The Language Of God

2 Nephi 31:3

For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men.  For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding. 

This is a beautiful sentiment.  What a loving God to speak to us according to our understanding. 

Then why at times are the scriptures so hard to understand? 

God talks to man in the language of man, according to the understanding of man.  But when you hear God speak in His own language …   How can this be described?  It would take pages just to describe one aspect of what He says, and perhaps an entire book to relate the whole sentence… if He spoke in sentences.  :) 

One of the jobs of a prophet of God is to be an interpreter.  One of the gifts of God is the interpretation of tongues.  And the main language to be interpreted is the Language of God.  It is the prophet’s job to translate the message from God, from the language of God into the language of man, so that it can be understood by man.  It is a daunting task. And some of the prophets have even expressed this concern to the Lord, as recorded in the scriptures. 

And then of course we have all the nut cases and anti-God people that like to point out discrepancies in semantics as proof that God makes mistakes, or changes, and other such nonsense.  Or they attempt to say/prove that the prophet is false.  That just because a prophet describes the same event in two different ways, to try and convey a more accurate meaning, that he must be making it up, or doesn’t know what he is talking about.  Or they accuse him of changing his story.  Or worse, they claim that two prophets don’t agree.  All because they are so ignorant of God’s ways, and willing to justify themselves. 

It is true that we have to translate correctly, but translating the language of God into English is not easy.  We have no words in English to convey those meanings.  So prophets use a lot of analogies and principles in the relating of the word of God.   

3 Nephi 19:34 

Nevertheless, so great and marvellous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man. 

It is true that sometimes the things of God are forbidden to be written or spoken of, and everyone should respect that, but sometimes the reason that they cannot be written or spoken is because the language that God uses  to speak to His prophets is not compatible with our own.  Our words are often insufficient and cannot describe or convey the same meaning, so the only way to truly understand the things of God is to experience them personally. 

The language that God uses is so deep with love, it cannot be written, because we have no way of writing those things.  We have no words that can describe the depth of meaning of His feelings, of His words. 

Yet, how many people want more, even though they don’t understand or apply what has already been given?  It is obvious that they are looking for more things that they can say contradict, so they can feel better about justifying their sins and wicked desires. 

Sometimes it appears that two or more prophets say contradictory things.  But all prophets agree.  Just because one views the mountain from the North, and another views the mountain from the South, doesn’t mean that they are viewing different mountains.  In fact, it provides us with the opportunity to have a more complete understanding of His ways. 

Isaiah, Daniel, John the Revelator, all wrote with heavy use of symbolism to try to convey the meaning of what they saw.  Jesus spoke in parable and concepts, to try to relate a correct understanding of the principles of righteousness. 

It is important for us not to just dismiss the scriptures or the words of the prophets, just because some of them are difficult to understand.  Look for the principle behind the words, and notice how it relates to the character of God, then the meaning of the message will unfold before you. 

.