How Firm a Foundation

A few things recently have got me thinking about foundations.  This week the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square just released a new logo showing seven gold pipes with a line underneath them.  Mack Wilberg commented that “the logo’s pipes rest on a firm foundation,” perhaps suggesting that the choir is based in both the foundation of a century and a half of talented musicians as well as the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Elder Bednar recently posted some thoughts he has on how he hears the Savior through music, and he said this, “I love to sing the hymn, ‘How Firm a Foundation.’ Nobody on the planet sings more terribly than I do. But the combination of the stirring music and the words to the hymn help me to learn about grace and the strengthening power of the Savior's Atonement in a powerful way.”  And in the most recent general conference, Elder Stevenson spoke about the renovation of the Salt Lake Temple and the foundations of our lives. He said that the technology being utilized for the renovation “begins at the very foundation of the temple, providing a robust defense against damage from an earthquake. In essence, it structurally strengthens the temple to stand steadfast, even as the earth and environment around it undergo an earthshaking seismic event.”   He then invited us to ask ourselves, “What does my foundation look like?... What are the foundational elements of my spiritual and emotional character that will allow me and my family to remain steadfast and immovable, even to withstand the earthshaking and tumultuous seismic events that will surely take place in our lives?”  He commented that our “best defense” against the difficulties that we will face in the future “lies in our spiritual foundation.” 

            Like Elder Bednar, Elder Stevenson referenced the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” in his teachings about developing our own spiritual foundation.  He said—speaking of those who are “striving to be true and undaunted disciples of our Savior, Jesus Christ”—that “these are the devoted souls who understand the profound meaning of the lyrics “How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord” and “who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.”  Ultimately our foundation must be built “upon the rock” as the Primary song goes, and that first and foremost is “the Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven” (Moses 7:53).  He is our “chief corner stone” as the ancient apostle Paul put it to the Ephesians, and this modern apostle commented, “It is my ardent prayer that our spiritual foundation will be sure and steadfast, that our testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of His role as our Savior and Redeemer will become for us our own chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).  Ultimately our foundation must be upon Jesus Christ.  Cultivating faith and trust in Him, learning to keep His commandments, and relying on the power of His atonement is how we can prepare our spiritual foundation for the times to come.  As Helaman famously described it to his two sons, “It is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” (Helaman 5:12).  As Jacob alluded, the Savior is “the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation,” and we must learn to “build upon it” so that “it may become the head of [our] corner” (Jacob 4:16).  .  If we do that then we can, as King Benjamin taught in his final words, become “steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnitpotent, may seal [us] his” (Mosiah 5:15).