2.165 Thou Hast Great Cause to Rejoice

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, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. We have been reading this week Doctrine and Covenants sections 60 through 63, as well as Alma chapters 6 through 10. And these Alma chapters, you know, I think that the beginning of Alma here could pretty much serve each one of us at any given time in our lives.

And what I mean by that is, sometimes in our lives we may need a little bit of Alma 5, right? Maybe we need a little bit of a reminder of when we felt the Spirit and have these questions in our lives, and it's a chance for us to look in the mirror. Other times maybe we just need some Alma 7 in our lives where Alma is saying, hey, thank you for being awesome members of the Church and thanks for all you're trying to do to build the kingdom, and good job, keep going.

And then other times maybe we need some Alma 9 through 14 in our lives where Alma and Amulek are going to the people of Ammonihah, and they're saying hey your hearts are hardened and you need to repent. I love Alma's ability to touch each of our hearts wherever we are on our journey inside of this life experience. Today, we're going to take a look in Alma chapter 8, and it's an interesting chapter because Alma is struggling.

He's having a hard time. He's alone. He's wrestling with God in these early verses.

He's wrestling in mighty prayer and he's not getting the answer that he wants from God. In fact, he's trying to convince the people of Ammonihah, and they're very, very hardened, and they end up kicking him out. And so he's trying to bear testimony.

He's doing all the things, right? And he's just not getting the things that he's praying for. I've been there before.

I think you've been there before. But then we get this moment inside of Alma 8 that is our verse for today. It comes in Alma 8, verse 15.

It says, "Blessed art thou." Now this is, by the way, coming from an angel. Verse 14 tells us it's an angel. "Blessed art thou, Alma. Therefore lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice, for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him.

Behold I am he that delivered it unto you." Now let's pause for just a second and remember what moment is this angel referencing? This is the visitation of Alma and the sons of Mosiah in the middle of their darkest times when they are trying to destroy the Church. The angel is saying hey Alma, look, things are tough right now, but lift up your head and rejoice.

You've got great cause to rejoice. And what's that primary cause? "Thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God." My friends, sometimes when we're trying to do all the things in our lives, when we're going through it all and we're trying to do it. It just doesn't seem like the Legos are connecting.

It just doesn't seem like the pieces are coming together. We have great cause to rejoice as we stay true to our covenants and live the commandments of God. Now, can you imagine for just a second how the angel feels?

He's gone from testifying to Alma of his wickedness and using this bold, thunderous voice, and he's seen Alma at his darkest. And now he gets to come and deliver a message to Alma that he's keeping the commandments and has great reason to rejoice. I think about times in my life when I've been able to see the transformation of the Gospel in others' lives, especially in missionary work, right?

We see people sometimes in their darkest times as missionaries, and then we get to see the transformation the Gospel brings in their lives. We get to see literally darkness turn to light. That is a wonderful experience for each one of us to hold on to and to remember because we may have our own times of challenge and struggle.

Maybe we need some Alma 5 in our lives. Maybe we need some Alma 9 through 14 in our lives. Maybe we need to be called to repentance.

But the amazing arc that comes, the transformation that comes through Jesus Christ is one that brings light, and we may be able to turn and lift up our heads and rejoice and have great cause to rejoice because we've been faithful in keeping the commandments of God. I love the energy of this verse. I love that it gives Alma just a little bit more juice in his battery to turn around and say, "Okay, I can do this." I'll go back.

I'll try again. And when he goes back, he finds that he's not going to be alone. What an amazing blessing!

That's going to come further on in our reading. But he's going to meet Amulek, and Amulek's going to say, hey, I'm here to help you and here to help me. And together we're going to be better in the Lord.

I love what's coming in our chapters, and I'm grateful that our living the commandments and following Jesus Christ gives us great cause to rejoice. That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave to the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt.