Day 117 Overzealous Yet Slow to Remember God

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 117 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today, you're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 9, verses 1 through 14. Now, Mosiah chapter 9, as I mentioned yesterday, is the beginning of a new record of sorts, right? Here's a chance where we're going to kind of go back in time and take a look at the records according to Zeniff, however you say his name, and then Noah, and then Limhi.

And so we're going to dive from Mosiah 9. For the next while, actually, we're going to be spending our time inside of this record here. So we've transitioned a little bit from the King Benjamin-King Mosiah record and now we're over to this new group and account that's going to go from Mosiah chapter 9 through 22.

Our verse today comes on the front end of chapter 9. It is verse 3, and this is Zeniff talking about him wanting to take this land, and this is what it says in verse 3: "And yet I, being overzealous to inherit the land of our fathers, collected as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land, and started again on our journey into the wilderness to go up to the land. But we were smitten with famine and sore afflictions, for we were slow to remember the Lord our God." Now this one's an interesting one and I chose it because I think there's been times in my life when, if I use the front end here, I was overzealous to have whatever it was.

I did it in a way that probably didn't include the Lord in my plans or perhaps minimized Him in my plans. And so to come full circle here, at the tail end of this verse, "we were slow to remember the Lord our God." I think there have been times in my life where I wanted something so badly that I just kind of said, "Look, Heavenly Father, I got this. I can do this one on my own because I want this so badly." It also got me thinking historically, like, where have we seen this example and where have we seen times where we as mankind get overzealous in our own abilities and then we just kind of say, "Thanks, Lord, I got it from here." And then it doesn't turn out great because of our own limitations.

And I think about the experience that Joseph Smith and Martin Harris had with the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. And it sent me over to Doctrine and Covenants section 10 for a bit, which is where we see the Lord and Joseph wrestling a little bit with the decisions that he made with those last 116 pages. I'll put a link here to Doctrine and Covenants section 10 and give you an opportunity to kind of go over there and see the Lord's perspective there.

Now we do find out that the people of Zeniff here, that they do remember the Lord and they end up having challenges with the Lamanites where they turn to the Lord and are strengthened by the Lord. But in this moment here, it appears that Zeniff and his people want something so badly that they forget to include the Lord in their desires. And at the front end of things, it doesn't turn out well for them.

Now, it doesn't mean that any time in your life, if you go after something, you know, that success is going to be withheld. There's plenty of successful people in the world that don't include the Lord in their plans. But as for me and the way that I'm reading this, it's a little bit of a yellow flag that just says, "Hey, Allen, remember that when you want something badly, let's check in with the Lord and see if it's the direction that the Lord wants you to go." I know that I've found greater times in my life when I've been willing to sit down and ask the Lord for inspiration on what He wants me to do in my life and the direction that He would like me to go.

And then lean into that inspiration versus the times in my life when I've said, "Move over, Heavenly Father, I got this." I think when I do that, I tend to experience my own limitations very, very quickly. I'd rather have the lack of limitations that the Lord provides through His inspiration and revelation inside of my life. 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.