Climbing into the wheelbarrow

"Prove Me Herewith"

Brent Mendenhall

I extend the strongest sense of urgency to begin your own journey of finding confidence in what the Lord revealed through Malachi. Prove Him herewith. Today. Now.

“The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and teachers were given that we may all attain ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.

“It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”

We do not have the time or the luxury to merely go through the motions. The time is now to gain confidene, to actually “Prove me herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts.”

In 1859, a French tightrope walker and acrobat by the name of Jean François Gravelet, known professionally as the Great Blondin, awed large crowds of people with aerial acrobatics as he crossed on a high wire that great gorge that makes Niagara Falls. One instance he walked half way and stopped, placed a chair on the wire, and read a book. Another crossing found him balanced on the wire as he cooked an egg. But perhaps the most widely known of his exploits involved a wheelbarrow to be pushed across the great divide on the high wire.

As he began his trek, he stopped, turned to the crowd, and asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” “Yes,” was the overwhelming response. “We have watched you do many things and we know you can do this.” Blondin asked again, “You really believe I can do this?” “Oh yes,” came the confident responses from the safety of the cliff side. Blondin locked eyes with one man in particular and asked, “You sir, do you believe I can do this?” The man responded, “Yes, I do. I have watched you before do many amazing things.” To that, Blondin looked him in the eye and said to the man, “Get in the wheelbarrow.”

We are very much like that man, who, by the way, as the story goes, did not get in the wheelbarrow. We have seen great things, we know great things, but then when it is time to respond to “prove me now herewith”  we stammer and back up like the man and the wheelbarrow. We seem to be strong to profess confidence but slow to prove it herewith.

We need to climb into the wheelbarrow but for some reason, we hesitate to do so. Wheelbarrows that seem to hold us back from being quite ready to climb into the wheelbarrow of confidence in the Lord.

What are your plans today and even tomorrow? Have we caused our lives to become so complex that we lose sight of the greatness that is in front of us?  The 133rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants gives this direction: “…that men might be made partakers of the glories which were to be revealed, the Lord sent forth the fullness of the his gospel, his everlasting covenant, reasoning in plainness and in simplicity…To prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth…” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:57-58).

When Nephi was called upon by the Lord to build a ship to carry his family across the great waters, his brothers mocked him and belittled him. They chided him, telling him he was a fool. He had never built a ship. They didn’t help because they didn’t believe in his acceptance of a divine call to build this ship. But Nephi did believe and began preparations to build it.

Nephi patiently explained to his brothers the great things that had occurred with their fathers and Moses as they escaped the armies of the Pharaoh. Nephi recounted to his brothers regarding fiery flying serpents sent among their fathers when they entered into a time of disbelief. In order to be saved after being bitten and poisoned by the bites,  Nephi wrote, explaining: “...the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41).

Just like those forefathers of Nephi, the simplest of expectations escape us. It was not a simple thing for Nephi to build a ship, but his confidence in what the Lord asked him to do was based on obedience to basic commandments. …… plan for the future, but look for today. Those simple expectations of saying your prayers, read your scriptures, go to church, follow the prophets, and keep the commandments, and, yes, are actually very simple if we have confidence in the promises given us and look at what we are doing in our daily lives.

“…prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and  pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” is the invitation if we will accept it. Understanding why and what is expected is an integral part of that invitation.

“If you are willing to pay the price for success, good things, even great things, can happen to you, even beyond your fondest dreams and expectations! Often we do not have even a glimpse of our potential for happiness and accomplishment in this life and in eternity Many of us do not have a full awareness of what we really know. Even though we have been taught the gospel, we may not be fully aware of what the Lord has put in our ‘inward parts’ and written in our hearts.…you are heirs to great promises.”

President James E. Faust

Will you accept the Lord’s expectations with courage and confidence? Will you accept the invitation to prove Him herewith and open the windows of heaven in your life? It is my hope, deep in my heart, that you do.