Mosaih 11

In verse2 King Noah is described as walking after the desires of his own heart. This is something I was thinking about in the shower today. I often think about what type of person I want to be, especially in specific situations that I find challenging. Instead, I realized today, I need to ALWAYS be worried about what kind of person He wants me to be. I think if I can concentrate on that, it will solve the problem anyway. But no matter what, this reaffirmed for me that line of thinking.

I can’t believe 1/5 was considered such a huge tax at the time. Did the kings really take nothing before this? How did they have time to make a living and be king? I guess you’d really only get men who wanted to serve. And it still works that way for school boards and some government things like that I suppose.

In verse 5 laziness is in the list with idolatry and whoredomes. Not being lazy has seemed like a really important thing to teach myself, and my kids, lately. That’ probably why this stands out to me, but it does feel really important. I’m grateful for the Lord’s help in showing me ways to teach my kids to work without just fighting them about it.

Building the towers to look around was a good strategic plan. It goes to show that just because someone is doing bad things and making bad choices doesn’t mean every thought or idea they have is wrong. That can be hard for me to remember. But the tower saved them later, and it was King Noah who had it built.

I think even in modern times a man who went around preaching that the enemy was going to win, as Abinidi did, would make people mad and be considered a traitor. Satan can so easily trick us into being angry about things we should be humble about. It is so important to keep the Spirit with us and again, consider what the Lord wants and ask Him what his ways are, before we react to things. So often we are mad about the wrong things or take offense where there is none to take. I’m grateful for a kind Father who gently shows me when to calm down and where the truth lies.

Mosiah 11