PROVO, Utah — Spiritual blessings more precious than gold and sweeter than honey come to those who feast on the scriptures, Young Women General President Susan W. Tanner told college-age young adults during a Church Educational System fireside Sunday, Sept. 11.

Phots by Amber Clawson/The Daily Universe

Young Women General President Susan W. Tanner speaks during CES fireside, during which she counseled young people to feast upon the scriptures.

Photo by Amber Clawson/The Daily Universe

A choir from the Ogden Utah Institute performs during Church Educational System Fireside at BYU's Marriott Center on Sept. 11. The fireside was broadcast to meetinghouses in other parts of the world.

Speaking at the fireside originating in BYU's Marriott Center and broadcast via satellite to meetinghouses in other parts of the world, she asked, "Are the scriptures delicious to us — as precious as gold and sweeter than honey? (See Psalm 19:10.) Do we feast on them and delight in them, and ponder them as Nephi taught? (See 2 Nephi 4:15.) Do we liken them unto ourselves as Jacob counseled? (See 2 Nephi 6:5.) Do we search them for the Lord's specific words to us, bringing conversion, wisdom, enlightenment, revelation, comfort and rejoicing? Do we recognize them as one of the sweetest, most sublime blessings we have?"

Drawing on the popular musical "Fiddler on the Roof," Sister Tanner told of the poor milkman Tevya's desire to be a rich man in which he sings, "I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all."

Then she asked members of the congregation, if they were rich, would they spend several hours each day studying the scriptures, finding it to be the sweetest joy they could imagine?

She said, "In some Jewish traditions, when the child was to start his education in the Torah, a taste of honey was given to the student so that he would associate the study of the holy books with sweetness."

Members of the Church in Africa she had met while there earlier this year hungered after the scriptures in a way that is an example for others, she said.

"They had so little temporally, but they were rich spiritually," she recalled. "They had the glad tidings of the gospel — the plain and precious truths from the scriptures. Their well-worn scriptures accompanied them at every meeting. They taught from them, read from them, knew them, and loved them."

Speaking of members in another African country she visited, she said though they had no reliable transportation because of government actions, more than 600 showed up for a fireside. "They were hungry for the words of the Lord. They all had their scriptures with them and followed along eagerly as we taught them from the standard works."

Sister Tanner said, "Perhaps many of us set our hearts too much upon worldly treasures. I wonder if we have grown casual or complacent in studying the word and living the doctrine. . . .

"In Africa, I met saints who were not only hungry for bread and water, but hungry to hear the words of the Lord. Because they have known spiritual hunger, they have learned as Nephi taught, how to 'feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do' (2 Nephi 32:3).

"Imagine the spiritual hunger we might feel if we had no scriptures on which to feast."

After telling the congregation of the importance of learning to love the scriptures while they are young, she recounted an experience Elder Neal A. Maxwell had while visiting the family of a mission president in Russia. He asked the five young daughters of the family what scripture they had been pondering that day.

"The question took the girls kind of by surprise," Sister Tanner said. "But think about it. Elder Maxwell just assumed that the scriptures were as precious as gold and sweeter than honey to them as they were to him. Think about that. If we did as he suggested and always had a scripture in our mind, scripture study would be happening as we walked between classes, drove to appointments, cleaned our houses. It would begin early in our lives and would be on-going and constant. We would be continually feasting, averting personal famine and spiritual hunger."

The scriptures can bring blessings of comfort, personal revelation and testimony, she continued.

She said when she received her current calling, she turned to the scriptures for such blessings relating to the new responsibility.

"Through the scriptures, I found personal revelation that has guided me and comforted me in this calling. The words of the Lord are more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey in my life."

Reminding the young adults of President Gordon B. Hinckley's challenge to everyone, given in August, to read or re-read the Book of Mormon, she said, "We will find personal reasons and needs for this reading of the Book of Mormon. Then he promised us that '. . . there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.' "

Sister Tanner concluded, "I have received the blessings promised by President Hinckley — a greater measure of the Spirit, a desire to repent and walk in more stalwart obedience, and a testimony of the living reality of the Son of God. I pray that you will use this time in your youth to feast on the scriptures, to set a pattern to follow throughout your life, inviting personal revelation through the scriptures, and learning the doctrine of Jesus Christ."

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