A Social Creation

So what could Moses learn from all of this? Well, the creation may have started with God saying, "Let there be light," but it definitely did not end when God decided to rest. In fact, that was just the beginning of another creation, a social creation, the creation of a community. And even that didn't end when God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. The creation continued with Adam receiving the commandment to "teach [the laws and commandments] unto your children" (Moses 6:57). It continued with the covenant with Abraham. It is God's work to bring together His Children. And He was going to continue that work through Moses, bringing together Israel into a covenant nation. God needed Moses to understand the nature of that work.

And He needed Moses to understand that it wouldn't always be perfect. Satan would come along and tempt Israel. He would try to lead them away, try to destroy the nation that God was trying to prepare. However, Satan was and always will be blind to the plans of God. No matter how "subtle" he tried to be, Satan would always fail to upset God's plan in the end. And so Moses just needed to have faith in the Lord and keep going, even when things seemed rough.

And he needed to remember that God wanted him and the rest of Israel to get back to His presence. They may see themselves as unworthy to enter into God's presence, as too imperfect to have that opportunity. They may want to hide themselves from God. But God didn't see them in that way. He saw in each of them the potential. He saw a people who could return to Him if they would just turn to Him. And God wanted Moses to see them that way, too.

We also can learn a lot from this. Each of us is trying to create Zion in our wards, our stakes, wherever we are. We need that reminder that this is God's work, too. Although Satan wants to bring us down, God wants us to succeed. He wants each of us to lift each other up, to bring each other closer to God. He wants each of us to participate in the "social creation" of His Kingdom. As we do, we can be confident that He will be there along side us, working through our own weaknesses, then helping us to reach out to others.

Together with God, we can return to Him.