Today's Favorite Verse: Ether 14:1-2
"And now there began to be a great curse upon all the land because of the iniquity of the people, in which, if a man should lay his tool or his sword upon his shelf, or upon the place whither he would keep it, behold, upon the morrow, he could not find it, so great was the curse upon the land.
Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend; and every man kept the hilt of his sword in his right hand, in the defence of his property and his own life and of his wives and children."
There are three times the curse upon the land, of not being able to retain your riches, happens in the Book of Mormon. It happens prior to the Savior's appearance after his resurrection. The wicked are then destroyed at his coming. The next time its reported is prior to the finally battle when the Lamanites destroy the Nephites, in the time of Mormon and Moroni. The last mention is prior to the Jaredite civilization being destroyed.
Those that have their hearts set upon riches will not be able to retain them. Yet there is a promise for the righteous that hid them up unto the Lord. Those will not be taken. The reason their riches are retained is because their hearts are not set upon them, but desire them only to serve the Lord.
I pondered on the time of Joseph Smith, the people had honor and didn't typically go around and steal people's things. That must have been such a hard thing for people to picture happening when they first read the Book of Mormon. Gone are the days when you could leave your doors unlocked. Today theft is so common that I could discuss the loss of personal items with anyone. When you forget something behind and mention you left your phone or wallet in a public place, everyone will tell you it's probably gone by now. It is so common of an occurrence that we take it for granted. Yet, this is a symptom of the state of wickedness we as a people are in. The worse it becomes the riper we are for destruction.
I have actually prayed that the Lord will protect things of value we have had to leave in the open. I do believe the Lord can make the eyes of the wicked not see things hidden in plain sight. I will pray that those items will not be seen or made desirable to them. Not to long ago a sister in the ward had her coat stolen. After hearing about this sad occurrence my son left my iPad at church. An iPad is much more valuable than a coat and more likely to be stolen. He went back to look for it and soon realized it was gone. We then told him to report it lost to the Bishopric so if they heard of anyone finding it they would get it back to us.
All the time he was looking I prayed to the Lord that he would protect it from the eyes of those tempted to steal it. I didn't want anyone to commit a sin by being tempted. I needed it for work beta testing our genealogy app, yet accepted if it was His will if I got it back. Then I just had peace, and the week went by without any word. The next Sunday morning we got a phone call. The Bishop in the other ward had found it laying on a table after church the week before. He put it in his office for safe keeping. That Sunday morning he asked the other Bishops if they knew of anyone that had lost an IPad. So that is how It came home to us. I was so grateful the Lord let me have it back, so I could continue my work. That the only eyes that saw it were a good man. The curse is again upon our land, but I am so grateful the Lord has a promise that he will protect the righteous that hid things up to him.
Day 407 Tami Fitzgerald Harris
