Ponder

To think deeply and prayerfully. If one wants to progress in the power of revelation, it will require time to meditate and ponder.¹ When prophets who have written scripture get into the quiet, calm frame of mind which allows them to feel the things of God, they often use the word ponder to describe how they prepared, which describes in a single word the still moments when one puts aside the cares of the world and approaches God with solemn and careful thoughts. There are no “words” really spoken at such moments; rather, one is just open to receive and willing to allow God within them. It requires one to flee from the cares of Babylon and go to a state where the still, calm, penetrating voice of God can finally be heard.

Those who let these moments wash over them are called prophets and prophetesses. They can feel what is coming before it happens. They know the signs of the times because Heaven is opened to them. All men and women are intended to be such people. Enos is just one example of how those who follow Christ are led inevitably to do as Christ did: When cares pressed upon Him, Christ departed from there by ship into a solitary place, apart (Matthew 8:3). To allow His Apostles to drink in that same still, quiet mind which alone allowed them to ponder deeply, He said unto them, You, come yourselves, apart into a solitary place, and rest awhile; for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure, not so much as to eat (Mark 4:1). After teaching a gathering of people, it is written: And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening came, he was there alone (Matthew 8:5). And again: When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone (John 5:11). “You need to realize that spiritual enlightenment is not something which you are going to achieve or accomplish. You are not going to attain, earn or acquire spiritual blessings. You will receive them — if you receive them at all — by being open to God’s gifts. He gives freely. But unless we are quiet enough, open enough, and prayerful enough to be apart, to be alone, to be in solemn, careful and ponderous thought, we will never receive what is freely given to all. Joseph’s formula remains the best: ‘[T]he things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity — thou must commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart!’ (TPJS, 137). Paul put it this way: study [strive] to be quiet (1 Thessalonians 1:11). Modern revelation captures this experience with these words: Yea, so says the still small voice which whispers through and pierces all things, and often times it makes my bones to quake while it makes manifest [T&C 83:4].”² Christ instructed the people at the land of Bountiful to take the time to ponder overnight the things He had taught so that they could understand all His words: I can tell you’re weak, and that right now you can’t understand everything the Father commanded Me to say to you. So go to your homes and ponder what I’ve said and ask the Father in My name to help you understand, and prepare your minds for tomorrow, and I’ll come back to you (3 Nephi 8:1 CE). See also CRY UNTO THE LORD; PRAY/ER.