Day 243 The Lord's Favor Turns the Tide

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. Today, evidence from yesterday's thoughts.

If you have not checked episode 242, please do so. Before we dive into today, welcome to day 243 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Alma chapter 56, verses 13 through 14.

The Epistle to Moroni, explaining what happened with him and Antipas and the battling of the Lamanites in that area of the land. And what we get here is, I believe, a carryover from yesterday's thoughts about keeping our covenants and doing all that we can to keep the commandments of the Lord in order to receive his strength and blessings. Here the evidence that we see inside of Alma 56:19, our verse for the day: "And thus were we favored of the Lord, for had they come upon us in this our weakness, they might perhaps destroyed our little army, but thus we were preserved." My friends, at the risk of understanding that there are global listeners to this podcast, I want to say this from the point of view as an American sharing this thought.

Fair enough. I see inside of this that the Lord helped Helaman and his army by convincing the Lamanites not to act at a specific time in the battle. Had the Lamanites done so, they would have been able to overcome and ultimately destroy Helaman and his 2,000 warriors.

And what we see is different times in history where armies, for one reason or another, seemingly make decisions that turn the tide of battle. We see it happen in the American War for Independence with Great Britain. There are many stories there.

We see it happen in great global battles like World War I and World War II. There are everything that is needed to gep tumblos, which just doesn't take it away from the middle of World War II. It got to the point where Hitler basically was going to do a final push.

And at that time, we have a very famous story from our history that is referred to as "Patton Prayer." And General Patton, a general at the time, had a prayer drafted up by a chaplain and had 250 copies of that prayer passed out to his men. They were experiencing bad weather and the bad weather was not helping the situation. It was actually kind of becoming an advantage for the Nazis as they were advancing.

And what came to be known as the "Battle of the Bulge" afterwards, it was basically Hitler's last push and last attempt to break the Allied forces. Well, this prayer had been circulated amongst the armies of the Allied forces and the men. And were encouraged to pray this prayer over and over and over again.

And in December, I think it was, you know, 23rd or something like that—several, several days into the battle—it was like the storm, the clouds, the fog, everything cleared to the point that there was nothing that could stop the Allied forces from seeing the battle and seeing the Nazi forces as they were coming. Regardless of the perspective of that battle, what I see is times in history when for no logical reason there seems to be a shift in decision of leadership. And that shift in decision-making seems to turn the tides of battle.

For me and my beliefs, I see those tides and those decisions as poignant inspiration from the Lord. Whether it is inspiration that seeks to turn the tide of war one way or the other, I see it as blessings from the Lord of Him responding to those that are seeking His insight and direction. That is worth keeping in mind for us.

Seek the Lord in all that you do and you will find at times that inexplicable things just happen to happen in your favor. That is the hand of the Lord guiding you and directing you and helping you in those difficult times. 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.