3.073 Building Blocks

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 you this day whom you will serve. Joseph's story sure seems to have a lot of stumbling blocks along the way, a lot of setbacks.

But after I came across the talk we're going to look at today, I realized were those really stumbling blocks or were they building blocks? We are reading this week Genesis chapters 37 through 41. Inside of it we get the story of Joseph of Egypt as he is sold into slavery and you know the rest of the story.

As we get to the tail end of the week here, I came across a talk by President James E. Faust. Right from, actually it would have been the talk of the general conference that I was in the MTC now that I think about it, April of 1999. 27 years we just recently celebrated as an MTC group shouting out to each other.

Shout out to those of you guys that are still listening here on Savory Salt. I know several of you guys do that. We're going to take a look here at President James E.

Faust's words when it comes to Joseph's experience. He's talking in his talk, it's called "Obedience, the Path to Freedom." And this is a talk specifically inside of what used to be the priesthood sessions of General Conference. I want to share just a couple thoughts from President Faust here in regards to the story of Joseph.

He says, Now, brethren, another element of freedom is trust. Almost 60 years ago, when I was going on my first mission, President McKay taught us missionaries a great truth. Without a word, he walked over to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote, "It is better to be trusted than to be betrayed." I have pondered that statement and have seen some fine principles of it.

I will relate one example from the Scriptures. Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, was sold into slavery in Egypt. Because of the treachery in the house of Potiphar, Joseph went to prison.

Pharaoh had two troubling dreams. Hearing of Joseph's discernment from the chief butler, he sent for him to interpret the dreams. Joseph told him through inspiration that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine.

Pharaoh not only recognized this true interpretation, but he trusted Joseph and appointed him to be second only to Pharaoh in power. The years passed and the famine came. In time, Joseph rescued all his brothers and his father from starvation.

Because he earned the implicit trust of those who were over him, Joseph enjoyed a great amount of freedom. Like Joseph, you too can be trusted by others, but trust must be earned. And fast forward in the talk just a little bit, he says this, Hopefully in the schoolroom, we learn other lessons of discipline that help us get along with others.

When obedience becomes our goal, it is no longer an irritation. Instead of a stumbling block, it becomes a building block. That phrase hit me.

There's so many times in my life that I can think of when I'm facing challenges and I try to go and be like more obedient in my life as I'm facing the challenges. I love this example here as he explains it. Because time after time, Joseph earns the trust of those around him.

And that's not something that's just given, especially in a time when you're dealing with slavery, prisoners, challenges, right? Like you've got difficult circumstances and each time Joseph interacts with somebody who is his guard or chief of guards or prison guard or whatever it is, he earns their trust and gains the freedom that has to do with him. My friends, may obedience be for us a building block in our lives and may it help us better avoid the stumbling blocks in our lives is my hope and wish for each one of you this day.

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 will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.