Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 5:19

 Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 5:19

"For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming."

I had to pick this verse to ponder on because the whole world is in the middle of a desolating scourge. It was just this last week I was reading over an article and it mentioned of how we've had circumstances like this before.

"The world coronavirus pandemic will not be different, [President Russell M. Ballard] said during an interview March 24. “From the beginning of history there have been circumstances similar to this one. Somehow they got through them, and we are going to get through this one.”

(Sarah Jane Weaver, "The world will win the war on COVID-19, President Ballard says", Church News 26 Mar 2020)

What I pondered on is how the Lord said these scourges would be poured out from time to time. President Ballard confirms that they have. Why are the perspectives so different? Then I realized its where you stand in the middle of the scourge. Is it a voice of warning to the unrepented or is it hope in the time of trouble for those that repent? There is peace in the midst of the storm depending on the shelter you are secured in.

One thing I have realized is how quickly things can change. It was almost overnight we heard of this plague and then boom it traveled around the world. As the Lord's warning voice becomes louder and louder we know in time greater scourges will come. The important thing is to learn from where we are right now, so we are better prepared physically and spiritually for what is to come. I have often thought of those that don't respect what is happening. How easily Satan can deceive them in believing what comes later is nothing too. He will make sure there is no oil in their lamps.

Day 2008