3.034 He Spake the Word of the Lord

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Can we just start this episode with a shout-out to Hope and her taking the opportunity to share her voice and testimony here on Savory Salt? If you missed her episode yesterday, please go back and give it a listen. And if you did listen to it, take an opportunity.

I love hearing her testimony. She's 15 years old and willing to jump on a podcast that's honestly been now spread across the earth on every continent except Antarctica. So kudos to her for sharing her testimony, and her message was on spot as we started Moses chapter 7.

Now as we get into our further reading with Moses chapter 7 this week, I wanted to follow up on one of the messages that we gave last week as we were looking at Moses chapter 6. You see, Enoch was invited to walk with the Lord. Do you remember that?

We spent a couple of days on that talking about his invitation. And in that invitation came a promise from the Lord that mountains would move and that rivers would change their course. And we got into that discussion in Sunday school here this last Sunday about whether this was a literal promise or whether it was figurative, right?

Like, is the Lord just saying, 'Hey, mountains in your life, you know, those big mountains, those big struggles in your life, those things will move, and the rivers, the hard things that are stopping you from crossing life,' like those will be taken care of? And we actually get an answer here in Moses chapter 7 about their literal or figurative mention. I want to talk about that first piece and then follow up with that.

Follow it up with the question of what about us? And what does it mean for us in our lives? Can we move mountains?

And can rivers change course for us? Our verse for today is Moses 7, verse 13. And here we get a view into what's happening as Enoch has definitely changed from this hesitant, why me, people hate me guy into this leader of people.

It says in 13: And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God. And their enemies came to battle against them. And he spake the word of the Lord.

And the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command. And the rivers of water were turned out of their course. And the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness.

And all nations feared greatly. So powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. This is a powerful moment, and yet interestingly enough, inside of it we see that this power moment comes from the words that he's speaking, the words given him from the Lord.

Now for those of you that are like, 'Ah, I love this, but what about the mountains in my life? What happens with I seem to be dealing with issues that the Lord doesn't provide an answer for?' And in 2016 President Uchtdorf gave an amazing talk called "Fourth Floor, Last Door." And inside of that talk he talks about faith and its power as well as its limits. I wanted to share just a couple of segments from that one with us really quick here.

It says, "sometimes it's not easy to develop faith in spiritual things while living in a physical world, but it is worth the effort because the power of faith in our lives can be profound. The scriptures teach us that through faith the worlds were framed, waters were parted. This is where I can't help but give an answer to a heartfelt prayer.

I don't need a sea to part or a mountain to move. I just need my illness to go away, or my parents to forgive each other, or an eternal companion to appear on my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and an engagement ring on the other. Why can't my faith accomplish that?" The Bible is powerful, and often it does result in miracles.

But no matter how much faith we have, there are two things faith cannot do. For one, it cannot violate another person's agency. He gives an example of that.

And he says further, "God will invite, persuade. God will reach out tirelessly with love and inspiration and encouragement, but God will never compel. That would undermine his great plan for our eternal growth." The second thing faith cannot do is force our will upon God.

We cannot force God to comply with our desires, no matter how right we think we are or how sincerely we pray. Consider the experience of Paul who pleaded with the Lord multiple times for relief from a personal trial when he called "a thorn in the flesh." But that was not God's will. Eventually, Paul realized that his trial was a blessing and he thanked God for not answering his prayers the way he had hoped.

My friends, I hope that no matter how you express your faith in the Lord, it is not dependent on the outcome of what it is you ask for. Sometimes mountains can move and rivers will shift course, and other times we wait on the will of the Lord to express in our lives. I know that He lives.

I want to leave with you a link inside of this podcast episode to go to one of my favorite songs when I'm having a rough day. And that's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We'll be here tomorrow and we hope you