Daily Thoughts

In the D&C we read that the saints were chastised and afflicted because of their transgressions.  But we also read that the Lord chastens those He loves and He has great compassion and mercy towards us and will not utterly cast us off.  If we are slow to hearken to the voice of the Lord, He will be slow to hear our prayers. Sometimes when things are going well for us, we neglect to turn to the Lord and only when we experience tribulations that, of necessity, we feel after Him.  But in spite of our sins, He will listen to our prayers if we humbly repent and turn to Him.  D&C 101: 1-9 "Verily I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance—  I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions; Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.  Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.  In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.  Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy."

In the Old Testament that the Lord would send a famine to the land--not a famine of food or water but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.  People would wander, seeking the word of the Lord but would not be able to find it.  This is what happened for hundreds of years after the time of Christ but before the restoration of the gospel.  Prophets who spoke the word of God were not found on the earth at that time, and people wandered around lost as a result.  Amos 8:11-12 "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us that when we reverence the Lord, that is the beginning of our wisdom, and that when we keep the commandments, we will gain a good understanding.  Psalms 111:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever."