Hank Smith: 00:05 Hello everyone. Welcome to FollowHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with the incredible John Bytheway. If you’ve been following FollowHIM Favorites this year, we take a single question from each week’s lesson. John, the lesson we’re on this week is Isaiah 40 through 49, and I wanted to take our question from chapter 43. It’s where Isaiah says to Jacob and Israel, to all of his people, fear not. He says, “Fear not for I have redeemed thee.” Yet I know a lot of young people, and a lot of old people, that have a lot of fear. So, John, what would you say to someone who says, “How do you fear not in a world that is a scary place and the future is unknown?” How have you feared not?

John Bytheway: 00:53 What would you say is the opposite of fear, Hank? Would it be hope? Would it be… It’s not fear.

Hank Smith: 00:59 Faith?

John Bytheway: 00:59 Yeah, faith. It’s not really optimism. It’s faith. It’s faith in something really much bigger and more powerful. And I believe it was Joseph Smith that said, “Doubt and fear cannot exist in the same mind alongside faith. One or the other will have to leave,” Something like that. And I get a boost of faith when I read the scriptures, when I watch general conference and see the faith and the countenances of the church leaders that talk to us. It sounds like a real easy answer, but it’s kind of the big picture. We know God really loves us, he has a plan, and it’s all going to work out. In the meantime, we’re going to have some ups and downs in life, but we kind of know the end. What do you think?

Hank Smith: 01:43 Yeah. I would say one, we can look to our past and see what the Lord has done. How often in the Book of Mormon are we told to remember what God has done? And coming this far, I think Elder Holland said, “He’s taken us this far. He’s not about to just to leave us now.” He has been with you up to this point. You can assume that he’s going to continue on with you. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the hand of my righteousness.” So part of that, John, you said, is getting into the scriptures and then highlighting a verse like Isaiah 41:10. Maybe putting it up on your mirror, in your room, putting it in your locker, putting it in your car.

John Bytheway: 02:31 Somebody should put that verse to music, don’t you think?

Hank Smith: 02:34 Yeah. Maybe make a hymn out of it. And reread it over and over and say prayers about that. Say, “Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” So I think partly looking back helps us look forward with faith, seeing all that the Lord has done. He’s not about to just throw his hands in the air and walk away.

John Bytheway: 02:55 Yeah. And President Nelson has talked about learning to hear him. And I think one of the things that I just, is so remarkable that we have in the restored gospel, is a patriarchal blessing. Can you read that and not have some hope and not say, “Oh look, the Lord has… He’s got me. He’s got this. He knows what… He’s told me what to work on.” And then some people will say, “Well, I’m afraid to have forfeited the blessings in my patriarchal blessing.”

John Bytheway: 03:23 Part of what we learn, reading the scriptures, listening to the prophets, we learn kind of the character of God, how forgiving he is, how eager he is to forgive and to help us. And we learn he’s not eager to punish us or to say, “Oh, sorry, you missed it.” If the Lord is telling us to forgive seven times seven, I think he’s that way, too. There’s a saying I saw on a refrigerator somewhere, Hank, it said, “Well, none of us can go back and make a brand new beginning. All of us can begin where we are and have a brand new ending.” And I think that you fear not. The Lord wants to love you, wants to bless you, wants to help you. And that fills me with more faith than fear. Just that knowledge.

Hank Smith: 04:02 I think so, too. He compares himself in Isaiah 49 to a mother and a newborn. He says, “Can a mother forget her newborn? That’s how I feel about you.” John, you have a brand new grandbaby. I bet when you watch your daughter with this baby, nothing is more important to her than this little child. She would never forget him. She would never abandon him. Even if he cried all night, she would be there right with him. So I think you’re right with that, that the Lord is like a mother who wants to be part of your life no matter what you’ve done.

John Bytheway: 04:35 And those verses, Hank, I think, are, He’s using the example to show how absurd that is. The “Zion hast said, The Lord hast forsaken me, my Lord hast forgotten me.” And to show how absurd that is, he says, “Well, can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?” What? That’s absurd. And then “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palm of my hands.” And I like to think, for those who are watching, of the sign language for Jesus when I read that verse. I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. It would never forget us. He carries a reminder of us wherever he goes.

Hank Smith: 05:15 There’s even a point in this that builds my faith. In Isaiah 44 and 45, Isaiah names a guy named Cyrus who has yet to be born and he says he’s going to come and deliver the Jews. So if he can see that far ahead, if he can see hundreds of years ahead, you are in very safe and loving hands. So, John, I think we’ve said, look to the past. Look to the present. Look to your patriarchal blessing. Look to what God is doing and your faith in the future will increase. And stay away from those things that cause you to fear. Avoid those things that cause you to fear. And stay where your faith is going to be burning bright.

Hank Smith: 05:56 Elder Wirthlin used to tell a story about keeping the wolves at bay, they would have to keep their fires bright. This was years ago. They would want to keep the wolves away from the camp, so the fire had to be burning bright. And he compared that to a testimony-

John Bytheway: 06:09 No, I love that.

Hank Smith: 06:11 … he said it’s the same thing, that if we just keep adding to our faith, it keeps the fear away. So instead of trying to fight off the wolves yourself, build your faith so hot and red that fear has no place. It just can’t even get close.

John Bytheway: 06:24 Yeah. Love it.

Hank Smith: 06:26 Well, we hope you’ll join us next week for another FollowHIM. Favorites. Come join us on our full podcast, it’s called FollowHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts.

Hank Smith: 06:34 We’re with Dr. Terry Ball this week. He is an archeobotanist.

John Bytheway: 06:38 Archeobotanist. How cool is that?

Hank Smith: 06:40 Archeobotanist. He has a PhD in archeobotany. So you’re going to want to come over and check that out. And join us next week, of course, for another FollowHIM Favorites.