2.143 They Began to Prosper by Degrees

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. I hope you have enjoyed your reading of Doctrine and Covenants 49 and 50 this week.

We've had a couple of ideas that have come together over a couple of episodes this week, and we're going to actually continue that. Although our verse for today and tomorrow will not be consecutive verses like they were earlier in the week, we are going to shift into Mosiah chapters 20 and 21. I'm going to be talking about Mosiah chapter 21 through 25.

It's not very often that with that much reading, I stay inside of one chapter for a couple of verses, but that's what we're going to do with Mosiah chapter 21. Just for a frame of reference, if you don't remember the peaceful prisons episode that we did just a few days ago, actually, I think it was episode 138, I believe, 2.138. I'll put a link to that inside of this episode if you want to kind of have some context.

We talked about the arrangement that Limhi made with the Lamanites, which was only a temporary peaceful arrangement. And we talked about how we sometimes, whether it's sins or whether it's toxic relationships or whatever it may be in our own lives, how we seem to create these peaceful prisons—these temporary peaceful situations, rather than addressing the difficult path through and being done with it and being aligned with the Lord again. And that's what we're going to continue to pick up on because Limhi's story doesn't just end with the peaceful prison.

If you go into Mosiah chapter 21, these people are going to be afflicted by the Lamanites. They're going to not have all-out war, but they're going to be beaten and picked on regularly to the point that the people want to fight back. If we're using this illustration continued from peaceful prisons, sometimes the things that we are including in our lives—the sins or these comfortable places that we live—we end up getting frustrated by them and yet we keep them along.

And the people of Limhi, they want to fight them. They try to fight the Lamanites and it doesn't turn out well for them. And then ultimately they realize they need to turn to the Lord.

But we find out that because of their situation, the Lord is slow to hear their cries. Now that may sound kind of rough or difficult when you think about it, but the Lord trying to say, "Hey, you have opted for this peaceful prison, so I'm going to let your choices come with your consequences for a little bit, right? Like, you have to feel the consequences of your own choices here." But then the Lord doesn't just ignore them.

He's slow to hear them, but then we get to our verse for today. Sorry for all this context up front, but this is important to piece today and tomorrow together. Our verse for today is Mosiah 21:16.

It says, "And it came to pass that they began to prosper by degrees in the land, and began to raise grain more abundantly, and flocks and herds, that they did not suffer with hunger." Now, part of the reason they were suffering with hunger was the high taxation that the Lamanites had put on them. But notice here that after they've tried to struggle themselves and get out of it themselves, the best way that we can get them out of our lives is taking steps by degrees. It's an opportunity to let the Lord come into our lives a little bit by a little bit by a little bit as we turn to him.

I love this because the Lord doesn't just remove Limhi and his people from the choices that they made. They're going to have to live in these difficult consequences, but he does provide a path. And it is a path that comes a little bit by a little bit by a little bit.

So my friends, if you are in the middle of it, if you're struggling with some of those peaceful prisons, or if you're trying to make decisions to get out of them, but you feel—I love that reference to help us all get out of the peaceful prisons that we have put ourselves in inside of our own life situations. May we all begin to prosper by degrees. 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.savorysalt.org.