I discovered another thing about God from the title page of the Book of Mormon. Moroni wrote, "that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever." Covenants must be linked to our way back 'home'. Since Moroni was writing by way of commandment, this tells me that God knew we would get off His covenant path, that we needed a way back. This record was to help us remember and re-learn what we must have known before we ever arrived on this earth.
This tells me that God is not leaving our development here on earth to chance, that is . . . unless we choose it to be that way. He did not just let us out the door to figure things out on our own. By our own choices, we separate ourselves from God. He knew this was inevitable and put things in place for us, to help us along our mortal journey, if we choose to seek. Covenants are two-way promises. The Book of Mormon helps us discover what those promises are -- our Promises to Him and His promises to us.
God has a plan for us. God has put things in place for us to not only return, but to return fully developed. If he wanted us to learn of His covenants, they must help us along the way. If we didn't come to earth to become a better person, why did we leave in the first place? We don't send our children off to school so they can come back the same. We want them to learn, to gain knowledge and wisdom, to grow and develop intellectually, emotionally, socially, to reason and analyze, to think for themselves and gain confidence in their abilities. Isn't God the same type of parent? Doesn't he expect us to return home more developed?
The God I worship has a plan for us -- He has provided covenants for us to fully access His power as we sojourn here on Earth.
I discovered something about God on the very first page. Moroni's introduction, or "Title Page" lets us know that these records (the Book of Mormon), which contain histories of 3 different civilizations, were written by way of commandment from God. The reasons he gives number 3 as well: (1) to 'remember the great things the Lord hath done...', (2) to discover 'covenants' and (3) to convince everyone who Jesus Christ is.
Records must be very important to God. The Book of Mormon has a subtitle: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. This particular record bears testimony of Jesus Christ. Perhaps God's commandment to write about these things was purely for our benefit. He didn't need the reminder. The people written about never saw the completed record. It must have been important to God for us to have something tangible we could hold in our hands. This record was abridged by a prophet of God, buried in the earth to keep it protected, then brought forth by another prophet of God. No series of scribes from different sects, no revisions by hand through hundreds of years, no different interpretations.
During a very unpleasant divorce, I wrote letters to God most every night in a personal journal. I can't remember what made me stop, but I "re-discovered" it 6 months after things were final. It was chuck full of recognized blessings, feelings of great love and peace from a Divine source, and an acknowledgement of the different windows and doors of opportunity that were opened to me during this time. This was a volume of my "personal scripture". I had forgotten probably half of what I'd written. Mortals forget -- that's just the human part of us. But I'm so glad that I had written many "great things that the Lord hath done" for me during that time period. It was my own record and witness of God's personal dealings with me and a witness of how intimate He could be.
Records are important to God, because He knows they will be important to us. We need these records to continually be reminded of God's love for us, his constant direction for us and to hear His voice at different times in our lives. I have read these scriptures multiple times, and depending on what phase of life I am in, there seems to always be something that stands out more than others, even though I'd read it dozens of times.
The God I worship feels His Word is important enough to be written down, preserved and brought forth and spread across the earth.
