Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read about people who love money more than they love the poor and needy and who care more for having fine clothing and jewelry than they do for helping the sick and the afflicted, who pass by them unnoticed.  How much are we like this?  Would we rather accumulate wealth and worldly goods, or are we more interested in helping the poor?  Mormon 8: 37, 39 "For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted. Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?"

In the Old Testament we read about how Jehoshaphat and the people fasted and prayed for help from the Lord.  Because of this, they had no reason to be afraid or dismayed, even though a great multitude was ready to do battle against them.  They had the Lord on their side to fight their battle for them.  All they had to do was stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord.  If we turn to the Lord in fasting and prayer, He will likewise come to our aid and help us with whatever problems or challenges we face.  2 Chronicles 20:3-4, 15-17 "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.  And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you."

Some verses from a thought booklet that a man who was born blind was not born that way as a result of sin--either on his part or the part of his parents, but rather so that the works of God would be made manifest in him.  When we have illnesses or disabilities, or see them in others, we should not judge these as being caused by sin.  Rather, we should consider that they might be something God is using to deepen our dependence on Him, humble us, or teach us patience.  Perhaps these physical challenges can refine and perfect us, or teach us compassion for others.  John 9:1-3 "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."