Our First Resource (9/21/2009)

"Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Nephi 18:19-20)

I just finished re-reading "The Count of Monte Cristo." In this story, a young man named Edmond Dantes is imprisioned for a crime he did not commit. When he is first thrown in the dungeon, Dumas, the author of this story, makes this observation:

"He (Dantes) was sustained at first by that pride of conscious innocence which is the sequence to hope; then he began to doubt his own innocence, which justified in some measure the governor's belief in his mental alienation; and then, relaxing his sentiment of pride, he addressed his supplications, not to God, but to man. God is always the last resource. Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him till they have exhausted all other means of deliverance."

I find this an interesting observation. When I read this quote, it made me really start to wonder how often I rely on my own intelligence and strength to overcome the obstacles in my life. I hope that as we - myself included - face challenges in life, we will remember to ask our Father for His help, not as a last resort as Dumas suggests, but all along the way.