2.252 Literal? Figurative? Both.
Show Notes
Allen Roberds explores Doctrine and Covenants 98:37, reflecting on the Lord's promise to fight our battles and how this applies to both literal and figurative challenges. This episode delves into trusting God amidst persecution, anxiety, and the various physical, emotional, and spiritual conflicts we face, drawing wisdom from the early Saints' experiences.
Key Points
- Allen Roberds discusses the historical context of early Saints debating how to respond to intense persecution and violence, as referenced in Doctrine and Covenants 98.
- The reflection centers on Doctrine and Covenants 98:37, where the Lord declares He would fight the battles for His people and their generations.
- The episode prompts listeners to consider when and how to let the Lord fight their battles, applying the principle to physical altercations, emotional struggles, and spiritual conflicts.
- Roberds encourages a deeper trust in the Lord, asserting that the scripture speaks to a wide array of personal battles, whether literal, figurative, or symbolic.
Whatever they may be, literal, figurative, symbolic, I think the Lord is speaking to all of those in this verse if we will turn to Him and trust in what He has for us in store.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
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. Today I've titled it: Literal? Figurative?
Is it both? We're reading this week Doctrine and Covenants sections 98 through 101 as well as Helaman chapters 3 through 7. And we know in Doctrine and Covenants section 98 that the Lord is talking specifically to these early saints that are debating about whether they fight back from the persecution they're experiencing.
They have violence. They are being tarred and feathered, which is awful. I can't even imagine experiencing that physically.
And there's a group of them trying to figure out: Do we raise arms? Do we fight back? What do we do inside of this?
And the Lord, in 98, if you are experiencing anxiety about today's world, if you are experiencing confusion, if you are frustrated, if you are angry, I hope that you find gems inside of Doctrine and Covenants section 98 because there are absolutely way too many power verses for me to talk about just inside of this. We're going to do one more from our verses we did yesterday. We're going to dive in a little bit further down Doctrine and Covenants 98 as we land on verse 37 here today.
It says, "And I, the Lord, would fight their battles, and their children's battles, and their children's children's, until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies to the third and fourth generation." Now, the piece that I thought here, I thought, "Well, this is very literally the Lord giving them instructions on, like, hey, try to be peaceful people, try to avoid war. If your enemies are coming at you, try to make peace." And he gives this, this formula here. But then this piece here really landed on me because it's a question that I kind of hold.
And yet at the same time, kind of come to a conclusion on — and that is, when do I, when do I let the Lord actually fight my battles for me? And that could be a literal sense. When do I just stop and stand in holy places as we're going to get to in Doctrine and Covenants?
But when do I just stop and let the Lord handle that? Is it just physical altercations? Could it be emotional battles that I'm facing?
Could it be spiritual battles that I'm facing? Whatever they may be, literal, figurative, symbolic, I think the Lord is speaking to all of those in this verse if we will turn to Him and trust in what He has for us in store. 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.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.