"And there came prophets in the land again, crying repentance unto them - that they must prepare the way of the Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land; yea, even there should be a great famine, in which they should be destroyed if they did not repent.
And it came to pass that the people did follow the course of the beasts, and did devour the carcasses of them which fell by the way, until they had devoured them all. Now when the people saw that they must perish they began to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord.
And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again, and there began to be fruit in the north countries, and in all the countries round about. And the Lord did show forth his power unto them in preserving them from famine."
A lot of wickedness happens in this chapter. The kingdom passes from one person to another with bloodshed. The terrible thing is they first did it under secret combinations until eventually they just committed murder outright. When the wicked no longer hide their sins the Lord gives a warning through his prophets. The people don't repent and famine does cover the land. Then it is infested with poisonous serpents which prevent the people from moving past them. Until finally death stares them in the face. Now they repent and humble themselves until rain falls again on the land.
This all reminded me of the cycle I was once in. Terrible things would happen and then I would turn to the Lord and try to do what's right. Good times would come and I'd turn to my old ways and wasn't as close to the Lord. I would repeat this cycle over and over, until one day I finally saw the pattern and realized this had to stop. If I would just remember the Lord every day then these hard times wouldn't come. I found that life isn't always a bed of roses just because your doing what's right. But the Lord doesn't leave you when hard times comes because he's right beside you to begin with. There is peace in the mist of the storms, and the storms come to have a purpose that move me into a better place.
Day 1986
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