah, I would have spelled it incorrectly too, so I couldn't use that. Sometimes we overemphasize testimony is just a feeling and it isn't. Sometimes it's feeling, sometimes it is. Sometimes it's experiences and that's huge. Feelings, experiences, evidences, and logic. And when something happens, I keep this Google doc and I'll add to it. I think that's the idea of President Eyring that's such a blessing. A journal isn't just for your trips and your trophies. It's for documenting the hand of the Lord in your life. If you do that, to paraphrase a different hymn, it will surprise you what the Lord has done. If you start counting your blessings one by one or counting your evidences one by one, it's like, wow, he really is involved in my life and make you grateful and humble. Really does. Keeping track of those. It can be life changing. I think the Lord says, remember this day. Yeah, that's what I was just going to say. These things like Passover and the Red Sea, please remember this. Just seems so... how quick we are. I don't want to say it's just them because we do it too, to forget. We have this thing arranged to go to sacrament every Sunday and covenant to remember. We forget so quickly. We do. We recognize section eight and nine as the section to receive revelation. In section eight, in verse two, it says, It's really important for us to know that revelation most always comes in response to a question. And that it's very similar to what Moroni 10 forces seek with real intent. I mean, if you're seeking with real intent and you don't have any preconceived notions, the Lord does give you revelation. Sometimes I don't think we recognize the revelation we're receiving hour by hour, day by day. When we can be in a place where we can receive revelation, it goes right along with understanding our identity. If we can receive revelation and we know we're guided by the Holy Ghost, it gives us confidence. In the world today, we are going to need confidence. President Oaks talk at BYU, one of the things he stressed and repeated were the words of President Nelson, that in the days that are to come, it will be absolutely critical to have the Holy Ghost, or we won't make it through. For a prophet to repeat a prophet, you sit up and you pay attention. We can have revelation for us as we encounter these challenges that we're going to face, even Red Sea moments. I have that quote right here in front of me, if you both want to hear it. This is Russell M. Nelson, April of 2018. I think he had just become the president of the church. He says, Our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ preside over this church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost. John and Hank, the fact that you're writing down, seeing the hand of the Lord in your life directing you, is more important than I think you understand at this time. And it's something we all should do, because when you actually write something down every day, every day, you will see miracles happening in your life every day. They have not ceased. The Lord is so involved in our lives. And as Elder Kiran said, He is relentlessly seeking after us and He wants us to succeed. With the children of Israel, maybe Moses was praying all night while that wind was blowing. I think he got up that morning and walked to the edge of the sea with great confidence because he knew. Elaine, I liked that you took us to Moses one and mentioned that the Lord had told him previously, thou shalt be made stronger than many waters. I hope that that experience came to his mind as he is walking towards the Red Sea going, Oh, my patriarchal blessing is coming to pass right in front of me. I've had those moments. I remember when I was called into President Monson's office and I was a counselor in the Young Women General Presidency and thought he was going to release me. And I thought, this is the classiest prophet. He knows how to do releases. I had talked myself into not crying, telling him what a privilege it has been to serve the young women. Then he called me to be the Young Women General President, the 13th Young Women General President, and I cried. At the moment of that call, a line from my patriarchal blessing went through my mind. I remembered it and I had never understood what that line meant until the moment of that call. I was scared to death, but not really. Because of that blessing, I knew I could do it. I knew I could do it with the Lord. I remember, Elaine, you telling me that there's this competing voice. You can't do this. You can't do this. You're just a grandma. You can't do this. And here's this other voice saying, you can do this. I'm not comparing myself to Moses, but the Lord, he led them with a pillar of fire and a cloud. At that time, President Monson read a scripture to me and he said, this applies to you. The Lord is speaking to you. It was D&C 88. I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left. And my spirit shall be in your heart and my angels round about you to bear you up. I can't tell you how many moments when I was in places that were less than desirable, almost frightening, but those words went through my head