40 Days: Day 4

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

Day 4: "When we qualify ourselves by our worthiness, when we strive with faith nothing wavering to fulfill the duties appointed to us, when we seek the inspiration of the Almighty in the performance of our responsibilities, we can achieve the miraculous." -Thomas S. Monson

Today's reading: 1 Nephi 19-2 Nephi 2

Mark and Ponder: 2 Nephi 2:11

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I have been behind a couple of days and have finally caught up to where I should be today though I still need to read today's assignment. I have been amazed at some of the things I've seen this time that I haven't before - mostly because of the ties I am seeing to the Old Testament that I was clueless about previous to our scripture class.

Some thoughts that came from the reading -

The Lord favors righteousness. Period. He doesn't favor one person over another, only their level of righteousness. You obey, you get blessed. You disobey, you don't. Nephi asks his brother, do you think the Canaanites would have been destroyed if they were righteous? Nope. They were wicked and ripe for destruction. The Israelites were righteous, so they got the choice land. Once they were no longer righteous, they too were ripe for destruction and suffered the consequence. This is one of God's laws and it applies to our land and people today.

As Nephi has his vision, he talks about the Church of God and the Great and Abominable Church (or the whore of all the earth/harlot). This caught my attention from a scripture class reference when the Lord begins to symbolize the church as his bride. He makes the statement that when they follow after other gods, they play the harlot. I realized this analogy was carried over with Nephi's vision of the two churches, or forces on the earth. As Nephi describes the history of the world as it unfolds, it looks obvious that the church would be the Catholic church, but it is said that really it represents all who fight against Zion. With the discussion we had about 'playing the harlot' and what that means regarding our faithfulness to our Father in Heaven, it made more sense that Satan's side would be referred to as the harlot - selling yourself for that which does not last.

Also, in reading at such a fast pace, I get an even better picture of Nephi and realized that his faith comes from looking for the Lord's blessings until he is so sure of the Lord's power that he has absolute faith and trust in His father. There is no room for doubt. And I believe it is because of this love that he feels from the Lord that his lament about letting his weaknesses get the best of him is so strong. We look at him and think, man he's so good. What is he talking about? But Nephi sees his shortcomings as missing the mark and disappointing His father after He's been given so much. And I believe it is those same feelings that enable to push passed his depression and keep trying. I haven't actual read "Nephi's psalm" yet, so maybe I am mis-remembering, but I was impressed at how sure his faith in the Lord was and I believe it comes down to him recognizing the hand of the Lord in his life.