Understanding Our Personal "Isaiah's"

For those of you who have read the Old Testament, you know that Isaiah is quite the beast to tackle, rhetorically and analytically speaking.  But when the understanding comes, it is one of the more beautiful and meaningful sections of the scriptures.

Pardon my language, but seeing how important Isaiah is... Why the heck did God make it so hard to understand?
Why are the Fall or the Atonement so hard to grasp if so much stress is on those topics?
Why do we have to study so hard to understand anything important in the scriptures?
...In life?

Do you grow more as an individual when you recite easily memorized facts onto a scantron and ace a piece-of-cake exam... or when you delve into hours of studying for a rigorous, essay-question test and pass with flying colors?  I would argue that in this life, the experiences most beneficial to our progression are the ones most difficult to understand.

As you study the scriptures this week (or your homework or your messed up love-life), try a little harder to view the "bad" or "confusing" parts as opportunities for growth.

Here's a few tips to better allow growth to occur in any of our life experiences/situations:
1. Humble yourself--You're not the most knowledgeable on the subject you are scrutinizing and that's okay!  Call upon your mentors, leaders, or all-knowing Heavenly Father to guide you through the difficulty that encircles you.  Remember: Satan may attack you from all angles, but you are "encircled about eternally in the arms of [the Savior's] love" (2 Nephi 1:15).  You literally have the BEST support system!
2. Ask questions-- If you rely solely on your own knowledge, learning new things is impossible.  Speak up, speak out, be heard, be proud!
3. Attack the issue from a new angle-- If you want to understand something in a new way, you must look at it with a new perspective.  Leave your predispositions to a class or your bias to a person behind you.  Let a new countenance of curiosity and desire to learn fill your heart.  You will find it hard to fill your mind with new information unless you have an open mind.
4. Step outside your comfort zone-- It's comfortable for a reason.  We can't experience growth if we don't stretch outside what we already know.  Grin and bear it and step into the unknown!

I hope and pray that as you encounter your own personal "Isaiah's", you don't discount the experience or shy away from it because you "don't get it".  I know that as we carefully ponder our situations and look outside of ourselves (or look up) for aid, we can find the help/information we need to understand all things.

Because, when we truly understand those "Isaiah" experiences, we can look back on them as some of the most beautiful parts of our lives.
Try to see the unknown as that potential for immense beauty :)