Our lesson for Relief Society and Priesthood this past Sunday was #5 in the Joseph Smith manual, entitled, “Repentance.” We begin with a reminder of the incident with the missing one hundred and sixteen pages. After asking the Lord three times and receiving two no’s, Martin Harris was allowed to take one hundred and sixteen pages of the translation home with him. Joseph didn’t feel good about sending the pages, and to compound his anxiety, the very next day Emma gave birth to a baby son, who died immediately. Emma herself was very sick and nearly died. Wracked with guilt over letting Martin take the pages, and worried over the death of his son and possibly of his wife, Joseph was nearly destroyed. As Emma regained her health, he set out to discover what had become of those pages. He was so weak with sorrow and stress, he had to be supported the last leg of the journey to his parents’ house, where he sent for Martin Harris.
When Martin told him that the pages had been lost, Joseph went into profound despair and begged the Lord to forgive him for letting Martin take the pages. The Lord chastised him, telling him that he should not have feared man more than God. He removed the Urim and Thummim and the plates from Joseph’s care, but he assured Joseph there was a way to be forgiven, and the plates were returned after a time spent in humble prayer and contemplation.
The Prophet learned from this experience and went on to teach profound lessons about repentance and forgiveness. He encouraged the Saints to examine their hearts and see how close they were to becoming like God. He had examined his, and found himself in need of repentance. “The Church must be cleansed,” he said, and he encouraged everyone to begin with themselves, to overcome their sins, faults and iniquities.
He told the Saints that they should not advertise their own righteousness, for others would be able to see that for themselves. Instead, they should confess of their sins, and work on being forgiven of them. He says, “All hearts must repent and be pure, and God will regard them and bless them in a manner that they could not be blessed in any other way.”
It is the will of God that we repent. We should not procrastinate until our death beds, but we should repent and turn away from sin now. God wants our wills to be swallowed up in His will.
If we sincerely repent of our misdoings, and come to the Lord ready to repent, He will forgive us. Everything can be made new and clean. But the first step is ours, to be willing to put aside those sins and turn them over to the Lord.
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