Not too long ago I had a terrible experience! I lost my youngest daughter in a large shopping mall. When we finally found her, she was curled up in a ball and crying pitifully. I took her up in my arms and I held her close. I felt so bad! – I can’t even describe, mostly because it happened to me when I was little and I remember. I held her and I apologized over and over again for not being more careful. I think she’s forgiven me, but it may be awhile before I forgive myself.

Now, how do suppose the Lord feels when His children become lost? I can promise you, it hurts enough that He’s taken every measure to prevent it as illustrated.

Lehi and his family were about to enter the hostile environment of the Arabian Desert on their journey to a promised land. On the morning of their departure Lehi found a curious looking ball made of fine brass at his tent door. Its craftsmanship was exquisite – beyond anything they had ever seen. It turned out to be a compass given by a loving Father to guide them in their journey. They named it Liahona.

Inside the ball were two spindles that pointed the way they should go. As long as they were obedient to the Lord, the compass pointed a straight and direct course of travel. But when they were disobedient to Him, or they simply failed to look to the ball, they were lost every time and suffered in the desert. From time to time, writing that was personal and directive also appeared on the ball.

The Liahona was a miracle! But at times it seemed so small to them that it was easy to take it for granted. But they soon learned by the school of hard knocks that the Lord only powered the ball to work if they looked to it with faith. If they didn't believe it would work, it wouldn’t work! A dead Liahona was then but a ball of decorative brass, nothing more. In short, their attitude toward the compass was their attitude toward God.

Well, Lehi’s family soon learned how to operate the Lord’s compass and they arrived safely in the promised land.

Today, my friends, the Lord has given us a ‘Liahona’ to get us safely home. It matters a great deal to our Father in Heaven that we don’t get lost and terrorized like my Annie. So He’s given us a compass very much like that original one. It’s the Holy Scriptures. They are a tangible compass that no mortal man could create. They direct us in two ways. By the words of the Lord written therein, they guide us to live that life that will become eternal. They also prepare us to receive revelation from the Lord written directly on our hearts. However, sometimes we just get too busy, or too lazy to study them – to look to them. When that happens, the power of the book is lost to us. They become just another book, another dead boring book. At that point, the Lord’s gift becomes just another fancy book on the shelf.

When we believe they have power, they have power. Like the Liahona, the real power of the scriptures comes to us only when we look to them constantly, believe what they say, and do as they direct.

Now indeed, mortality is like a journey of sorrow through a hostile wilderness, but by faith, the Lord’s word can help us travel a straight course through it, and save ourselves a lot of grief. The scriptures are a ‘miracle’ of awesome power worked by means so small they’re easy to ignore. But don’t! To love them is to love Him.

It must break the Father’s heart to see so many of us needlessly lost and crying in the giant mall of life. May the Lord bless us to get wise, to get found, and to get home.