Day 286 Joyful Deliverance Through Repentance and God's Goodness

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. The Lord keeps His promises. Welcome to day 286 on our 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today you're going to be reading 3 Nephi chapter 4, verses 12 through 33. You will finish that chapter and you will finish. We're going to watch this crazy, insane battle between the Gadianton robbers and the combined forces of the Lamanites and the Nephites.

Inside of this, we're going to see this last several years. We see that in verse 15. We see that the people are going to survive an incredible siege against them because of their preparations.

So maybe you want to spend some time in verse 18 or around those verses there. And then we're going to get to the end of the reading today, and that's where our verse for today is going to lie. It is in 3 Nephi 4, verse 33.

They successfully defeat the Gadianton robbers. They are rejoicing in the Lord. They are praying to Him, they are crying out to Him, and then in verse 33 it says, "And their hearts were swollen with joy unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies.

And they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction." My friends, these people faced imminent destruction from the Gadianton robbers. They turned to the Lord; they repented; they prepared; they gathered. We talked about that in our episodes previous to this one.

And I want to bear witness to this. Remember the promise of the Book of Mormon. The Lord says from the very beginning, and then many times after that: "Keep my commandments and you will prosper in this land.

Do not keep my commandments and you will find destruction." And here the people kept the promise, and the promise was fulfilled. The Lord kept His end of the deal, and these people survived. This is such an interesting verse to look into and this section is so fascinating to me because of the size, the immensity of the battle that occurs.

It brought me thinking about my own life. What does this look like in my life? Do I have to go out and fight an epic battle for several years to see the hand of the Lord in my life?

And the answer is no. I can testify to you that I have had specific times in my life where I have turned to the Lord and had no better thing to do, no way out, no steps forward, unless the Lord delivered me. I think I've shared it before on Savory Salt, but one of those that always comes to mind for me is when I was, I had just landed in Kenya when COVID-19 pandemic unfurled.

Thank you for watching. I was one where I simply turned to my family and said, "You're going to have to pray me home here because there is no other way to get home." And I watched the windows and the doors and the pathways open as I turned to the Lord and sought His hand in my life to try to lean into the promptings that I was being given in order to find my way back to my family. That is a specific time in my life that I can turn to, and I've had many others where I know the Lord has seen me, has helped me, and has created a path for me to get by.

And He will do the same for you as He has done for the Nephites and the Lamanites here in 3 Nephi chapter 4. 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.