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REXBURG, Idaho—Ann N. Madsen, professor of ancient
scripture at BYU, painted several pictures from prophets in her devotional
at Brigham Young University-Idaho Oct. 8.
She
contrasted their “beautiful pictures” with “the ugliness of so much of what
we see around us every day in our technological telestial world.” The
question is, she said, “When do we look and when do we look away?” “What
beholdest thou?”
While
standards in movies and television are “plunging downward,” we are
commanded to seek the light found in DC 50:23-24 and “thus chase darkness
from our minds and hearts,” Sister Madsen said.
“The
prophet Isaiah saw our time,” she said. “He paints a picture of the wicked
‘swimming in dung.’ The vivid satanic images we see remain in our minds. We
are swimming in them. The sin, the violence, the profane use of sacred
words—the brain stores all of them. … We must learn to look away, to never
look at all, to discriminate in advance, putting ‘do not enter’ signs on
our minds and hearts.”
Conversely,
prophets paint “word pictures” for our minds to treasure and return to many
times. One such “formula” for so doing is found in 1 Nephi 11:8, 12.
“Often
the spirit will whisper to you, “Look!” The question will always be ‘Will
you glance, really look, refuse to look or look away?’” she explained.
She
first noted some of the vivid pictures that Nephi paints in 1 Nephi 13:7,
12:4 and 11:12-24.
Joseph
Smith also creates vivid imagery found in Joseph Smith History 1:16-17.
“Many
times on my mission, I repeated the words that painted that prophet’s
picture. I remember the impact on me and those I taught as I recounted
Joseph’s experience. I learned then, for certain, that the Holy Ghost
delivers truth directly to our spirits. Each time I repeated those familiar
words, I saw the picture. I knew that our Heavenly Father and His Beloved
Son, Jesus, had indeed appeared to Joseph. I saw those whom I taught feel
the confirming spirit of the Holy Ghost, as well. It was one of the most
powerful and memorable lessons of my life,” Sister Madsen said.
Finally,
she recounted some of the cup imagery found in Isaiah 51:17-23NIV,
complemented by the verses in Luke 22:42, John 18:11, Jeremiah 25:15NIV and
Leviticus 23:13.
Another
compelling image from Isaiah, the Lord’s outstretched hand, is found in
Isaiah 9:12.
“God
paints the boundaries precisely where they are. There is no way he can deny
justice. Yet, with justice one day to be paid, he everlastingly extends his
hand, stretching to reach us,” she said.
Sister Madsen noted the Sistine
Chapel ceiling, where Michelangelo painted the hand of God reaching through
the clouds to the first man.
“So soaringly real is the
painting that in studying it over time, one is led to feel that one of them
must surely move the little distance to connect those outstretched hands,
touching graceful index fingers. Who will move? What will justice require?
The Lord began his ‘reaching out’ with the first man. But we are the ones
who must close the distance,” Sister Madsen said.
“I
have offered you pictures prophets have painted in the hope that you would
look again and again and then search, find and collect many more. They
painted their pictures with words so you have to put forth the effort to
look. Like Nephi, you can affirm, ‘I looked.’ And the more you look the
more you will see. … Our hearts and minds can store beauty, which we can
revisit again and again. Our own experiences can be perfectly recalled for
us by the Holy Ghost.”
Ann
N. Madsen is married to Truman G. Madsen, and they are the parents of three
(plus an Indian foster son), grandmother of 16 and great-grandmother of
two.
She
received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and her master’s
degree in Ancient Studies with a minor in Hebrew from BYU.
Sister
Madsen has been teaching Old Testament at BYU since 1976. She also taught
in New Testament and Isaiah at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern
Studies between 1987 and 1993. She presently teaches three courses at BYU.
She recently completed a book, Making
Their Own Peace: Twelve Women of Jerusalem, which tells of 12 modern
women who live or have lived through Jerusalem’s wars and creating their
own peace.
Her church service has included
mission president’s wife (New England Mission 1962-65), Stake Relief
Society president, and Jerusalem branch Relief Society president.
Additionally, she was on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for the
Church for 17 years. She currently is a visiting teacher in her ward and
teaches 16- and 17-year olds in Sunday School.
Devotionals are broadcast live
on KBYI 100.5 FM Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and are rebroadcast Tuesdays and
Sundays at 9 p.m. Next week’s devotional speaker is Elder Joseph B.
Wirthlin, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. # # #
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