and gave me such confidence. Some of the things that President Nelson taught us, learn to hear him be willing to let God prevail. Think celestial. He put them so simply, but they're so powerful, each one of them. What you were just talking about there, having that come back to your mind. President Nelson saying, and then President Oaks repeating it will not be possible. That's why the emphasis learned to hear him. Let's talk about the Savior. How He has led us by the hand, how He has given us everything we need to succeed on this earth. We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have prophets, seers and revelators. We even have a Book of Mormon that tells us more about our Savior Jesus Christ. We're learning so much in the Old Testament about him. This is all about him as a deliverer. I see atonement. I see baptism, ordinances, covenants. I even see temple in these chapters. There's a place in these chapters where it talks about going to the sanctuary. It's in Exodus 15 verse 17. It says, Thou shalt bring them in, plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. Now we know what mountains were at those times. In the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for thee to dwell in. What would that place be where the Lord dwells in? And then it says in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. For me at least, when I pause there, when I read it this last time, they were talking about the temple. Now I could be wrong on that, but that was my inspiration. And about the fact that as we know, as we bind ourselves to the Lord through covenants, that covenant relationship, he will walk with us as we're baptized, which the Red Sea could actually be symbolic of. And as we go to the mountain and the temple of the Lord, we are bound to him. This is a marvelous plan. I don't think we can fail if we make inspired choices. I don't think we can fail. I love that knowledge. Elaine, what you just said about looking for Jesus in this story. Yes, he's Jehovah. And John, how many times have we talked about that this year? Which is make sure you don't miss Jehovah, because that is Jesus. And also looking for symbols of Jesus in the text. Elaine just brought one out. This story is yes about something very miraculous and amazing and deliverance. But think about this with the gathering of Israel. This is something Isaiah brings up. 2 Nephi 21 or Isaiah 11 talking about this gathering that the Lord will for a second time deliver the house of Israel. The first time being Moses, that's in 2 Nephi 21, verse 11. He says he'll gather the dispersed from the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. They'll come together, verse 15, and the Lord will utterly destroy the gulf or the tongue of the Egyptian sea with his mighty wind. He will shake his hand over the river. He'll smite at seven streams. Men go over dry shod. There will be a highway for his people to come home for Israel in that day, just like when he came out of the land of Egypt. I need to see the Lord doing this today in the gathering of Israel that he is preparing away. And the way could be this church. John, you and I both have missionaries out. I think Elaine, you probably have a missionary out doing this work. This is our modern day Red Sea parting. This gathering that the Lord is preparing, this church. I couldn't agree more. He's so constant and he's so present. We need to know that when we come up against those Red Sea moments, he will be our deliverer. We have to be patient as President Oaks taught. And we have to be humble as he taught at BYU. We have to have faith. And those are all things that President Oaks talked about. Some days we might feel like we've been miraculously led out of Egypt, only to find that there's another roadblock in front of us. How do we face that? We have to really exercise all of our strength to resist the temptation to give up, to panic, to go back. We see in this scripture that when the miracles come, the children of Israel forget. And they'll say, well, let's go back to Egypt. It was better there. We want to be slaves. We don't want to have this freedom. We don't want to keep wandering. Let's go back. In this day, we've got to remember that we're pressing forward with the perfect brightness of hope. And when I read that scripture now, I see the children of Israel walking on dry land across that Red Sea with that pillar of fire, that perfect brightness of hope who is the Savior, leading them. It's such a powerful story. I don't think we liken it enough to our own lives. We have prophets, don't we? If we follow our prophets, we will be in good shape. At least that's what I believe. It's interesting, Elaine, when they say, where there are not enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die. It would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the wilderness. You're right. They've just seen the plagues. Yeah. And now they've quickly forgotten. How often do I do that same thing? We all do. Sometimes we'll make a mistake and we know we've been forgiven and we start moving forward, but then we pause and we'll look back. No. Remember, remember the confidence and the forgiveness. Don't look back. Don't turn around and look back. That's a rule in running a marathon. If you want to do well, you don't look back because you lose time when you look back. I do like that. Verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And we often say, Moses parted the Red Sea, but then keep going. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back. By a strong East wind. I mean, the old instrument in the hands of the Lord is described there. Moses didn't really part the Red Sea. Jehovah did. You remember in John chapter 6 where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes and the people said, are you going to be like Moses who gave us manna? What did Jesus say? Moses didn't give you the manna. Yeah. It was the Lord that gave you the manna. Moses was there. The Red Sea parted, but God parted the Red Sea. He has power to part our Red Sea moments as well. That's great. Listen to this. I would love to hear you both comment. On this from Elder Holland. This is 2006. So 20 years ago, considering the incomprehensible cost of the crucifixion and atonement, I promise you, he is not going to turn his back on us now. He means he knows the way out and he knows the way up. He knows it because he has walked it. He knows the way because he is the way. Elaine, why do we do that? Why do we? Elaine, why do we do that? Why do we have these significant, incredible, miraculous moments? And we go forward and we face another obstacle we think I'm done for. I guess it's human nature. Again, the advice of President Oaks in that talk at BYU, be humble. Humble yourselves and then be patient. In our world today, we're used to getting things at the push of a button at our fingertips, but we need to learn to be patient. What do the scriptures say? Waiting upon the Lord in the due time of the Lord. As we feel like we're at these moments and we don't have the help, the Lord's not hearing our prayers. If we trust in him and if we rely on the plan that he has for us, it's a plan of happiness. It's a plan of success. We just have to keep being patient and keep moving forward. We can't stand still. Keep going in the direction the prophets and seers are leading us. Just keep going. Just keep moving forward. What if this could be a symbol for the celestial kingdom which I want is on the other side? So far away from where I am, an impossible place for me to get to. Here comes John, you might say the law of justice, right? Here comes all the consequences for sin. Here comes death and sin. It's right behind me and the celestial kingdom is so far away. I'll never make it. And then the Lord provides the way. His atoning sacrifice opens up the way for me to escape these monsters of sin and death and get to the other side. How many people have we heard from in our lives and I've felt this way before? I'll never make it. That's impossible. It's so far away from where I am right now. And we don't remember that the Lord will provide the way across. What about the thing? I want to make a poster of that because I'm not immune from having trials. I'm not immune from wondering when the Red Sea will part. I'm not. But I love what you just said. The Lord will make a way. We might be in the middle of the whirlwinds right now, but we don't see that they're actually parting the Red Sea. Once we get across, he's not going to leave us because he gives us quail then and he gives us mana. He gives us water. He even changes the bitter water or the bitter experiences to the sweet. All of that testifies of the Lord's goodness, his character traits, his attributes, and how he cares and loves for us. The atonement is absolutely colossal. The love he has for us is incomprehensible. This story helps me see him and how much he will love us, be patient with us, give us things that will help us along the way, and ultimately will hopefully all arrive together and helping each other along the way to that promised land. I'm glad you used the word patience there because I don't think when the children of Israel said, now what are we going to do that the Lord was like, oh, you're right. I never thought of this. He had the long view in mind. Four years ago, Hank, I think we called it the God's eye view. I never forgot that idea. He is thinking so many moves ahead on the chessboard of mortality for us that he already knew he was going to do all this and the children of Israel keep looking up. Yeah, but what about this? But yeah, but what about this? And Elaine, what you're saying is, be patient. I know what I'm doing here. I'm going to deliver you. I had heard that Elder Bednar had given this idea, you have one job today. Stay on the covenant path. Don't look so far off about what's at the end of the path. You have one job. Follow him. One job. Follow him. That's a good job. I worry that some people, the reason they forgot about their epic moments before, because they're not in the good place they were before. Maybe they're thinking now, since that time, I've really messed up. Since that time, now I'm not sure if I'm worthy to have the Lord do this for me. That's when we have to go back to what Elaine