Day 339 When the Lord Asks What You Would Do

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

Today, you're going to be reading Ether chapter 2, verses 17 through 25. You'll finish that chapter and oh my, there's some good stuff in there. And you're going to be reading.

We begin Ether chapter 3 by reading verses 1 through 6, which also have some incredible insights for the Brother of Jared. Let's dive straight into our verse for today. We're going to find it inside of Ether chapter 2, as is common inside Savory Salt.

I'm going to give you a verse that has some reading before it and some reading after it that we need to be aware of. But let's look at the verse and then let's figure out the context of what's happening with it. Ether 2:20 And he cried again unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me, and have prepared the vessels for my people.

And behold, there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness? Now, the front end of this story is, of course, Jared and the Brother of Jared getting ready to cross the waters that the Lord has commanded them to cross.

And inside of it, they had their first question was about breathing inside of these tight, like into a dish ships. And the Lord gave them a direct answer there. He said, "Look, this is what you're going to do.

You're going to put a hole in the top and a hole in the bottom, and then you're going to open it and close it as needed, and then you're going to be able to breathe." And so, as they design that inside of their ships, then they come back with this question, and that is the question about light. And it's interesting because in Ether chapter 2, verse 23, the Lord asks them what they would have him do. He says, "What will ye that I should do?" And the Lord flips the table there.

And I know there's been a lot of discussions in the past and in different areas about why the Lord would give an answer on one of the questions and then not give an answer on the other question. I'm going to start with a question, and I don't have the answer to that question, but I've got one that I thought about and pondered on. And so I have a possible answer.

You see, the first scenario was kind of life and death. You have to have air in order to cross the ocean, under the ocean, in the water. Submarines need to have air access.

And so the first one was kind of life and death. It was kind of, "we need to know what's going to keep us alive." And the Lord said, "Do this, and it will keep you alive." The second one, it was about light inside the vessels and that isn't necessarily a life and death conversation. And so the Lord allowed them to go wrestle with it themselves and come up with a solution themselves, which they do.

And then he grants help with the solution that they came up with. Now, I'm not trying to say that this is all things all the time, but there does seem to be some sort of level of importance here, all the way to life and death of air in order to have capacity to breathe, all the way down to the convenience of light or dark inside of the vessel as we go travel. I think when we take questions to the Lord, the higher the level of question we take to the Lord, the more we're going to receive a direct and specific answer that deals directly from the Lord.

And the more we get down the spectrum of convenience, or light or dark, so to speak, in our lives, the more the Lord would turn to us and have us wrestle with the questions and propose solutions to him. I love this because it helps me say, "If the spectrum goes more to life and death, where could I go to find those answers?" Well, I could turn to the words of the prophets. I could turn to scripture.

I could turn to the ancient prophets and find out what they have to say. And then when it gets down to the level of convenience over here, I could wrestle with it myself. And I could take it to the Lord and seek personal inspiration.

Again, I don't know if this applies to all things all the time in every scenario, but it certainly seems to be the case here with the Brother of Jared. I hope that we have an opportunity to realize that whatever level of gravity the situation, we can take it to the Lord. And with faith, we will find answers.

He answers them, whether it's a direct answer, or whether he tells us to wrestle with it, and then receive inspiration for the answers we seek. 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.