I shall not be ashamed

2 Nephi 7:7

"For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded.  Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."

That scripture really speaks to me the more I read it.  There is a lot of beauty in it if you really pick it apart.  Isaiah truly wrote a gem here.

It starts out with a statement of absolute faith, a testimony.  He doubts not that God will help him, and he understands that if God is on his side, it does not matter whom his enemy is, he will not be confounded because God will give him the strength he needs in his time of need.  There is nothing wavering about his statement.

Secondly he illustrates his stance.  He has "set [his] face like a flint."  When I think of that statement I think of flint and steel.  The flint takes a beating when being beaten upon steel to create a spark.  But that does not deter him from sticking his neck out (sticking his face out) to meet the oncoming foe (whether it be sin, or temptation, or anything really) because he knows that God will come to his aid, so really what does it matter what he is up against, he's throwing caution to the wind and putting his full trust in his God to provide safety for him.  Is there really a better display of faith than that?  Complete and utter trust?  I equate that to another example.  We've all been part of or seen the "trust demonstration" where person A stands a few paces behind person B, and person B does a free-fall backwards trusting that person A will catch them.  Well the amount of trust and faith in God that is shown in this scripture is much like that example.. however when it comes to trusting 100% in God, person A is invisible and intangible.  Try falling back THEN and think about how far you'd be willing to let yourself fall without catching yourself.  I can't think of many more illustrations of faith that would top that.

And finally this scripture is ended with power.  "and I know that I shall not be ashamed."  Think back to my example of the free-fall.  How embarassed would you be if you were person B, all of your friends were watching, and no one caught you?  Now think about how embarassed you would be if you fell infront of your friends, and there was no one visible to catch you in the first place (as in, trusting in the invisible and intangible person A).  You'd feel pretty foolish for having your friends watch you, just to fall infront of them.  But that isn't even a twinkling of a thought in Isaiah's thinking here.  Does Isaiah give second thought to whether or not his flint-face will make him look like a fool?  Not for a moment.  And I KNOW that I shall NOT be ashamed."  Nothing wavering.  There isn't a moment of doubt, no moment of "umm.. I hope he backs me up" none of it.  He knows.  He testifies.  He is empowered by it.

Are there times in our lives where we may think that we have as much conviction in Christ as we see Isaiah has, but when it really comes down to it, we put more trust in ourselves and our fellow-mortals to be our strength?  When we are afflicted by non-believers, do we rely on our own wit to confound them, or do we rely on the admonition of the Lord to simply continue being who we are and let our example speak for itself?  When we question things, do we simply rely on our own ability to find the answer, or do we ALSO ask the Lord for his guidance in acquiring knowledge and understanding?  etc...

I think the best way to think about all of this is to work on a personal relationship with God.  Isaiah obviously knew the Lord pretty darn well, why should we be so different?  The only reason one person may attain a higher level of understanding than another is application and humility.  The more humble you are, and the more you apply your faith and understanding to your life and the lives of others, the more it become a part of you, and the better you come to understand that being that gave you that faith and power.  Can you think of a better being to be your best friend than your God?  I certainly can't.  Maybe that's what we really need to do while we're here on this earth.  Befriend our God, our Lord, our Creator, our Savior, our everything.  If He's your best friend, there's nothing He wouldn't do for you, nothing he wouldn't stand by yourside and see you through.  Wouldn't your mortal best friend do the same thing?  Why wouln't He?