Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that some people allowed their riches to make them prideful and persecute the humble followers of Christ.  However, the people being persecuted fasted and prayed and became even stronger in their humility and firmer in their faith.  Their hearts were filled with joy, as their hearts became purified and sanctified.  When we are going through trials and tribulations, if we turn toward God instead of away from Him, we can become stronger and closer to Him as a result of going through those difficult times.  We just need to yield our hearts to God.   Helaman 3: 34-35 "And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction. Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

In the Old Testament we read about how the people demanded that they have a king to rule over them.  Samuel warned them about the evils that would befall them under the hands of a king but they refused to listen to him and still insisted that they wanted a king.  Samuel took the matter to the Lord who told Samuel to give the people what they wanted.  Sometimes we are like this.  We want something that is not for our best good and will cause us heartache in the end.  The Lord wants to spare us and doesn't want to give us what we ask for because He knows it will be bad for us.  But we don't want to listen to reason. We want what we want and we want it now!  And sometimes the Lord says, "Okay, if you insist" and grants our request, so we need to learn the hard way that we should have listened to begin with.  We eventually learn, to our sorrow, that what we demanded was NOT what we needed to make us happy.  We need to learn to trust in the Lord and accept His answers when He tries to answer our prayers with, "No, my child, that won't be good for you."  1 Samuel 8:10-22 "And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.  And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city."

Some scriptures with a thought booklet tells us that a soft answer can turn away anger, but grievous words stir it up.  An angry man stirs up strife, but someone who is slow to anger can calm contention.  So when we're faced with someone who is angry, do we speak softly, not get angry ourselves,  and do what we can to calm them down?  Or do we add coals to the fire and just stir things up even worse?  Have you ever tried to argue with someone who won't argue back, just walks away, or who turns around and does something kind to you?  Gentle answers and well chosen words can bring peace and calm to what otherwise could turn into a contentious argument.  Let's be peacemakers to the best of our capacity. We can't control other people or the choices they make, but sometimes we can go a long ways toward bringing peace to a situation instead of adding fuel to the flames of anger. Proverbs 15:1, 18 "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife."