1:1-2 The Lord works through any person He chooses - whether a member of the church or not. In this case, the Persian king was inspired by the Lord to rebuild the temple. “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord

17:2 Sin morphs over time. There are sins we can commit now that weren’t imagined fifty years ago. The line of what is considered okay is usually moving towards sin - not away from it. As a result, the degree of sins that are committed is also increasing. Some of us just want to be bad. As some bad becomes good, we have to invent new things to be bad. It sounds like this was the case with King Ahaz. “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the king

2:24 I am losing my hair. I totally understand why Elisha did what he did. “And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” People shouldn’t mak

17:2-4, 9 God knows the course our lives will take. He sees the entire journey. He has and is working hard for us to achieve eternal life. He wants our experience of life to have the greatest effect. However, our lives take lots of side roads. There are unnecessary detours that don’t add to our spiritual strength. If we are sensitive, he will nudge us in the right direction when we start heading off-course. He will also fill the gaps in our wisdom and build bridges between po

5:10 “And David went on , and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.” The most important part of this verse is that God was with David. The second most important part is that David “ went on.” What does this mean? How important is movement? How important is action? How important is momentum and inertia? For our progression, forward motion is essential. We have to keep moving onward and upward. It’s about progression. It’s about going from one milestone to the nex

8:5 Humans generally like following trends. If we know something is popular, we desire it too. It’s some form of ‘keeping up with the Joneses.’ I don’t know why we are like this - I think it has to do with pride. It’s not about what we have, it’s that we have more than those other people. Also, there were natural consequences to Samuel’s sons‘ behavior. “And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.” As a consequen

1:8-10, 16-17 Naomi was selfless. She was in a dire situation without husband or sons and she didn’t want to be a burden on her daughters in law. “And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.” They were her best chance of salvation - yet she asked them to leave her. “The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she ki

2:2 Why are we weak? The Israelites witnessed many miracles. They were led by the Lord to the promised land. They were asked to “make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars…” They were supposed to keep themselves separate from the Canaanites and not start worshiping their idols. But, the Israelites didn’t follow through. “…but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this ?” The important part of this for me is the last five words

11:1, 10 Complaining is a damning practice. When we complain about our leaders or our situation, it removes the power we have to affect change. Our energy is focused on complaining. Israel had an issue complaining. ”And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” ”Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their

35:5, 10, 21, 25, 26, 29, 35 God loves a willing, wise heart and spirit. There is a lot of repetition in this and the next chapter. These verses are talking about the many people who were willing to contribute to the building of the tabernacle. Let’s read: 10: “And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded.” 21: “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lor

24: 3, 7 The children of Israel were eager to make promises. They were, at that time, convinced that they were God’s people and that Moses was His representative. In verse 3, we read, “And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do .” You can feel their commitment and faith. They repeat it again in verse 7. “And he took the book of the

18:14, 17-18 Moses had a delegation problem. His father-in-law correctly pointed this out. "What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? ...the thing that thou doest is not good . Thou wilt surely wear away , both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone ." I can empathize with Moses. I have a probl

For much of my life, I viewed Christ’s atonement as two future, life-saving blessings: Resurrection. Paid for my sins. While this is true, I wasn’t fully understanding. I was missing something important. His atonement wasn’t simply a gift that I would receive after this life. What he did and is doing could permeate every facet of my life. I receive the blessings of Christ’s atonement right now. Elder Bednar said, “Help from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mo

14:5 The servants had a change of heart once the Israelites left. “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” This happens sometimes. We make a good choice that benefits someone else - then the natural man creeps in and we start to feel jealous. Often, there aren’t worldly benefits to taking the high road. It often puts us at a disadvantage. We can’t let our low-road voices in our head overpower the good intentions we previously felt. 14:11-12 Too of

7:4 “But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies , and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.” I’m not picturing the Israelites at this time as a great army. In fact, God doesn’t need a traditional army. He can wipe a people out with a thought. If we are an army, who and what are we fighting? Temptations of Satan. Influence of wicked men. Natural man. God’s work is to bring to p

1:7 When we are righteous, we are living according to principles that allow us to have happier, more productive lives. ”And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.” Consider these opposing behaviors: Faithful vs. Faithless. Virtuous vs. Sinful. Knowledgeable vs. Ignorant. Patient vs. Impatient. Temperate vs. Intemperate. Godly vs. Evil. Kind vs. Unkind. Charitable vs. Selfi

42:1-2 Sometimes, when trouble is upon us, we are paralyzed by fear or confusion. If a problem seems very large, we often don’t know where to start and so we don’t do anything. Jacob sees this happening in his sons and gives them some fatherly chastisement. “Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence;

37:3-4 Joseph was Jacob’s favorite. The scriptures are clear about this. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” Of course, Jacob’s family was unique. There were four mothers. I imagine that Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah felt secondary to Rachel. I’m sur

28:12 Jacob is an interesting man. In this verse, he dreams of a ladder that reached to heaven. “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” I believe the ladder represents our progress to becoming like our Heavenly Father. I’ve read that the rungs represents the covenants that we make. It’s obviously good that the ladder reaches to heaven. It’s also interesting th

24:6 The servant thought it would be better if Isaac came with him to the area that Abraham was from. “And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.” Abraham knew that there was danger for Jacob if he returned to the Canaanites. This is a good example of “the best way to avoid temptation is to avoid it altogether.“ If you know you are going to be tempted to drink - don‘t meet people in a bar. If you’re tempted by a work colleague, don’t go