mentioned. Elder Karen, the Lord's in relentless pursuit of you, wherever you are, and he's going to keep opening up ways and bringing you back to him. Even if you have messed up, he's going to still provide a way if you're trying to get back on the path. Is that fair? I love that, John. I absolutely love that. I think it's not only fair, but true. I'd, before we leave Chapter 14, I noticed that pharaoh seeing these miracles, these plagues, it didn't last too long. Here he sees these 10 plagues. He loses his own son, and a couple of verses later he's saying, they're shut up into the wilderness. Let's go get them. Seeing miracles really doesn't have a long shelf life. You would think what you saw, oh wow, you'll remember forever. I remember my seminary teacher saying that the Holy Ghost is more powerful than miracles, and I'm thinking, no, no, it's not. If I saw a miracle, I guarantee that I would remember that for a long time, but they seem to have a quick expiration date. So in verse 17 of Chapter 14, the Lord says this, I behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. They shall follow them, and I will get honor upon pharaoh, and upon all his hosts, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Even the Egyptians, the Egyptians, which we think the bad guys, they're not, will know him too. He desires for them to know him and see his hand in all of this. He was teaching Moses who he was, he was teaching the house of Israel who he was, and he's teaching the Egyptians who he is. We went through last week that each of the plagues were directed at an Egyptian God, and discredited the Nile God. The Egyptians shall know I am the Lord. When we read Lord, we think of the title like I'm the Lord of this estate. But when you see Lord in small caps, the Egyptians shall know I'm Jehovah, and that Jehovah is God, not this pantheon of Egyptian gods. I have a question from Chapter 14 that may come up for a young person and maybe even an older person, which is, man, that seems maybe unfair for the Lord to close the sea upon the Egyptians. Verse 26, the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters will come upon the Egyptians, upon chariots and upon their horsemen. The sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Covered the chariots, the horsemen, the host of Pharaoh. Not one of them remained, but the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. We have wonderful, wonderful, empathetic people, especially young people. John, how would you answer that question? What would you say? It's a very good question because some of them were being obedient soldiers. I remember a long time ago, probably before you were born, Hank, Elder Marion D. Hank spoke in general conference. He said something I never forgot because in chapter 15, they're going to sing a song. Yay, a hellel is a song like hellel luya is praise the Lord, a song of praise to God. This is what Elder Hank said in 1992. Jewish tradition helps us further appreciate the nature of our Heavenly Father in the tender practice of the half-hellels offered at Passover in celebration of the historic exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and their passing through the Red Sea. When they reached the sea that pursuing Egyptian armies overtook them, through Moses, God divided the waters, and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground. The Egyptians went in after them. Then Moses stretched his hand again over the sea in the waters return. The Israelites were safe and the Egyptian armies were drowning. Triumphantly the people began to sing hymns of praise to the Lord, but the Almighty stopped them and said, How can you sing hymns of praise and jubilation when so many of my children are drowning in the sea? In remembrance of that event, Jewish people during the latter period of Passover include abridged or shortened songs of praise, half-hellels as part of the celebration. I never forgot that idea of the Lord saying, This is not a totally happy day because these Egyptians now are drowning in the sea. Let me quote from Alonzo Gaskil, our friend. He said, It has been suggested that a sort of tit for tat is at play here in the taking of the Egyptian lives by water. 80 years earlier, Pharaoh had taken the lives of the male Israelite children by drowning them in the Nile. Now Israel's God would drown Pharaoh's armies in the Red Sea. Ironically, the very man God used to bring to pass the watery destruction of the Egyptians was Moses who himself was rescued by God from the Nile when he was but an infant. So there's some elegant patterns going on here of throwing the house of Israel into the sea, into the babies. Moses too, but he was in a basket and an ark. Now the Egyptians are drowning in the sea as a God of justice, I suppose. What Elder Hanks talked about was my children are drowning here too and by their actions have put themselves in this place. If you think of the Lord as the living water and his children, some of them were immersed in his living water, maybe that helps them to be brought forth into his presence. I remember on my mission having questions about some of the poverty