Tag Archives: Listen

2 Nephi 7

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2 Nephi 7: The Learned will accept God

                See Also: Isaiah 50

“…thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Yea, to whom have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.” (2 Nephi 7:1)

Because of their own iniquities (the house of Israel) have they sold themselves because of their own transgressions. The Lord has the power to deliver and the power to destroy.

Isaiah explains;

“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season unto thee, O house of Israel. When ye are weary he waketh morning by morning. He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (2 Nephi 7:4-6)

Those who follow the Lord shall not be confounded in the Last Days, open your ears and eyes and turn not your back on the Lord.

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Daniel 9-10

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Daniel 9-10

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

I learned two VERY important principles from Daniel 9-10. First in Daniel chapter 9, I learned that bad things happen to us, because we need to learn from those experiences to help us change our evil ways. It is like an alcoholic who gets a DUI and spends time in jail… that might make that person change. God does the same thing, if his people misbehave, bad things will happen until they turn from those evils and walk in his path.

The second thing I learned was that the moment we decide to not do evil and follow in God’s commandments, that is the same day he will listen to us and help us! “…for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understanding… thy words were heard…” (Daniel 10:12)

Chapter 9: Daniel prays for Israel

Daniel fasts, confesses and prays for all Israel, confessing the sins of the people. Daniel knows from Jeremiah that the Babylonian exile will last seventy years. The curses in the Law of Moses (towards the end of Deuteronomy) have come to pass. Daniel asks that God forgive and restore Jerusalem.

“…all this evil is come upon us… that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.” (Daniel 9:13) Essentially, when we ask God, ‘why did this have to happen?’ we need to ask ourselves, what did we do to bring this upon ourselves?

As he prays, Daniel is visited by Gabriel. Gabriel says that in seventy weeks (meaning seventy sets of seven years, ie, 490 years), reconciliation will be made for iniquity, everlasting righteousness will be brought in, and the Most Holy anointed. From the command to restore Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah, there will be seven weeks and sixty weeks ((7+62) x 7 years = 483 years). The Messiah will be cut off, but for the sake of others, not for himself. This is when Jesus will come and be crucified, so that he can atone for our sins through his blood. The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. There will be a flood, and desolations are determined until the end of the war. The coming prince will make a covenant with Israel for the final unit of seven years, completing the seventy weeks prophesied for the Jewish people and Jerusalem. The covenant will be broken in the middle of this final seven year period. On the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, until the consummation is determined.

Chapter 10: Daniel sees the Lord

Daniel sees the Lord and others in a glorious vision. Daniel’s vision occurs in the third year of Cyrus’ reign. Daniel has been mourning for three weeks on the banks of the Tigris, Daniel sees a glorious man clothed in linen, girded with a golden belt; his face was like lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet were like burnished bronze, and his voice like that of a multitude. Daniel’s companions do not see the vision – but they are terrified nonetheless, and flee. The glorious man says he has faced opposition from the prince of the kingdom of Persia, and was helped by the prince Michael. Daniel feels overwhelmed by weakness, but is reassured and told to be strong. The glorious person says he must fight the prince of Persia and then the prince of Greece. Michael assists him. He has confirmed and strengthened Darius.

Proverbs 23-24

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Proverbs 23-24

Chapter 23: Labor not to be Rich

“Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.” (Proverbs 23:4)

                We should never focus on work as only a means for us to become wealthy. If we become wealthy by our work, then so be it, but it should not be our main focus.

                “…as he thinketh with his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7)

                If a man lusts after sex, drugs or alcohol then that is what the man is. This is similar to the idea of “you are what you eat”, we are what we do in private and public.

                “Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.” (Proverbs 23:9)

                Fools will not listen.

                “Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” (Proverbs 23:13-14)

                Does this mean we should be children? NO! But we shouldn’t be too easy going either… we need to put some tough love into parenting.

                “…despise not thy mother when she is old.” (Proverbs 23:22)

                When our parents get old, we should still respect them. We should always look out for them, as they have looked after us.

Chapter 24: Listen to Counsel

In a multitude of counselors there is safety. We need to learn to take advice from others! A wise man is strong, and a man of understanding increases that strength daily.

“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.” (Proverbs 24:29)

Here we see that we are judged on our works and are not just saved by the grace of God alone. We need to remember that if someone has wronged us we cannot always get revenge by doing the same thing to them. Let’s say someone cut off your arm, would it make sense to cut off the arm of the offender? No. This is what the scripture is talking about.