2.255 They Were Left in Their Own Strength

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. Have you ever said or heard the phrase, "Leave me alone?

I can do this on my own." Perhaps you think of children when you hear that phrase, but I think today we're going to see that maybe we do that when we're adults as well. So today, whether you're a child or an adult, a little bit of insight as we dive into our verse for today. We've been reading this week Doctrine and Covenants sections 98–101.

Power sections for those that are struggling and those that are having a hard time, especially those that feel that perhaps the Lord has forgotten them. We also, oddly enough, and I guess it's not oddly enough, are seeing a very similar thing happening in Helaman 3–7, which is also our Book of Mormon reading for this week. There's much happening in the Book of Helaman.

Things seem to speed up. Could I even use the word hasten, perhaps? Inside of the Book of Helaman as the time of Jesus Christ coming to the Nephites draws nearer and nearer as it gets into the Book of 3 Nephi.

We're going to take a look inside of Helaman 4 today for our verse and take a look at what's happening with the people here. There's a lot of ups and downs happening. They're very quickly turning to righteousness and very quickly turning to wickedness and very quickly turning to righteousness.

It's a teeter-totter that seems to happen even inside of years at this point. And so while it's happening very quickly, we get this interesting insight. Remember that the Nephites and the Lamanites, as we've been reading through the tail end of Alma, through those war chapters, that's about 18 to 20 years.

So it's about a generation growing up inside of these wars. And so as we have Moroni in charge of the Nephite armies, we get to a stage here where the Lamanites are going to gain power for one specific reason. And we see that reason inside of Helaman 4.

This, talking about the Nephites, several of the Nephites, not all of them, but a large group of them. It's describing them in Helaman 4:13. It says, Perhaps you had a moment where one of your children or perhaps you can remember a day back when you were a child and said those very words or at least the idea of those very words to your parents or to someone bigger than you.

It happens often with younger siblings not wanting help from older siblings. They're sure they can do it on their own. And here we see a much more dangerous, can we say, approach to that perspective.

The Nephites boasted in their own strength, so much so that they decided they didn't need the Lord anymore. And the consequences of that was the loss of almost all of their lands. We're going to go from this epic military supremacy of Captain Moroni and Helaman and the stripling warriors down to a time where the Nephites are basically going to be pinned in the corner.

And they did it themselves. They chose to turn and tell the Lord, "Hey, we got this. We can do this on our own.

No, thank you for your help." And so the Lord grants their request. My friends, I think sometimes, I know I do, whether you do, I'm not sure, but I think sometimes I kind of am acting like the child with the Lord. And I'm saying, "Hey, I got this one.

You know, don't worry, take a day off." When really, in actuality, I should be turning to the Lord and continually showing my gratitude for the ways that He is in my life and asking for Him to continually be in my life more. He can amplify and magnify everything I can do. Whatever talent or skill I've developed can be amplified through Jesus Christ.

Whatever abilities I have in my daily life, in my work life, in my family relationships, in my friendships, the Lord can amplify and magnify. So today's verse is very telling for us. Don't get caught in boasting in your own strength.

Don't get caught that it's only you who's going to come to save you. Instead, turn to the Lord, invite Him in, let Him know of the places that you'd like some extra help. Have faith in Him, turn to Him, and watch as He reveals miracles in your life.

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. For more information, visit us at www.savorysalt.org.