Heavenly Libraries Don't Close at 5pm

The following was directly taken (or paraphrased) from chapter two of Clayton Christensen's book, The Power of Everyday Missionaries.

One metaphor that helps me [understand how God answers questions] is to imagine that God has constructed massive libraries in heaven.  The shelves of these libraries are filled with books that are packed with truths, insights, and answers.  Most of the books have never been checked out. Why, you might ask, are these stored in these libraries, rather than having been distributed broadly to people on earth?  The reason is that people learn when they're ready to learn, not when we're ready to teach them.  So if God directed a heavenly librarian to get the answer to question #23 off the shelf and send it down to some random person on earth, the answer would simply not be noticed.  But when we ask a question it is as if we put a Velcro pad in our brain where we need the answer.  When the answer is then delivered, it sticks itself to the velcro right where it is needed.  The rule is this: Anybody on earth can check out any book—but the catch is that you need to ask the question first (pp. 30-31, emphasis added).

Q: What caused the Great Apostasy?

A: In the third century, after Christ's death, the leaders of the early Christian Church essentially announce that God had given them all of the answers.  And believing that they had received all the answers, there was no need to ask questions of God.  When they stopped asking questions, revelation from heaven stopped. THere was no need for prophets.  These leaders essentially turned off the lights on the earth and plunged mankind into the dark ages.

Q: What led to the end of the Great Apostasy?

A: The Reformation.  Reformers like Luther, Wesley, and Calvin started asking question again.  Unfortunately, their questions were primarily targeted at each other. Their debates formed new churches, each based on a different interpretation of the scriptures.

Q: With the world population to choose from, why did God reveal Himself and restore His Church through an uneducated 14-year-old boy?

A: Because he knew Joseph would ask a lot of questions; just like His other young, uneducated prophets of Old Testament—Enoch, Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, Jeremiah, and Amos.

Q: After Joseph saw God in 1820, why did he not receive any more divine revelations for three years?

A: It was essentially because he didn't ask any more questions!  Then, at age 17, Joseph again prayed with a question, which in today's language was basically this: "I'm sorry I've been out of touch, but it's not clear whether the ball is in my court or yours.  Is there something you want me to do?"  Immediately, an angel, Moroni, appeared and began answering Joseph's question about what God wanted him to do—and why.

Q: What truths, insights, and answers has God got waiting in his heavenly libraries for me?

A: I will never know unless I ask.  God's consistent desire throughout history has been to reveal truth to His children.  That's why He almost incessantly reminds us of that fact in the scriptures. The most frequently taught principle in the scriptures is this: Ask, and you shall receive.  Knock and it shall be opened up to you. I imagine all the truth that God hoped to reveal to His children who lived on earth during the dark ages and wonder, what truths have I already missed out on over the years because I refused to simply look to Him for answers.