Day 90 Don't Counsel God, Take Counsel From Him

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. One of those successes being welcome to day 90 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Well done. We are reading today from Jacob chapter four. And that's it.

That's the reading, Jacob chapter four. We're going to cover inside of that one of the verses. This is a crazy chapter because Jacob continues his preaching and he covers a great variety of some interesting ways that he sees the Lord and sees Christ in our life and the Atonement of Christ.

He wants to make sure that we know that they knew of Jesus Christ even several hundred years before the coming of Christ. And so there's some good stuff inside this chapter. This one's a cool one because I had to dig into this one.

I had in the back of my mind as I read this verse, I was reading the chapter and I landed on this verse and I thought, where have I heard something that I think is similar to that? Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. And it took me a little bit to kind of dig into some references and resources that I was trying to find and I landed where I think it is.

I wanted to share it with you. Elder Bednar was speaking to Ensign College. I think it was January of 2023 or so.

But he was talking to the students of Ensign College and they had kind of an opportunity to have a Q&A back and forth with the president of the college and whatnot. And Elder Bednar was talking about receiving revelation and was talking about praying. And he landed on something that I think feeds hand in hand with what Jacob is trying to teach us here to really rely on the Lord for inspiration and take counsel from him rather than seek to counsel him, rather than let God know what we want him to know.

Perhaps we should take some time for us to understand what he wants us to know. And this is what Elder Bednar had to say on this topic. See what you think about it.

He said, "People pray, and it's like they're shopping in the store: 'Heavenly Father, I need this and this and this and this, and deliver it by this time. And if you don't get this and this and this and this by the right time, then God wasn't listening to my prayers.'" But here's what Elder Bednar says. He says, "Yes, he was.

You're not listening to the answers." Don't expect him to just provide a delivery service. You don't pray to tell God what you want or what you need. You pray to find out what God wants for you.

Big difference. That will change what you pray forever. And many times what he wants for us, because it involves change in what we are and what we do, is not something we readily want to hear or accept.

Now there's way more around the context of that and I'll put in the link to the episode here. I'll put a link into this article. You can read it right off of the Ensign College website.

And I got a full transcript of the interview. But I love this part where he says, "You don't pray to tell God what you want or what you need. You pray to find out what God wants for you." And he says there's a big difference there that will change what you pray forever.

I've got to tell you, I've taken this challenge, and that's why it was kind of in the back of my mind, as I've tried to keep Elder Bednar's comments in mind as I pray. And I tried to be more aware of seeking to be inspired by the Lord and seeking revelation for the things that he wants me to do in my life and the things that he's hoping that I can accomplish through his help. Rather than simply this laundry list, as he said, the "shopping in the store" of, "Heavenly Father, I need this and this and this and this, and please get it by this time." Perhaps that counsel is something that you could take as well, or maybe dig into a little bit.

See if Jacob and Elder Bednar have a little bit of connection there as they say, "Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand." And then remember that "he counsels in wisdom, in justice, and in great mercy over all his works." And that includes you and I. Such an uplifting verse to dive into and to remember as we look at the quality of our prayers going forward. 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 and I hope you are too.