Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read about how Naaman, a leper, came to Elisha to be healed. Instead of Elisha coming out to him and praying to God to heal him, as Naaman had expected, Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. At first Naaman was very angry and was going away in a huff, but he was reminded by his servants that if he'd been asked by Elisha to do some great thing he would do it, so why not this small thing. He then humbled himself enough to wash in the Jordan River and was healed. Do we sometimes act like this? If we're asked to do some simple thing that we think is beneath us, are we humble enough to respond? Are we as willing to teach in the nursary or help clean the church building as we would be to serve is some high profile leadership position? 2 Kgs. 5: 9-14 "So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some agreat thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

In the Book of Mormon I read that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and He is still a God of miracles just as He was in ancient days, as described in the scriptures. Anyone who denies and He is a God of miracles has either not read the scriptures or doesn't understand what he's read. Morm. 9: 7-11 "And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are."

Some scriptures with a thought booklet talk about how the prophet Zechariah told the people to show mercy and be compassionate to others, not oppressing the poor or the needy and not imagining evil against their brothers in their hearts. All pretty good advice! But rather than obeying this counsel, the people turned their backs on the prophet and stopped up their ears so they wouldn't have to listen to what he had to say. They hardened their hearts as stone. Because they refused to listen to the Lord's prophet, the Lord would not listen to them, and scattered them, making the land desolate. When people listen to the words of a prophet and obey them, they're blessed. When they don't, they suffer the consequences. Zech. 7: 8-14 "And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they bcried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate."