But behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
These are wise words for our day and age where there is so much information to sort through. We can't assume God will tell us everything we need to know.
However, if you remember Paul's words in 2nd Timothy 3:7, he says we will be "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
We all know what that feels like. I fear too many of us have stopped the "study" part and are just relying on our feelings which are not necessarily the Spirit talking to us.
In today's world we may use Moroni 10:5 "And by the power of the holy ghost he may know the truth of all things" as a guide in spiritual matters but not in matters of secular knowledge. The great division among American LDS members in political matters is evidence of that.
Perhaps we neglect the simple fact that our past experiences have conditioned us to respond to new information in ways we often don't even recognize. Because we usually respond first on a feeling level, we can confuse our feelings with the Spirit. A gut level response is not the same as the Spirit speaking.
And so the quest for truth is difficult and what the Lord says here in this section is important.
"Don't come asking me until you've done your homework. Study, research, look for original trusted sources, find out everything you can. Then I will confirm or discount your answer. But you need to be an educated person who does the work. How else will you become like me?"
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