Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 3:18-19

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 3:18-19

"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness."

I thought about man deceiving himself. Yes, Satan can blind us, but it is we that deceive ourselves on the condition we are in. I looked at the footnote for "let him become a fool".

"And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them.

But the things of the wise and the prudent shall be hid from them forever—yea, that happiness which is prepared for the saints."

(2 Nephi 9:42-43)

The fool being spoke of is to consider we are nothing before God. All the power, praise, wealth, learning, etc. means nothing when we are compared against the God that created everything. We are no more than the dust of the earth.

"And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you."

(Mosiah 2:25)

The dust of the earth is obedient to God. We being made of all that is obedient, and yet we do not obey God we become nothing.

"O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.

For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God."

(Helaman 12:7-8)

Being in the depths of humility and to feel we are lower than the dust of the earth is a good place to start. It does not mean we are depressed, it means we are in reverence to the God that created us. This is where we become sanctified and made holy.

Day 3224

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 150:6

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 150:6

"Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."

I pondered on every creature praising the Lord. This made me think of the dust of the earth, and how it is even more obedient than we.

"O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.

For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God."

(Helaman 12:7-8)

Then I realized the dust is not a living thing, or is it? Man was formed from the dust of the earth, and then God breathed life into it.

"And I, the LORD God, formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also."

(Genesis 2:8)

Brigham Young said, “There is life in all matter, throughout the vast extent of all the eternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust, in water, air, the gases, and, in short, in every description and organization of matter, whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous.” When God formed man from the dust of the ground, before he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man’s body was alive with light and spirit which had come from mother earth’s living matter (see Moses 3:7). He then breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, which was the unique intelligence we also call spirit (see Moses 3:7 and Abraham 3:22). When a man dies, his spirit intelligence separates from his body, but there is still life in his body, which returns to the dust of the earth (see Genesis 3:19).

(J. Michael Hunter, "The Living Earth: A Nineteenth-Century Latter-Day Saint Perspective", page 2, Brigham Young University, Our Stewardship: Perspectives on Nature Symposium, 28 Feb 2004)

Day 2787

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 85:11

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 85:11
"Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven."

This made me think of this.

"The ancient record thus brought forth from the earth as the voice of a people speaking from the dust, and translated into modern speech by the gift and power of God as attested by Divine affirmation, was first published to the world in the year 1830 as The Book of Mormon."
(Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon)

"And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come."
(2 Nephi 33:13)

"For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust."
(2 Nephi 26:16}

"And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."
(Isaiah 29:4)

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
(Ezekiel 37:15-20)

The stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph are now one in my hands. For the stick of Joseph was sealed up in the earth and has now come forth. As promised, prophets speak from the dust of the earth now speak truth to me.

Day 1138