Gradual Revelation

In Church on Sunday the speaker spoke about receiving revelation and recommended studying a talk by Elder Bednar called The Spirit of Revelation.  In the talk Elder Bednar suggested that revelation can come in two forms.  The first is an instant communication from heaven like turning on a light switch in a dark room.  The second is a gradual, line upon line, kind of inspiration that comes to us slowly like the light at dawn.  He suggested that the first pattern “tends to be more rare than common” but that the second, gradual kind of revelation “tends to be more common than rare.”  We tend to focus more on the dramatic kind of revelation—experiences like the First Vision or Saul on the road to Damascus—and may get discouraged if we don’t have such powerful manifestations.  Elder Bednar gave these words of encouragement to those who worry about not measuring up spiritually: “If you have had similar thoughts or doubts, please know that you are quite normal. Just keep pressing forward obediently and with faith in the Savior. As you do so, you ‘cannot go amiss’ (D&C 80:3).”  We should not be discouraged if we don’t communicate with angels or witness mighty miracles or see marvelous signs.  The Lord’s voice is not usually in the wind or the earthquake or the fire; rather, it is “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). 

             There are lots of examples in the scriptures related to revelation, but the one the Lord chose to use to teach of “the spirit of revelation” in our dispensation was that of Moses crossing the Red Sea: “Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground” (Doctrine and Covenants 8:3).  In my mind this example is powerful because it teaches about both of these categories of revelation mentioned by Elder Bednar.  On the one hand, Moses needed powerful and immediate revelation from the Lord as he stood on the banks of the Red Sea with his people as the Egyptians approached.  The Lord gave him the revelation he needed to save his people in an instant.  And yet, in the broader context of the story it took Moses a long time to get all the revelation he needed to save his people.  They went through ten rounds of plagues with Pharaoh and the Egyptians before he finally was able to get his people free.  Surely the Lord could have revealed to Moses how to get away on the first try, but that’s not what He did.  He let Moses learn and struggle and gain the experience and spiritual knowledge that he needed “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30).  Moses had worked very hard to get the revelation that he did, and their escape from the Egyptians came gradually as he continually sought the Lord for guidance. 

             The story of Alma the Younger is one that we look to as being a very dramatic form of revelation as an angel spoke to him.  But it is instructive to note that when he spoke of his testimony he referred to prayer and fasting instead of visits from angels and heavenly voices (see Alma 5:46).  Revelation for him too had come gradually as he repeatedly fasted and prayed.  So we should not be surprised or alarmed when we too much fast and pray “many days” to receive the guidance and direction that we seek.  The spirit of revelation in our own lives will likely come through gradual, yet real, communications from the Lord through His Spirit.