There I Will Meet With Thee

In 2018 President Nelson said, “If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord—to be in His holy house—then keep that appointment with exactness and joy. I promise you that the Lord will bring the miracles He knows you need as you make sacrifices to serve and worship in His temples.” This was before the appointment system was in place for the temple (that came after COVID), and so he was referring here to a personal appointment to go to the Lord’s house to meet Him. Many years ago Elder Richard G. Scott gave similar counsel, “I have seen that many times individuals have made great sacrifices to go to a distant temple. But when a temple is built close by, within a short time, many do not visit it regularly. I have a suggestion: When a temple is conveniently nearby, small things may interrupt your plans to go to the temple. Set specific goals, considering your circumstances, of when you can and will participate in temple ordinances. Then do not allow anything to interfere with that plan. This pattern will guarantee that those who live in the shadow of a temple will be as blessed as are those who plan far ahead and make a long trip to the temple.” It is sometimes easier to plan to travel a far distance than to regularly go somewhere around the corner, but the Lord invites us to come to His house. As He gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle in the wilderness, Jehovah said this, “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony” (Exodus 25:21-22). He invited Moses to meet Him at the mercy seat, and surely He invites each of us to meet Him today in His house full of mercy.

               As I read these words to Moses I thought of a similar statement by the Lord to the brother of Jared. As the Lord gave the brother of Jared instructions about their departure into the wilderness, He said this: “And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42). Like with Moses, the Lord set up an appointment with the brother of Jared and invited him to come to meet Him. Moroni recorded that this meeting did indeed take place: “And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not” (Ether 2:4). Ultimately, though, the brother of Jared did see the Lord at the top of Mount Shelem: “And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you” (Ether 3:13). This was a temple-like experience for the brother of Jared, and his story invites us to seek the Lord in His holy house. Today to attend the temple an appointment set online is encouraged, and though there are some who would perhaps complain that setting up an appointment is inconvenient, it should be a reminder to us that the Lord wants to meet us there in His house and He wants us to set up an appointment to meet Him. We likely will not see Him with physical eyes like Moses and the brother of Jared did, but His promise that He would “commune” with the prophet is surely for each of us as we go to His house to meet our appointment with Him. He said again to Moses in another passage, “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee” (Exodus 29:42). He wants to meet us and speak to us there at our modern-day tabernacle, but it is up to us to keep that appointment with Him.