Day 39 Lehi's Promise for the Promised Land

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 am cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 39.

We wrap up the first book of Nephi today and we move into the Second Book of Nephi. If you are following along the 365-day journey, today you're going to read First Nephi chapter 22, verses 26 to 31 and say goodbye to the first book there. And then you're going to read Second Nephi chapter 1, verses 1 through 9.

And those are some exciting verses because we're going to get back into the promised land. They made it to the promised land. Now as we wrap up the first book of Nephi, I want to encourage you to just kind of pause for a second and think about this: What have we learned from the first book of Nephi?

What lessons have you had? Take a second and maybe go back, if you've taken any notes here or go back to if you've got any favorite podcast episodes or something here, but what have we learned? For me, some of the things that come to mind, I've learned that the Lord always provides a way.

Nephi has made that so clear inside the front end of the Book of Mormon. If the Lord commands it, He provides a way. But I've also learned that that way is not always easy.

In fact, hard things are good for us. I learned that through hard things, we grow more and that the Savior is there for us through it all. I learned that if we ask, we can receive from the Lord and we can gain a greater understanding of the things we want in our lives.

Now, there's a lot more that I've learned so far, but I want to encourage you to take a second as you wrap up First Nephi and just ask yourself, what have I learned so far from Nephi and Lehi and the story that we take from the first book of Nephi? Now the verse today that we're going to dive into is in the first chapter of Second Nephi. So let's get straight over to that one.

We're going to read the very end of the reading assignment today, verse 9. So it's Second Nephi 1, verse 9. And this is now Lehi talking.

And these next couple of chapters are going to be Lehi basically kind of giving his last thoughts to his sons and his daughters and his family. Finally, Lehi is going to pass away on the front end of Second Nephi here. And this is part of what he has to say specifically about the promised land.

He says: Wherefore I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep His commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land, and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep His commandments, they shall be blessed upon the face of this land. And there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance, and they shall dwell safely forever.

Now, we talk a lot about the promised land, but what is that promise? And the front end of Second Nephi 1 dives into it. This is only one of the verses that Lehi is talking very clearly about the promises of the promised land.

I want to encourage you to go through this and kind of identify the promises that Lehi identifies. The one that I picked today, he's saying: Look, prosperity comes as you keep the commandments. Stay close to the Lord and you will prosper.

Now the other side of that coin comes in here as well, but that is in tomorrow's verses. You enjoy that tomorrow. It's immediately in verse 10, just a little spoiler alert there.

But take some time to learn about the promised land, because the promised land is in our lives as well. The promises that the Lord keeps, the covenants that He sets for us and that we make with Him also help to set the conditions and circumstances of our lives. If we want to find prosperity and safety in the way that the Lord provides it, we will do it through keeping His commandments.

I know that to be true. That's all I have today, my friends. Remember that, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt.

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