2.251 An Immutable Covenant - Things are Going to Work Out

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. Dare we kick off the week with a first here on Savory Salt? It might just come to pass.

Welcome to the new week. We are reading this week Doctrine and Covenants sections 98 through 101. And as has happened before in this season, Helaman chapters 3 through 7 align so interestingly with Doctrine and Covenants sections 98 through 101.

I am looking forward to the conversations we have this week inside of Savory Salt. We're going to start in the Doctrine and Covenants side of things and it's important for us to understand historically just a little bit. I haven't been much to, you know, hold a historical lens throughout Doctrine and Covenants.

I allow you to do that and actually encourage is a better word. Thank you for joining us. The Bible is a historical context here, but 98 through 101 is interesting in the timing of what happening in the church as the Saints face incredible persecution, ultimately to the level of violence and being driven from their homes.

This is going to begin a pattern of sorts for the early Saints of being driven and driven and driven and driven ultimately out of the United States at the time, right? As they settle inside of Deseret or the place that we now know as kind of the Utah area. The first that's going to come today is going to be, I have tried to separate this and I cannot bring myself to do it.

Perhaps you'll understand why when we do this. So I ask your forgiveness a little bit, but we're actually going to look at a couple of verses as one thought here and I'm totally breaking from the idea of Savory Salt because I just can't bring myself to figure out where to separate these. Let's look at the beginning of Doctrine and Covenants section 98 here by looking at verses 1 through 3.

It says, 'The Lord has sworn and decreed that they shall be granted. Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled. And all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good.

And to my name's glory, saith the Lord.' My friends, I'm not going to go into specific details, but I can tell you that message as I opened my phone and started reading inside of Doctrine and Covenants 98 speaks directly to me and the circumstances I face in my life right now. I don't mean to use that term lightly, because our last conference talk was President Nelson. I'm talking to us about approaching the Lord in confidence right now.

Whatever it is you're facing, whatever you're bringing to the Lord, the principles in verses 1 through 3 here are so peaceful, so empowering, so promise-filled. I did some research around the phrase immutable covenant and I can't find it. Maybe I need to do a better research of it, but I can't find it anywhere else in Doctrine and Covenants, nor anywhere else in the Scriptures.

That the Lord promises an immutable covenant that all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good. I am so grateful for the Lord giving us the blessing and opportunity of challenges that allow us to grow and learn and mostly allow us to turn to Him if we will in those challenges. I have found great strength in turning to the Lord during my difficult times and I am grateful for Him to share this message with the saints of old that face the faith.

I bear testimony that the Lord will turn all things for our good if we will turn to Him. I'm grateful for that message. Today, we break Savory Salt a little bit in sharing three verses.

All of these verses that I hope speak directly to you the way that they have spoken directly to me as we start this week off. That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice.

Cleave into the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. We'll see you next time.