2.102 I Have Nourished It... I Have Stretched Forth Mind Hand

In Matthew 5.13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends.

Great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Welcome towards the end of our week here.

We have wrapped up our reading of Doctrine and Covenants, sections 30 through 36. Today and tomorrow to finish this week, we're going to actually focus on Jacob chapter 5. And then we're going to sneak some of those other chapters into next week, as I mentioned, with us focusing on Easter next week.

Jacob chapter 5 is a phenomenal chapter. It is also the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon, so a lot of heavy reading there. It is the very interesting view of the Lord and His vineyard.

And if you would like to have a little bit more of a play-by-play with that chapter, you can go back to season one. I think it's days 91 through 94 or so, somewhere right around there, that we dive down a little bit more specific, you know, verse for verse or reading for reading inside of that Instead what I wanted to do with Jacob chapter five today and tomorrow is just give a couple of kind of overall thematic ideas I think the Lord is trying to teach us inside of this chapter Today, our verse for today is going to come from Jacob chapter 5 verse 47. It says, And I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it, and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh.

And it grieveth me that I should hewn down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire, that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard? Now this one's an interesting one and I picked this one on purpose because it's an opportunity for us to see a little bit of the perspective that the Lord has in the work that he's doing.

Could we even say maybe on his difficult days? I know we deal with difficult days, does the Lord? And yet here we have an interesting perspective of him reflecting and saying, what else could I possibly have done?

When we look at the work of the Lord and especially the work of the Lord in our own personal lives, I wonder if the Lord asking the same question So today it a little bit of a reflection opportunity not a surprise hopefully for those of you that listen regularly but a reflection opportunity for you and for me What has the Lord done in our lives to show us that he wants to nourish us What has he provided for us that's shown that he's been willing to dig about the roots, dung the roots, stretch forth his hand to help us all the day long? I don't think it's going to take very long for each of us to dive into the ways that we've seen the hand of the Lord in our lives and realize he is doing everything he can to help us on our path. And I think that's worth us diving into and reflecting on.

Ultimately, the Lord reflects on this moment and I think it's an interesting insight for us to see where he pauses and says, It grieveth me that I should hewn down all the trees of my vineyard. Such an interesting insight. My friends, we have an opportunity to see the Lord's hand in our lives.

What has he given us? Well, in our day today, he's given us living prophets and apostles. He's given us new scripture through the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price.

He's given us a structure inside of the church to help us not only make but continually keep our covenants and renew them on a weekly basis. These are not things that we should take lightly in our lives. These are the steps the Lord has taken to try to provide an environment for his vineyard to grow and prosper and for good fruit to be produced That can be you and I Addison Maumox Outer World fantastical program.

And ultimately, become the good servants and produce the good fruit that the Lord has provided. My friends, I know the Lord is on your team. He's on my team.

He's cheering for us. He's hoping that we buy into the process. He's hoping that we see the blessings that He has for us.

And He's hoping that we can see ourselves the way He sees us That's the insight that I received inside of Jacob chapter 5 and I hope it's insight you can see as the Lord sees us as truly so much more than we currently are. That's all for today my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice.

Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.