Those who have stood beside the Missouri River and watched this majestic body of water as it wends its way to the Mississippi River can reverence the Lord's carefully chosen imagery.

"As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints," (Doctrine and Covenants 121:33).

The prospect of any simpleton changing the course of such a body of water with no more strength than a puny arm opens the minds to the intensity and eagerness of the Lord to bless them.

How that concept must have strengthened them in desperate times.

The Doctrine and Covenants is replete with such insights. Each is a literary masterpiece in its simplicity, while being vast and eternal in concept.

For more than half a year now, it's been the privilege of members to draw peace and power from this book. Revealed by the Lord to His prophet Joseph Smith, it's a book for our day.

But there hasn't always been a Doctrine and Covenants, notes BYU associate professor of Church history and doctrine, Steven C. Harper.

"The story of how those revelations were written, prepared for publication, and moved through various states until they reached our present edition is the story of trying to keep up with a flood of revealed knowledge (Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour through Modern Revelation).

"The early Saints delighted in the Prophet Joseph's revelations. They read them over and over, committing some to memory. They copied the manuscripts of the most important or personal ones and then copied the copies.

"They treasured these documents. The growing number of missionaries needed the revelations in their ministry but copies could only be made by hand when the missionaries happened to be at Church headquarters or crossed paths with someone who had a hand-copied manuscript of an earlier manuscript. Access was limited, and the potential for errors great. The Saints needed to publish the revelations."

Joseph Smith and other Church leaders gathered in the beautiful farm home of John and Elsa Johnson in Hiram, Ohio, in November 1831 where they decided to publish the existing revelations.

"A committee of talented writers drafted a preface. But it was the Lord's book and He revealed what He called 'my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O inhabitants of the earth' (Doctrine and Covenants 1:16). Joseph spoke the words slowly, and Sidney Rigdon wrote them down, but they originated in the mind of Jesus Christ in response to specific circumstances, thus making the Doctrine and Covenants 'the only book in the world that has a preface written by the Lord Himself,'?" (Ezra Taft Benson, "The Gift of Revelation" Ensign, November 1986).

Handwritten copies of the revelations were taken to William W. Phelps, who had been commanded by the Lord to go to Missouri to become a printer for the Church. He soon began setting the type for the book that was to be published as the Book of Commandments. A mob, however, destroyed the press on July 20, 1833, and most of the printed sheets. Church members rescued some of the loose sheets and individually bound them, but the book was never officially published.

"In 1835, the revelations intended for the Book of Commandments, plus many additional revelations, were published in Kirtland as the Doctrine and Covenants. With additional revelations that have been added since 1835, this book stands as a witness that God speaks today through His living prophet the president of the Church, for the blessing and guidance of His Church," (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 194).

Concerning the Standard Works, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "Those who have read them, and who have drunk of the stream of knowledge which they convey, know how to appreciate them; and although fools may have them in derision, yet they are calculated to make men wise unto salvation, and sweep away the cobwebs of superstition of ages, throw a light on the proceedings of Jehovah which have already been accomplished, and mark out the future in all its dreadful and glorious realities. Those who have tasted the benefit derived from a study of those works, will undoubtedly vie with each other in the zeal for sending them abroad throughout the world, that every son of Adam may enjoy the same privileges, and rejoice in the same truths" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 164-65).

The Lord's promise to pour down knowledge, and Joseph Smith's admonition to drink from streams of knowledge, leaves us to ponder what great things the Lord has in store for those willing to make scripture study more meaningful during the remaining months of the year.