that I saw all around me and that the people saw and asked how could there be a God. And I remember trying to explain that when God sees someone dying, he sees one of his children being set free and coming home. When we see someone dying, that's what we see. God sees his children coming home. And maybe again, it's that God's eye view that we can't totally see, that there's a merciful God and a just God at work here and maybe both of them are being exercised here. Back in Exodus chapter 9, I noticed that there are some Egyptians who respond to these plagues. He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. Some regarded not the word of the Lord. It sounds like some are responding and maybe the ones we have here are those who didn't respond. How often do we see the Lord letting agency play out? How often do we see that in our own lives? We don't want people to be harmed by sin. But there's natural consequences sometimes. And how often had he warned them? How many times had he warned the Egyptians? Don't do this. We have 10 plagues. We have the pillar of fire blocking their way. It seems like the Lord is almost begging them not to do this. Maybe the day of grace is passed at some point. Yeah, sometimes we have to hit C bottom before we realize that this is the end. This is how this works out. A similar story is all the people that perished during the flood. I can't remember the quotation that somebody read about. How could God send spirits to homes that were so wicked there was no agency and that they would have no chance coming to the earth the way it was among the wicked before the flood? Am I getting that right, Hank? I think so. Sometimes good people are affected by the agency exercised by others. As Pharaoh's heart was hardened, he commanded his armies, his chariots, his horses to go after these people. Maybe most of those men didn't want to do that. Most of them had seen how hard the Israelites had worked, how they'd been held in bondage, what great people they were. We just don't know. I do know that good people are affected by how some other people exercise their agency. But here's what we know. The Lord loves his children. I don't know the meaning of all things, but I know this, that he loves us. Everything will be okay in the end. That might not be an intellectual accepted answer, but it is an answer to my spirit. I can testify of that. Perhaps the Lord said, well, I'm going to move you classrooms. I still want to teach you, but I'm going to move you over here, John and Elaine. This story, among others, teaches us how important covenants are to the Lord. He made a promise to deliver Israel. And even if this tragic thing happens to the Egyptians, that's how important covenants are to the Lord. He made a promise to Abraham. He made a promise to deliver Israel. And these covenants are serious. You and I might break our covenants a little too flippantly, but the Lord doesn't. These are big. Was it John? You said, stay on the covenant path. That's where the safety is, because as we make those covenants with him, we can rely on him. If we keep our end of the bargain, he's going to keep his and not only that, but we're walking with him. It's the scripture, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What if you change that to my covenants are easy and my covenants are light? You can see yourself in this yoke with him walking right next to you. You're covenant. You're tethered together in this covenant relationship. You keep walking with him, helping you up those hills and teaching you and letting you know that you're beloved. This life isn't the end of it all, but again, it's hard to have that patience that President Oaks is asking us to have. This verse might sound a lot like this story. As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri River in its decreed course, or to turn it upstream as try to hinder God from pouring down knowledge from heaven, or I would say from keeping his covenants up on the heads of the saints. Elaine, we've had you for quite a while now and we've covered one whole chapter. I feel like we've done 40 years there in chapter 14. It's such good stuff because we learn so much about the attributes of the Savior in that section and so much about ourselves, don't we? Let's move on to 15. This is where they do get to the other side and they sing. John, I love the idea of the hallel. Talk a little more about that. I think that's really a wonderful point. When I heard Elder Hanks talk about that hymn of praise, then I understood the meaning of hallelujah. It's praise the Lord. It's a song of praise. They sang these songs and then the Lord stopped them and they took it back a little bit because so many of the Egyptians were destroyed. The idea of singing a song of praise is called a hallel. I think as we look at the Psalms, most of those are songs. The sheet music didn't come with the book of Psalms. Those were songs of praise. They do talk about how the Egyptians were cast into the sea and drowned and dashed in pieces, but remember the symbolism of John. You can even help me out with Jacob in 2nd Nephi 9. The Lord overcomes these monsters of