Week Four: Left in Their Own Strength

I recently had a conversation with a friend that reminded me how important daily scripture study is in our lives. Not so surprisingly, both of us agreed that we can tell the difference between the days we really study the scriptures and the days we just read a verse or two. Unfortunately though, we often don't notice the difference scripture study makes in our lives until that influence is gone.

It seems that most of the times I do/say something I regret, I look back on the days preceding that one, and those days are consistently ones when my scripture study consisted of "just a verse or two."  Perhaps I was "too tired" or "too busy" or a variety of other excuses. Regardless, the result is the same.

In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites, who were typically a righteous people, really struggle with living the gospel and bounce back and forth between being righteous and being wicked because they are becoming prideful.

"And because of this (pride) their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper" (Heleman 4:13)


 I love that line... Because of their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength.

Isn't me choosing not to read the scriptures just like telling Heavenly Father, "Hey, I think you're really great, but today, I won't need your help. I'm pretty sure I can handle temptation and trials on my own today, so I'm just gonna go to bed, skip the scriptures. I'll read and pray when I need you again. Okay?"

Maybe that's a little extreme, but you get my point.

By the end of the Book of Mormon, the Nephites, who through nearly the whole Book of Mormon were as righteous as can be, become totally wicked and end up being destroyed through warfare.

You know, I don't think the Nephites went from being stalwart church attendees to murderers overnight, but I do believe that they fell away little by little. Maybe one day they skipped church, and then a few days later they didn't read their scriptures and pray,  and then they began to let pride creep in as they started to attribute their various successes to themselves rather than recognizing God's influence.

The end of Heleman 4 says "thus had they become weak...in the space of not so many years."

I think scripture study operates on this principle, when we don't read our scriptures like we should, we too become weak in a short amount of time. If we aren't familiarizing ourselves with the scriptures daily, we are less likely to make good choices simply because we won't be as aware and spiritually conscious. 

Now, not everyday is going to be a winning day with scripture study. Sometimes just a few verses a day is okay, but for the most part, the more we surround ourselves with the words of Christ, the more likely we are to make the choices that He would. Right? And isn't that our end goal? To become more like Christ.

Perhaps we can all follow President Hinckley's advice to try a little harder to be a little better.