Put on Thy Strength

Yesterday I was reminded of these words of President Boyd K. Packer fourteen years ago: “Now, fathers, I would remind you of the sacred nature of your calling. You have the power of the priesthood directly from the Lord to protect your home. There will be times when all that stands as a shield between your family and the adversary’s mischief will be that power. You will receive direction from the Lord by way of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” I also thought of this story with a similar message he told a few years later: “The back windows of our home overlook a small flower garden and the woods which border a small stream. One wall of the house borders on the garden and is thickly covered with English ivy. Most years this ivy has been the nesting place for house finches. The nests in the vines are safe from foxes and raccoons and cats that are about. One day there was a great commotion in the ivy. Desperate cries of distress came as 8 or 10 finches from the surrounding woods came to join in this cry of alarm. I soon saw the source of the commotion. A snake had slid partway down out of the ivy and hung in front of the window just long enough for me to pull it out. The middle part of the snake’s body had two bulges—clear evidence convicting it of taking two fledglings from the nest. Not in the 50 years we had lived in our home had we seen anything like that. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience—or so we thought. A few days later there was another commotion, this time in the vines covering our dog run. We heard the same cries of alarm, the gathering of the neighborhood finches. We knew what the predator was. A grandson climbed onto the run and pulled out another snake that was still holding on tightly to the mother bird it had caught in the nest and killed. I said to myself, ‘What is going on? Is the Garden of Eden being invaded again?’” He then made this comment, “There came into my mind the warnings spoken by the prophets. We will not always be safe from the adversary’s influence, even within our own homes. We need to protect our nestlings. We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual. The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about. His objective is to cause injury. If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded.” We have to protect our homes from the influence of the adversary which, with the technology of today, can enter in so many ways.

                And so how do we do this? President Packer’s answer seems to be two-fold: the power of the priesthood and the power of keeping our covenants with the Savior. He said, “We find safety and security for ourselves and our children in honoring the covenants we have made and living up to the ordinary acts of obedience required of the followers of Christ…. The consummate power of the priesthood has been given to protect the home and its inhabitants. The father has the authority and responsibility to teach his children and to bless and to provide for them the ordinances of the gospel and every other priesthood protection necessary.” When Nephi saw our day, he beheld the onslaught of evil we would face: “And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God.” He then described the protection that covenants with the Lord would bring: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:13-14). It was the “covenant people of the Lord” that had the power of the Lamb of God to protect and preserve them. As we keep our covenants we will be shielded from the “fiery darts of the wicked” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:17). Isaiah invited us, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city” (Isaiah 52:1). In modern revelation we learn what this really means: “He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood” (Doctrine and Covenants 113:8). Connected with covenants, we put on strength through the priesthood and the ordinances of the priesthood that bind us to the Lord. To protect ourselves and our families from the adversary in our day we must hold fast to our covenants and the priesthood of God which give us the strength and power of the Lord.