death and sin to give us away. We could think about this in a symbolic way. The Lord did destroy the enemy of our souls to make way for a escape out of the fall into redemption. As Elaine said, so many journeys are part of life. Elaine, I heard somebody say once, I don't remember how many years ago, you got to go through the wilderness to get to the promised land. So many of us are in a wilderness. Sometimes we're delivered and then there's another wilderness, but the answer is always the same. In singing this song that the Israelites really understood the Savior and what He does and did for them. Verse 16, it says, Fear and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone. Till thy people pass over, O Lord, till thy people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Okay, this is such a direct reference to the Savior's Atonement. We were purchased by Him. I love that because I used to be a folk dancer at BYU. I love Miriam. I love the fact that she took up the timbrels and the women danced and celebrated. That's in verse 20. Miriam, the prophetess, is what she was called. The sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand and all the women went after her with timbrel and with dances. I love that. We have to be thankful, don't we? We just have to celebrate these moments, these miracles. That verse you mentioned, the fact that it uses the word pass over is so cool to me. During the plagues, the angel of death passed over them and now they have passed over those who are trying to kill them, which thou hast purchased, or in other words, which thou hast redeemed, a literal physical temple redemption. There's also a spiritual redemption that he offers. Think of those who perhaps are in slavery to addiction. Then the Lord provides a way to escape. Then you read this song and it changes for you. He destroyed my addiction and I am free. He purchased my freedom. Absolutely. That's profound, Hank. It is so true. Doesn't that make you feel so humble and so grateful and know the goodness, the mercy, the loving kindness of our Savior, Jesus Christ? They talk at the end of this chapter. Maybe we can end with this. It's a covenants, but they talk about an ordinance also. Do you see that in verse 25? And he made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them. And he said, If that will dill it, gilly hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, that's one, and will do that which is right in his sight and will give ear to his commandments and keep all of his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon me, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. The Lord is a healer. He's a deliverer. He exercises loving kindness for all of his children. He keeps his end of the covenants that he makes with us, that there's no doubt. And if we do what he asks, which are pretty simple things, aren't they, then we receive all the blessings that he covenants to give us. I just love that. Isn't it interesting that ordinances and covenants right there, they are together? A covenant with an ordinance. With the Atonement. Let's just look at verse 27 to end this. And they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water and three score and ten palm trees, and they encamp there by the waters. They're back into a comfort zone. Yay. But how long will they stay there? Will they be like the brother of Jared? No, you can't camp on the beach. You've got to get moving. There they are in the comfort zone. But then what happens? We go to chapter 16. Here we go again. They get hungry and they get thirsty. They forget. Isn't it crazy? And we do too. The biggest thing I've learned today from both of you is just I need to keep writing these things down. These miracles, these blessings that the Lord showers upon me every single day. On to chapter 16. Should we go? How do we see this? The congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, here we go again. Would to God that we could go back. We could go back into a more comfortable place. I have a hard time comprehending that they could have experienced the colossal miracle they did of deliverance. And they still want to go back to their old ways. What's that all about? Are we the same? I'm afraid we might be. Yeah. The Lord sends miracles down and we send murmuring up. Yeah. I want to go back to the good old days. Another principle that we need to take seriously is this idea of murmuring. It might seem very innocuous as we start to murmur. I'm familiar with a study that was done by Eugene Dalton, no relation at BYU, where he said that when parents go to church and they come home and at the dinner table, they criticize the bishop or whatever. The children amplify that criticism. So it's called the amplification effect. There might not be anything happened immediately, but as they grow older, they'll amplify what has been said in their homes. Stephen and I learned that early on in our marriage and made an agreement with each other that we would never be critical of our leaders because our children do amplify that. That's a true principle. Murmuring is not where we want to be and we're sure hearing a lot