Day 137 Easing the Weight of Afflictions

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. Have you got a burden you can't just get rid of?

Doesn't just go away? The scriptures call these afflictions sometimes or burdens, or maybe you find yourself in bondage. Welcome to day 137 on our 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon.

And today, perhaps our scripture for the day may give you a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps a little lightening to the load that you're feeling. Today you're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 24. It's one of those rare days where it's just the chapter.

So you get all the chapter to yourself today and we're going to see Alma and his people experience their afflictions and then also find a way out and ultimately unite with the people of Mosiah. I want to dive straight into our verse for today. We're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 24, verse 14.

Alma and his people are forbidden to pray to God out loud. And Amulon has taken control of the kingdom through the power that the Lamanites have given him. And Alma and his people are not allowed to pray out loud.

And so they turn to the Lord in their hearts. Although their immediate afflictions are not removed, this is the scripture we have that shows how the Lord responded to the faith of the people of Alma. Verse 14 says, 'You may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.' This one's always an interesting one to me because we see that the Lord hears their prayers and his answer to their prayers is not to remove the afflictions of the people at the time.

Although they do get released from their bondage later in the chapter, right? Just a few verses later, hold on just a few verses and you'll be saved, right? We're going to talk about the Lord's power over us as we read this story.

But what we do see here is the Lord answers their prayers by not just easing the burdens that are put on their shoulders, but easing them to the point that they cannot even feel them upon their backs. And that's interesting to me. The Lord has the ability not just to help us out or lift us up but he has the ability to take the weight of the things that burden us, the things that weigh us down.

And although those things may not be removed completely from our lives, the weight of those things can be removed if we will turn to the Lord. I know this may sound like a weird example because it's not a physical burden associated as the people of Alma had, but for me sometimes I have so many different things happening in my life that I'll wake up at night and I just can't go back to sleep. We invite you to join us in this work to that moment of saved living.

And that may sound like a very small example or a very silly example of the burden being removed. And yet I can testify that that is every bit as much of the burden being taken off the back of the people of Alma in my life. I know that the Lord wants us to experience the challenges that burdens bring and the afflictions.

We get better through those things. We get stronger through those things. Just like muscles get stronger through lifting weights and the resistance inside of them, we get stronger through them.

But I also know that the Lord has the ability to know our limits and also has the ability to test our faith in a way that allows us to reach to Him and find relief in the times that the burdens seem a little bit too much for us. I can testify to that and I want you to know that you can turn to the Lord for anything, at any time, and seek a relief of the things that you're experiencing. Show faith in Him.

Know that He can and will have the ability to lift the burdens that you're facing and He'll answer the prayers in the way that He sees fit. I love the recent conference talk from President Jeffrey R. Holland.

If you have not read that recently, dive into that and see what the power of prayer can do in your life. He hears and He answers every prayer offered to him. 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.