Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Moses vs Satan

This morning, LDS.org didn't load, but to be fair to their servers, I only tried once. Then I went to youtube and went immediately to the Mormon Channel. After a little browsing, I found this:





This is a powerful video, and not just because the videographers did a good job with the effects and editing. In this video, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland teaches that even when we have spiritually uplifting, empowering moments, the tempter is never far away, and Moses shows the power of his testimony in resisting Satan.

The most instructive part of this video for me was when Elder Holland said that Satan was defeated, "always to come again, we can be sure, but always to be defeated by the God of glory - always." It reminds me of the eternal nature of this struggle. Satan will never stop trying to steal our souls, and God will never stop being stronger than him. God will never stop coming to help us defend ourselves from Satan, when we call for His help, but Satan will never stop coming back and trying again.

This should be encouraging, but it's not. I should be glad that even though Satan continually fights against God, he will always lose. Instead, I'm discouraged because Satan will never grow tired of attacking me, and I do, too frequently, lose. I realize that I only lose because I fail to call on God when I'm tempted, but sometimes it takes a while for me to discover that I'm even being tempted. Satan's not always as direct as he is in this video. I suppose then, Elder Holland's advice is even more applicable: "Don't let your guard down." Thanks for the tip. I'll try to remember it.

But my favorite part of this video is the response one youtuber made to it.

movieguru42:
This same scenario is played out multiple times everyday inside our own hearts and minds. We are tempted and have a choice. We can choose to live as children of God and have hope or to bow down in despair and give up. Even though our experiences defying evil might not be as dramatically visible as was Moses', it doesn't make them any less real.

It's comforting to know that there are people like movieguru42 posting comments like this one online. Somehow, I find the words of a normal, everyday person more encouraging than the words of an Apostle of God. "We can choose to live as children of God" I'm going to try to find a way to send him a message so I can thank him for posting this comment.

I also like that Moses defeated Satan by remembering that he, Moses, is a son of God. He remembered his worth and value and divine potential. He remembered his Heavenly Father, the one being he is supposed to worship. He must have called on the Lord, in his heart at least, and he received the strength and courage to counter Satan and send him away. May we follow Moses' example and repel the tempter every time he attacks.

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