Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Great Deliverer
We are a bit past this point in our study but I have been meaning to come back to chapter 9 of 2 Nephi and reflect on verse 19 that really hit me hard. "O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy one of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment." That first sentence followed by a powerful exclamation point rings joy in my heart. I think it is so important to remember the eternal and sincere mercy that the Lord has for all of us. It is so comforting to know that his mercy is greater and more forgiving than anything else we could receive. Following this sentence, the verse turns to the eternal threat that faces us without taking advantage of the mercy available to our imperfect souls. It is frightening and yet extremely encouraging to be reminded of the awful eternity that faces those who deny the great gift of the All Mighty. The next verse goes on to say again, "O how great the holiness of our God! for he knoweth all things and there is not anything save he knows it." Again, a powerful sentence following the fact that we can not pass his judgement. It is my prayer that I will always have the faith to rely on the great mercy of God to cleanse me of my wrong doings so that I may stand pure before him at the judgement day.
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3 comments:
You are so right! I can't believe how quickly and completely men (and women) fall into temptation and terrible situations when they yield to the natural man. It is amazing to me that we can be so completely delivered from that misery through the mercy of our Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us, he is anxious to welcome us to his safe fold but he will never take away our agency. The invitation is there and his door is always open.
I think it's neat how you can extract so much meaning out of just a couple of verses. That shows me what can come from someone pondering the scriptures and letting the Holy Ghost speak truth to their mind.
Sometimes I worry that the Lord's mercy won't be enough, that my mistakes are too great or too many. But, then I think of all the wonderful people in the Book of Mormon who have relied on the mercy of the Lord to repent.
Alma is one of my favorite people in the Book of Mormon. He tried to destroy the church in his early years, but then went on to become one of the greatest missionaries mentioned in the Book of Mormon after repenting of his sins.
I know that, if I repent like Alma and do all that I can do, the Lord's mercy will be enough. Alma testifies of this in Alma 36.
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