Day 5 The Lord's Tender Mercies and Deliverance

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for you and your every success. Today, we move into day five.

This is awesome. Well done. You're getting some motion going.

You've got a streak happening with us. That's awesome. Thanks for joining.

Okay. So you've got maybe 12 verses, 13 verses or so that you're going to do today. And our one verse for today comes in from the first chapter of 1 Nephi still.

We're going to take the last verse of that chapter. Nephi kind of telling the story about what's going on. Lehi trying to teach the people and try to warn them about Jerusalem being destroyed and the people really just aren't listening.

But Nephi gives us such an awesome, this is actually one of my favorite scriptures anywhere. I love this one and it goes back to the title page by the way. So look for the little Easter egg here with a nod back to the title page of the Book of Mormon.

We're going to look at verse 20 here and it says, "And when the Jews heard these things, they were angry with him." This is Lehi. Lehi is proselyting and the Jews hear it and they're angry. Yea, even as with the prophets of old whom they had cast out and stoned and slain, and they also sought his life that they might take it away.

But here's the cool part right here. "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty, even unto the power of deliverance." Oh man, can you feel that? So amazing. The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen.

Not some of them, not a few of them, not the ones over there, and not the ones over there. The tender mercies of the Lord are over all that he hath chosen. And by the way, if you're listening here, and if you're talking with your friends, and if you're trying to read the Book of Mormon, and you're trying to do what you can there, by the way, you're chosen.

You're chosen. You're talking to your friends about it. You're keeping it to yourself even.

You're chosen. So, well played inside of that. These tender mercies, the nod back to the title page.

If you remember, one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon was to remind you of the blessings that come from the Lord. And Nephi is going to say, "Hey, I'm going to tell you a story that's going to show you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen." It got me thinking about when it mentions earlier in that verse, it says they were cast out and stoned and slain. I certainly haven't been slain.

I'm here talking to you. But it made me think about a time on my mission. I served my mission in Mongolia, which is, go find that on a map.

It's good fun. It was an amazing time. But we were out on the street one day, and a couple of people were angry about us being there, and they started throwing rocks.

And I can remember as we were running away, because I didn't like to get hit by rocks. As we were running away, I'm literally having this out-of-body moment because I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm like the scriptures, I'm getting stoned right now." Now, I wasn't strapped down and everything, but a couple of the rocks hit me and one of them got me a pretty good bruise on my back. And at the time I just thought, "Wow, I was protected today in the work of the Lord.

I was helped by the Lord. That could have turned out much worse. Those rocks could have hit me in my head or hit me in my neck area or something like that.

They could have done some serious damage to me, but I was protected inside of that." And I want to tell you that as you continue to make choices in your life that show the Lord that you're on his side — choices that can be super small, choices that are just saying, "Hey, Heavenly Father, I'm on your side, and I could use some tender mercies in my life." Be aware of those tender mercies because the Lord will make you mighty even unto the power of deliverance. Such a great scripture. And I hope you feel the power inside of that one.

I hope you find the tender mercies of the Lord in your life every day as you strive to choose the right. So that's all we have for today. Remember now that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Keep it simple, keep it small, and always seek to be savory salt.

I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you are too.