Day 67 The Axe Does Not Boast Itself

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 67.

And I promised yesterday that I would finish my thoughts concerning the king of Assyria inside our chapters. But before we get there, let's make sure we cover our reading for the day on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon. Today, you're going to read 2 Nephi 20, verses 15-34, and that's it.

We have our first one that hasn't been a combo in a long time, so just finish out 2 Nephi 20. Inside of day 67, we're going to go into 2 Nephi chapter 20, and we're going to read verse 15, which is a continuation of this king of Assyria, who, you know, kind of boasting and bragging about the things that he's done to build his kingdom. And the Lord has this little bit to say here after He gets done listening to the king of Assyria talk about the power of his own hand and the power of his own wisdom.

Okay. Verse 15 says this: Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up?

Or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood. Now, this one's kind of a fun one, actually, because I think the Lord's getting a little bit frustrated here. And remember, inside of these verses, there's that cool phrase that we did a couple of days ago inside of the podcast episode where we talked about, "His anger's not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out.

Stretched out still," right, is the way that it's said. The king of Assyria just got done saying, "Look, I've done this. I've done this by my hand, by my wisdom.

I grew the borders. I took care of people. I conquered people.

I'm a rock star. I'm the man." And the Lord turns around and goes, "Wait a second!" "Let's picture this for just a second. There's an ax, and it's leaning against the wall, and the ax stays there unless somebody picks it up and starts swinging it around.

So, is the ax going to turn around and say, 'Oh, look how cool I am! I cut that tree down'?" It's like, "Wait a second! You did what?

You're leaning against the wall unless someone picks you up, right?" The saw, does it magnify itself against the guy that's shaking it back and forth? The saw just... And I think the Lord's trying to share a little message here to say, "Hey, look, the stuff that you're doing – a good job – but there's power behind that." There's power behind that.

I think in our lives, when we go around beating our chests, right, metaphorically, and saying, "Ah, look at me! Look at how amazing this is! Look, I am a rock star!

I'm the man!" When we do that, and we reject the hand of the Lord in our lives, we're going to be a rock star. Or we reject even accepting that the Lord had a hand in our lives. The Lord tends to look back and say, "Hey, I hate to tell you this, but I had a hand in that." For some reason, it kind of makes me reflect a little bit on some of the funny things that we can go back and look at in science, right?

One of my favorites that I love to talk about is: it's scientifically proven, back during the automobile days, when the automobile was just getting kind of discovered and we were figuring out how fast it could go, and scientists are like, "No, the human body would absolutely just blow into smithereens if you go faster than 20 miles an hour!" right? And science is like, "This is true!" Now, I'm not saying just reject all science, but I think it's worth accepting that man has his limitations. Those limitations are greatly lifted when we turn to the Lord and we rely on Him to expand our horizons.

We rely on Him to expand our potential, and we rely on Him to give us a better and a brighter future. Something absolutely worth taking some time to consider: the level that you and I both rely on the Lord as we go forward to live our daily lives. That's all for 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.