Day 233 Happiness Amidst War by Keeping Covenants

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. How could you possibly find happiness and joy and peace in the chaos of war and destruction?

I believe we have some insight and an answer to that question inside of today's reading. Welcome to day 233 on our We going to go through the 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon together Today you going to be reading Alma chapter 50 verses 9 through 29 You just going to read the middle chunk of that chapter And inside of that you going to see that the people the Nephites the people of Moroni are the happiest that they ever been in the history of the Nephites and the Lamanites How could that possibly be in the middle of the war chapters These are literally referred to as the war chapters and yet we have a happier people What is happening here That's the verse I want to dive into and take a look at today. We're going to be reading Alma chapter 50 verse 23 and it says, But behold, there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi since the days of Nephi than in the days of Moroni.

Yea, even at this time in the twenty and first year of the reign of the judges. Now that's a pretty strong statement considering we're talking about hundreds of years of Nephite existence here. What is going on?

I believe the verses that are preceding verse 23 give us an indicator here. We find out that the people are very prosperous and we find out that they're very prosperous because they have kept the promise and the covenant that Lehi and the Lord got at the beginning of the Book of Mormon when this became the promised land. These people have sought the hand of the Lord in their lives They have sought to keep the commandments and by keeping the commandments they received the blessings of prospering in the land And remember that promise as many times as it given as the Book of Mormon is a two sword Keep the commandments, prosper in the land.

Don't keep the commandments, you'll be cut off from the presence of the Lord. What we're seeing here is the front side of that covenant. Keep the commandments, prosper in the land.

And my friends, I think about difficult times in my life. Look, full disclosure, I've never been in a war zone, right? I've also experienced difficult times in my life though.

Not to the level of war, totally understand. But for me personally, I've had very difficult times in my life. And as I look back at those times, when I have tried to keep the Lord close, when I've tried to keep my covenants better than I ever have, when I've tried to follow the commandments of the Lord, I have had greater peace in my life during those difficult times And when I look back on them I go wow you know as hard as that was what a great time it was My wife and I have got experiences like that when we had difficult times in our marriage difficult times in growing a family in these days And yet we look back and we go wow we so happy We were so happy then too inside the struggle I believe that the keeping of the commandments that the keeping and making of our covenants I guess I should say that the other way the making and keeping of our covenants with the Lord is the path to happiness and joy in this life There is no other true way that we can find it.

And I hope you can see here that these people inside of the crazy war chapters that we have in Alma with the greatest battles that we're going to see until really the end of the Book of Mormon again, these people found great happiness in the Lord and in the keeping of His commandments. I believe you and I could absolutely learn some lessons from what we read inside these verses. That's all for today, my friends.

Remember that by small and simple things, our 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.