"How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."

~Psalm 119:103



Friday, September 19, 2014

"Art Thou Greater Than He?"
Out of the Best Books No. 5



Accompanied by a CD of three songs, this little book by singer-songwriter Kenneth Cope presents, in about twenty pages, the lyrics to his song "Greater Than Us All" with added pictures, quotes, and scriptural references. The back cover of the book summarizes the context of the song like this:
Long before Calvary and the crown of thorns, before Bethlehem, or Israel, or even Eden, Jesus demonstrated His matchless love.

I was not familiar with the song prior to reading through the book, but the lyric that I found most meaningful as I read and listened was this one:
Every heart felt of His love / For us He'd come

The accompanying scripture is 1 John 4:19: "We love Him, because He first loved us." What a magnificent expression of Jesus's love was evident in His willingness to become our Teacher, our Exemplar, our Savior, and our Redeemer! Because of His perfect love, He is greater than us all - which enables us to rely upon Him in our sorrows, our sins, our pains, and our afflictions (see Alma 7:11-13).

In D&C 122:8 is recorded the word of the Lord to Joseph Smith while he was imprisoned in Liberty Jail.
The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

In other words, nothing we can ever experience, no trial we must ever endure is greater than Jesus's power to comfort and heal! He is always with us!

Note of Explanation: Part of my 10-week plan for summer this year was to read one short, inspirational book each Sunday afternoon and ponder on what I can learn from it. This blog post represents part of my efforts to do that.