of it lately. Elaine, I have a question for you. You spent five years in the headquarters of the church, in the committees of the church. You spent time with our leaders. Did you hear much murmuring? I was astounded when I'd go into the office. Big things were happening in the world. Scary things were happening in the world. Of great consequence in my mind, it was focused, let's get going on the Lord's work, let's don't look sideways, let's keep moving all as well. It was sort of that feeling like all as well. Keep moving. No, I did not hear any murmuring. I might have done a little, but I'm probably the only one. I did not hear any of that. It's not where the brethren are. They're so optimistic, so optimistic about the future. Someone told me that when President Monson would come into a meeting, occasionally someone say, how are you President Monson? And he'd say, I'm the tops. I met Elton Perry in the parking lot one day and I said to him, how are you doing, Elder Perry? And he said, I'm great. I'm just great. I knew he wasn't great. I knew that he had just lost his wife, but he was great. Isn't it President Nelson that says the joy we feel isn't a result of the circumstances of our life, but of the focus of our life? And that's the way I saw it down at the church office building. It was the focus of Jesus Christ. Maybe Elaine, we could say that murmuring is a result of losing your focus. That's profound. I love that, Hank. I think it's the same thing you said before about patience. The Lord has a long view in mind. He knows what he's doing. We're going to hear about manna. We're going to hear about quail. He's got all the bases covered. They don't see it, so they murmur. Maybe that's a part of it. If I could see the long view I'd have less to murmur about, and I would trust that the Lord has a plan for this already in mind that I don't know about. He does seem very patient with a lot of the complaining. I don't know if any of you have either turned around and said, I'm going to stop this car. I'm so tired of your complaining. The Lord is responding to their murmuring. He's very compassionate here. Yeah, it's true. So compassionate that he sends quail for them to eat when they say we're really, really hungry. Then after that he sends the manna. Manna means what? What is this? Is that what it means? What is it? Yeah, it's in the footnote. What is it? Yeah. That's really interesting because he sends that with also some instructions that they're supposed to gather that daily, that they can't store it up except on the day before the Sabbath. Then they can store it up and it won't rot. The children of Israel are being taught exact obedience in that. They are also being taught the dailiness, the daily remembering, the daily reminders. I call those holy habits and righteous routines. That's a daily conversation with the Lord, the daily prayers, the daily connection that we make. He's teaching them not only obedience, but that discipline of the daily private religious behavior that can strengthen us and keep us close to him. I love that teaching in this chapter. I think those are my two big highlights for this chapter 13. Holy habits and righteous routines. This has got to be where the Lord says, give us our daily bread. I think so. Isn't it true that he still does? Right. Give us our daily bread. We are all receiving manna in one form or another every day. But I also think it's great that he's teaching us that we can't get casual, that we can't think, oh, well, I've done that. I've stored that up. I've read the Book of Mormon, but we have to keep at it. We have to keep doing it. It just doesn't stay. It doesn't keep. I love this idea of holy habits and righteous routines that the Lord is maybe teaching them. There's some daily things we are going to do. We're not going to store today's prayers and say, well, I prayed yesterday. I can push that through till tomorrow. They're really simple. At least they are for me, the dailiness of personal prayer. Every single day, morning at night, at least, I find myself now praying a lot more than that because I need a lot more blessings and help. Just that dailiness of prayer, the dailiness of reading their scriptures. Sometimes we make that a project. We think we have to have a red pencil and we have to have a journal and we don't. I find that it makes such a difference in my life if I just reach over and read one verse of something when I don't have a lot of time, then read a whole bunch another time. With this reading in Exodus, I went down so many rabbit holes, I learned so much and the Lord revealed so much to me. Those are things we can do daily. We can be obedient to the commandments daily. We can remember Him, always remember Him, keep those covenants daily. Coming up in part two, I learned a great principle from President Nelson who at the time I was young woman president was my priesthood advisor. He said to me, Elaine, never be afraid of a chastisement. And I was like, are they coming? Yeah, did I just get one? Never be afraid of a chastisement. And then he gave me the etymology of the word chastise. Part of it is being chased or pure.