Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon I read that the people poured out their souls in prayer to God, that He would give them strength and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies.  He visited them with assurances that He would deliver them and spoke peace to their souls.  What a great blessing it is to us when we can turn to the Lord in prayer and He speaks peace to our souls, reassuring us that everything will be all right. Alma 58:10-11 "Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people. Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him."

In the Old Testament we see an example of the folly of trusting the wrong people, as Sampson trusted Delilah with the secret of his strength and she betrayed him, resulting in him being taken prisoner by the Philistines and having his eyes put out.  Judges 16:15-21 "And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.  And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house."

In some scriptures with a thought booklet I read the story about how the prophet Elijah called forth rain to end the drought.  However, it didn't come immediately.  He kept sending his servant to check for any signs of clouds.  Six times the servant checked and there was nothing. But  the seventh time he reported that he saw a little cloud the size of a man's hand.  Soon the heavens were black with clouds and the wind and great rain came! Sometimes this is the way our prayers are answered.  Not immediately.  Not as soon as we might like.  But if we continue to have faith, first there's a small sign that things are beginning to happen, and then we receive all the abundant blessings we ever hoped for.  1 Kings 18:41-45 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel."