2.263 Then Will We Believe - Stop Shopping for Proof

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. Are you shopping around for proof? Maybe so.

Let's take a look inside of our readings this week. We're reading Doctrine and Covenants sections 102 to 105. We've done those earlier in the week.

We're now shifting into Helaman chapters 8 through 12. There is so much happening inside of this, it's hard to believe. We're going to pick and choose a single verse in just three days of the week, but we continue moving forward as we do anyway.

Our reading today is going to come from Helaman chapter 9 as this issue with Nephi accelerates. He goes from inviting people to repent to prophesying of the death of their leader. And at that stage, everyone, the crowd kind of is in amazement at what he just prophesies.

And then they send a group off to go and see if this murder has really happened. It is really quite an interesting time because it's happening so quickly in the story as we read it. And such an interesting time for Nephi and where he stands in this.

We get to Helaman chapter nine, and inside of it, we see an interesting interplay between these people that have been sent to see if what he has said is actually real. I want you to kind of bookmark that for just a second as we get into the verse. Helaman chapter 9 verse 2 shows us what's happening with these five guys that are sent to check this out.

It says in verse 2, Behold, now we will know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us. Behold, we do not believe that he hath, yea, we do not believe that he is a prophet. Nevertheless, if this thing which he has said concerning the chief judge be true (The Bible says that the word of God is true), that he be dead, then we will believe that the other words which he has spoken are true.

Now, did you catch the if-then that's happening inside of there? These guys are running to see if the chief judge has been murdered. And they're telling each other, look, I don't think this guy's a prophet, but what if we get there and we see the chief judge dead?

And they're like, man, we're going to have to believe it at that stage. Now the reason I picked this one is because over the course of the chapter here and the story, we find out that these men not just become witnesses and kind of understand that Nephi is a prophet, but they get accused of conspiracy. And then ultimately, Nephi gets accused of conspiracy as well.

What happens inside of this? I think there's an interesting lesson. I hope it lands as I've tried to kind of settle on the phrase of what it means for me as I've been processing this.

But my friends, don't confuse prophecy with conspiracy. And don't confuse conspiracy with prophecy. The Lord's prophet will speak for the Lord's church.

And here we see Nephi standing in a group of people telling them what's happening, and they're proving him right, while another group of people throw him in as accused of committing the murder and being part of conspiracy. My friends, if we are shopping for proof that the prophets said this or these apostles said that, and I'm going to prove it, and if it doesn't happen, and if not, if we get stuck shopping for proof, we're going to end up seeking the conspiracies of the world rather than the prophecies of the Lord. Remember the counsel President Nelson has given us, that the day will come when we will only be able to know truth from error with the power of the Spirit.

I know I didn't say that exactly, but he said the day will come where if we, if we don't have the Spirit of the Lord with us, we will not be able to tell truth from error. So, my friends, stop shopping for proof and turn to the Lord. Repent and seek to have the Spirit in your life so that that Spirit may be able to help you discern conspiracy from prophecy and prophecy from conspiracy as we go forward.

We certainly see it happen here in Helaman as Nephi experiences this intense roller coaster of repentance falling away, repentance falling away. The cycle accelerates quickly as we're going to see tomorrow as well. My friends, you and I can do this.

We can keep the Spirit in our lives. We can lean to the prophet. Apostles, we can lean on the Lord.

He will guide us and direct us. Stay worthy, my friends. Repent daily.

We got this. 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.