Day 61 Regarding Not the Work of the Lord

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 your every success. Welcome to Day 61.

We're in the middle of our Isaiah journey together. I hope you're enjoying the Isaiah chapters on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon. Before we get to our reading assignment today, we need to welcome our new listeners from Mexico.

Thank you for joining in on Savory Salt. And I think we're actually, other than Antarctica, I think we've actually expanded here inside of the 61 days. I think we're just about to every continent now throughout the world, reading the Book of Mormon together.

So thank you for joining me on that journey. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. Today for your reading, you're going to read 2 Nephi 14, all of the chapter there—not much, it's not too big there—and 2 Nephi 15, verses 1 through 12, the first half of 2 Nephi 15 there.

As we dive into our verse today, I want to get to the tail end of our reading assignment. Actually, we're going to be looking inside of 14 and 15, both kind of referencing the Lord's vineyard. And this vineyard that we're going to use in kind of illustrative purposes is a mirror of the house of Israel.

So, the Lord's people, the Lord's chosen covenant people. Now, yesterday, we talked about eating the fruit of our doings, right? We talked about what happens when we eat the fruit of our choices.

And today's a little bit of a continuation of that as we go into the verse. So let's dive into verse 12 here and see what it can reveal to us in our lives. Chapter 15, verse 12, 2 Nephi 15, verse 12.

It says, "And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands." This one was an interesting one as I kind of sat and reflected on it. I'm picturing the front end of this verse, a quite nice banquet actually. The house of Israel is facing ultimate destruction because of the choices that they have made.

And verse 12 gives us an insight as to what those choices look like. It's not like the house of Israel turned directly against the Lord in that they didn't become agitators to the Lord. They didn't go out and grab their pitchforks and their weapons and fight against the Lord.

Let's take a moment to reflect on the work of the Lord. How often do I focus on the operations of his hands in my own life? I see friends and other family members, in example here, that have made choices in their lives to not include the Lord in their decision-making, to not have the Lord in their life at all in some cases.

So today, what it means for me as I consider this verse is to make sure that as I enjoy the good times in my life, I keep the perspective that those good times come from blessings the Lord has given me. My choices certainly do have consequences, and if I make immediate choices that don't seem to bring dire consequences from them, I need to keep perspective that the Lord still plays a part and a role in my life. Don't allow the Lord to fall out of your life.

If things are going well, thank the Lord. Keep Him close. And if it seems like things are going well without the Lord, it may be worth reconsidering the choices that you're making as you read the other verses that surround these chapters inside of Isaiah.

That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple, all 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.