Righteousness the Girdle of His Loins

Nephi quoted this passage of Isaiah about the Savior: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth;… And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (2 Nephi 21:2-5). It struck me yesterday as I read these words that while they directly apply to the Savior, their message could also apply to us. This is what we should want: to have the Spirit of the Lord with us in such a way that we are filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. We should strive to be strong in counsel and to have might not in the physical sense but in our understanding of the Lord and His plan. We should seek to judge what happens around us not by sight but by that Spirit which teaches us how things really are and really will be. We want righteousness to define us so much that it is as if it is wrapped around us and that faithfulness is just a part of us. The word reins means kidneys and so it suggests that faithfulness is on the inside and a core part of who the Savior was and who we can also be. Ultimately, we want to be like our ancestor, Joseph in Egypt of whom it was asked, “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” (Genesis 41:38) We should likewise strive to become men and women in whom the Spirit of God is.

                Yesterday in our stake conference the visiting area seventy told a touching story about his former home teacher Brother Kilpatrick. This brother had come faithfully to his home to teach his family (which consisted of him and his wife and five boys), and he would always ask the father of the home beforehand what he could focus on to help the family. One day it was discovered that Brother Kilpatrick had developed pancreatic cancer, but he kept coming on his visits to this family as if nothing had changed. He persisted in ministering to them. Eventually, though, he didn’t have the strength to do this and so he asked the family to come to him. And they had similar discussions in the Kilpatrick home who was suffering from his cancer. He kept ministering to then. This area seventy would bring his whole family over and the faithful home teacher would teach and encourage them just as before. Then one time when the family went over to his house Sister Kilpatrick told them they were going to meet in the bedroom that time. So they all went upstairs and Brother Kilpatrick sat up in bed with his home teaching family around him and continued still to minister to them as best as he could. This was done multiple times until he no longer could even sit up in his bed, but he still sought to fulfill his priesthood duty to watch over this family. The family gathered around him while Brother Kilpatrick laid down—not able anymore to even sit up—and they discussed the gospel of Jesus Christ. He grasped each of the boys’ hands as they left that last time. And then he passed away. I was moved by that story of faithfulness: surely that was a man in whom the Spirit of the Lord was and who was girded about by righteousness. Like the Savior, faithfulness was just a part of him and he never stopped in the fulfilment of his duty until death took him. That is the kind of men and women that we should strive to become so that in some small way these words of Isaiah might also apply to us.