Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read Abinidi quoting Isaiah to teach of the Messiah and His sufferings and humilation.  He would make His soul an offering for sin and provide intercession for transgressors.  Mosiah 14:1-12 "Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

In the Old Testament we read that the Lord commanded Israel to worship no strange gods.  The Lord is the God which brought them out of Egypt.  He heard them when they called to Him in times of trouble, and He delivered them. Psalms 81:7-10 "Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.  Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.  I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

Some verses with a thought booklet tell us that we need to listen to the Lord's words and do what He says.  If we do that, we're building a firm foundation which will withstand the storms of life.  Otherwise, it's like building a foundation on sand.  The story is told of a mother who asked her young daughter to clean her room.  A few minutes later the daughter plopped herself down on the couch to watch TV.  The mother asked her if she had done as she asked and cleaned her room.  The daughter responded that she'd taken her mother's words to heart.  She had even memorized them and made a sign out of them which she had hung in he room. She then took her mother to her room to see the sign hanging up "Clean your room."  But the room was still a mess.  The mother explained that it wasn't enough to listen to her words, or even memorize them and make a sign out of them.  She needed to actually DO what she said.  It's the same with us.  We need to not only listen to what God has to say (or even make signs quoting scriptures which we memorize) but we need to obey His words and actually do what He asks us to do. Luke 6:46-49 "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."