Day 354 Coriantumr: Worldly Skill vs. God's Will

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. I'm not like Coriantumr, am I?

Welcome to day 354 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. We're almost on our final 10-day countdown here. Today you're going to be reading Ether chapter 13 verses 12 through 31.

You'll finish that chapter. Inside of the reading today, we're going to see Ether give kind of a final declaration of sorts to Coriantumr and his people. And we're going to see that after that, the Lord tells Ether that it is done.

Now it's just time to observe the destruction of these people as they have chosen to reject the Lord. And I think it's really interesting because I put myself in this scenario where I think—I mean, I think if I had a prophet come to me and say, "It's time to repent or you're going to be the last person alive and you're going to watch everyone else around you die," I feel like I would respond to that. I feel like I would say, "Wow, maybe I should repent." And so one, I guess I'm glad that I'm not necessarily down the same line of thinking of Coriantumr.

But then a verse stuck out to me today and I thought, "Wow, Allen, here's something that you could learn from Coriantumr as well." And that's going to take us into our verse for today in Ether chapter 13, verse 16. Now, as we get there, remember Coriantumr and his sons, daughters, all the people around him, they all chose to reject Ether. So we know this because of our reading today.

Knowing that, let's take a look at what 16 says. "And now Coriantumr, having studied himself in all the arts of war and all the cunning of the world, wherefore he gave battle unto them who sought to destroy him." Now, why did I pick this one today? Well, this one's an interesting one because what this shows me is Coriantumr had decided that he could do it alone. He studied, he did all of the learning.

And what did he study? He learned in the arts of war and the cunning of the world. He had all of the art and skill of the world while rejecting the heart and will of the Lord.

Now, I am pretty impressed with myself for coming up with that one, so I'm going to say that one again. He focused, he focused on the art and skill of the world while rejecting the heart and will of the Lord. I know that world and Lord don't rhyme, but, hey, I did pretty good with art and skill and heart and will, right?

My friends, are there little pieces of Coriantumr inside of me and you? Do we tend to say, "You know what, Heavenly Father, don't worry about this part. I got it.

I'm going to take control of this one. I can do this one on my own. I don't need your help."?

And I don't think the Lord is expecting us necessarily to be super needy and constantly asking for more, more, more, more, more, right? He wants us to do our part, but he's absolutely not expecting us to do our part. I think that "himself" in there is really interesting—Coriantumr having studied himself in all art of... like that, fascinating to me.

My friends, turn to the Lord. We can ask for help. He will provide that help.

And I think Coriantumr, at this point in the story, we get a really cool insight that he has simply said, "I don't want your help." And at that stage, the Lord takes Ether, sends him to a cave to observe and says, "Fine, you are now going to deal with the consequences of not having my help." I hope that you and I can take a little lesson from Coriantumr and look to the Lord so that we don't focus necessarily on our sole art and skill of the world. And instead, we learn to focus on accepting the heart and will of the Lord. 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.