Overwhelming Astonishment

Reading:   Testimony of Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was visited four times by the angel Moroni.  Each visit he was told the exact same thing with a little more information each time (repetition ads clarity and memorability).   Immediately following the first visit, Joseph described his reaction as, "I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling greatly at what had been told to me by this extraordinary messenger..." After the next visit, his "musing" changes to, "...I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard." I love the change in Joseph, from musing and marveling to overwhelming astonishment.

One of the overwhelming parts - repeated four times...

TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH SMITH 
(6th paragraph)

"He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people."

His name, Joseph Smith, "...should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues..." Overwhelming? Yeah, a little bit!  Has it happened...absolutely!  

Joseph didn't sleep that night (surprise) and, after his dad sent him home from field work (believing he was ill), Joseph passed out trying to climb a fence.  When he wakes up, Moroni is there and proceeds with his fourth repeating of all he has said in the first three visits plus telling him to go inform his father about what he has seen.  Joseph returned to his father, told him everything, and his father, believing what has happened is of God, told Joseph to carry on with the errand of The Lord.

I wanted to touch again on the overwhelming part...the visions through the night fatigued Joseph so greatly, mentally and spiritually, that he passed out and lay unconscious in the field.  How long, we don't know, but it was long enough to reinvigorate Joseph and when he woke he again heard the direction of Moroni and was able to listen and then comply by speaking to his father and then walking to the place where the plates lay, work to open the hiding place ( moving stones), again converse with Moroni, and then return home.

That must have been some power nap! I can't help but wonder if the nap might have been a gift from heaven, a little spiritual knock out to help Joseph regain the mental and physical stamina he needed to carry on with the tasks ahead of him and understand the importance.  I can't help but visualize Moroni waiting by the fence and giving Joseph a loving right cross, knocking the lad out, then staying by his side as he recovers, wholly and holy, recovers...

~Kipling