Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that Lachoneus told the people that unless they repented of their iniquities, the Lord would not deliver them out of the hands of the Gadianton robbers.  The people feared the words of Lachoneus and did repent of their sins, praying unto God to deliver them from their enemies.  And they also fortified themselves against their enemies.  If we want God to answer our prayers we need to be righteous and we also need to do whatever is within our own power to help what we're asking for to come to pass.  In other words, it's fine to ask the Lord to help us do well on a test, but we also need to study!   3 Nephi 3:15, 25 "Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers. And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle."


Yesterday we read about David sinning in having his people numbered.  Today we read that as punishment for this, the Lord gave him three choices--seven years of famine, three months of fleeing before his enemies, or three days of pestilence.  The Lord sent the pestilence and destroyed 70,000 men.  This demonstrated the futility of David counting his soldiers, when the Lord could so easily take them away by the thousands, in just a few days.  Much better to trust in the Lord than rely on the hand of man.  2 Samuel 24:11-15 "For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men."

Some verses with a thought booklet tell us that Jesus is the Bread of Life and if we believe in Him, we will receive everlasting life.  We all need physical bread to live, and it will satisfy our physical hunger, at least temporarily.  But even if we eat bread every day, we'll eventually die.  However, if we eat of the Bread of Life, it will satisfy our spiritual hunger and we will live forever.  John 6: 47-51 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."