Isaiah prophesied that God would one day provide the richest of blessings to all of His children:
And in this mountain
Isaiah 25:6
shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people
a feast of fat things,
a feast of wines on the lees,
of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees well refined.
Most of us don’t use the term “fat things” to describe delicious meat, and I suspect that most non-drinkers (myself included) don’t know what lees are or how they enhance the flavor of fine wines. Even so, the structure of the verse, with its repetitive elaboration, clearly conveys the sense of abundance and enjoyment which the Lord wants us to experience.
Furthermore, the Hebrew words translated as “fat things”—shemanim (שְׁמָרִ֑ים)—and as “wine on the lees”—shemarim (שְׁמָנִ֖ים)—further accentuate the parallelism, because they are nearly identical:
A feast of shemanim,
a feast of shemarim,
of shemanim full of marrow,
of shemarim well-refined.
The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob expressed that same sense of joy in abundance as he paraphrased another passage from Isaiah:
Come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.
2 Nephi 9:51; see Isaiah 55:2
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has reminded us not to take for granted the blessings we enjoy as we follow God:
Our religion is a joyful one! We are most blessed …
We live beneath our privileges when we fail to partake of the feast of happiness, peace, and joy that God grants so bountifully.
“Your Potential, Your Privilege,” General Conference, April 2011
In 1831, the Lord quoted Isaiah as He encouraged church members who were settling on the frontier in Missouri:
For this cause I have sent you …
Doctrine and Covenants 58:6, 8
that a feast of fat things might be prepared for the poor; yea, a feast of fat things, of wine on the lees well refined, that the earth may know that the mouths of the prophets shall not fail;
Today I will strive for awareness and enjoyment of the blessings I receive from God. I will be grateful that He has blessed me and those I love abundantly, and I will let those gifts fill me with joy.