The people of the Amalekites got angry about their loss,
which loss was a consequence of their sin in the first place. I guess that is
sometimes what makes it hard to kick against the pricks. I feel like it is a
good way to check myself spiritually—whether or not I am angry about life, and
angry about consequences of my choices. My prayer is still to never be angry,
to bury my weapons and not take them up again.
When the people of Ammon first refused to fight, the
Lamenites stopped trying to kill them, and I am sure they believed it was a
blessing from God for their willingness to keep that covenant. It would have
been hard, when the Lamenites came back, to still keep having faith in the face
of that disappointment. It shows that their obedience wasn’t about a deal with
God—it was just true humble obedience, and it didn’t depend on what happened.
Their hearts really were changed. When I try to be more obedient, is it because
I am hoping for an outcome, or am I just giving my will to God?
It is interesting to me that the king wanted to go be slaves
to the Lamenites to make up for all the past wrong doing. Sometimes when people
join the church, or change their lives, but don’t completely understand all the
pieces, it is so easy to judge, or feel superior. And yet if you look at the
whole picture they are truly converted, but still learning. It is important to
remember that none of us our perfect, it is the trying and the staying in the
covenant that matters. It is so easy to judge each other.
For some reason Ammon passing out with joy all the time makes
me laugh. He really knew how to lean into those feelings and not hold anything back.
It would be really difficult for me to get to that point.
I have always been impressed with the Nephites being willing
to give up the last Jershon to the people of Ammon. It would be really hard for
me, I think for any of us, to walk away from our property and give it to someone
else, because we think of it as ours and not the Lord’s that we have stewardship
over. This gives me a glimpse into the law of consecration and how beautiful that
could really be. I feel like I have a long way to go to be so unselfish. I want
to be like this. I pray that the Lord will help me remember in the moments where
I have the choice to be selfish or not, who I really want to be in the end.
In context of a war that is not your own, I think there are a
couple of important points here. The Nephites were helping people who wanted their
help, and had asked for it, and the people who they were helping to defend themselves
helped as much as they could by supporting the army. American politics are so complicated,
but I feel like if those two things were part of our compassionate war philosophy
it would go a long way to improving the outcomes.
“…and they never did look
upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and
the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of
Christ over it.” That is how faith
casts out fear. And really, even to everything bad that others can do to you in
life, I don’t have to fear it, I can let it be swallowed up by the victory of Christ
over it, because he has truly overcome all things. I can just trust him and move
forward.
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