5 After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world;
6 But after repenting, and humbling himself sincerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness;
I love that this tells us Joseph Smith had to repent again. Not that I rejoice that he was entangled again in sins, but I am happy he was willing to share that information. It shows that there is hope for us if we mess up again (Not that we want to mess up, but just because we have repented once does not mean we can’t be deceived into sin again, so we have to keep on our guard.)
I think the word “entangled” is a very descriptive word for how we get pulled back into sin. It makes me think of sin as tangled hair that has to be combed out, or a piece of yarn that snarled up when it wasn’t supposed to when we’re in the process of trying to knit a nice warm sweater.
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I love that we see in these verses that when we humble ourselves and repent, God forgives and ministers to us again. It shows that He doesn’t hold grudges and He can keep moving us forward, having expectation that we will live up to what He asks.
That last bit about “commandments which inspired him” makes me ask myself—“Do commandments inspire me?” Too often I see them as something added to my To Do list when I could look at them as a vision of what I can become. I want to be inspired by the commandments.
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