2 Nephi 9: 49 Behold, my soul abhorreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness; and I will praise the holy name of my God.
If I were to sum up the definition of “delighting in righteousness” it would be—taking great pleasure in everything morally right. We know the power of righteousness, it opens the heavens, fortifies our hearts and families, and builds our resistance to Satan’s attacks. It brings happiness, peace and calmness to the ever changing craziness of life. So with that introduction let’s commit to delighting in righteousness and find out what advice Nephi gives us.
2 Nephi 6:17 … the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee
Waking up to God’s love and then following his laws must be rather important since last week Nephi begged us to “awake”. He wants us to even do more than just open our eyes, “Awake, awake, stand up!” (2 Nephi 8:17) “ Awake, put on thy strength.” (2 Nephi 8:24) Do you feel the urgency to get moving? The Lord has a work for us to do, he needs us to not allow the distractions and the ease of life to rock us to spiritual sleep. “Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down…loose thyself from the bands of thy neck.” (2 Nephi 8:25) He will give ya rest through peace, comfort and joy, as we do all things with cheerful heart, “cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves.” (2 Nephi 10:23)
Once awake we will be ready to hear and “hearken” (listen) to the Lord. He pours his heart out to us in 2 Nephi 8, with Heavenly Fatherly love. He’s looking for our full attention. “Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. Look!” (2 Nephi 8:1) Open your eyes! Open your ears! Don’t look around, “Feat ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.” (2 Nephi 8:7) Look Up! “Lift up your eyes to the heavens!” (2 Nephi 8:6) “I am he; yea, I am he that comforteth you.” (2 Nephi 8:12) Christ promises to be the light in the darkening world, “I will make my judgment to rest for a light for the people.” (2 Nephi 8:4) He promises to be our comfort, and fill our hearts with joy, “the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (2 Nephi 8:3) Then he tells us the other part to listening, we must be patient, and trust the Lord. “The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.” (2Nephi 8:5) With this assurance we can “not be ashamed” and know that the “Lord is near” as we “stand together” in the “wisdom” and “goodness of God!” (2 Nephi 8:7,8,9 9:8,10)
2 Nephi 6:18 … I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Nephi tells us twice in the same verse the importance of applying the scriptures to our lives, “they may be likened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel.” (2 Nephi 6:5) He pleads with us to listen to the Lord, through the petitions of the prophets, “For I have exhorted you with all diligence; and I have taught you the words of my father; and I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are written, from the creation of the world.” (2 Nephi 6:3) If we will do these things with full, sincere purpose of heart we will know all things that are important for us to learn. “O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.” (2 Nephi 9:20)
2 Nephi 9:29 But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.
As we strive for righteousness it is easier to desire God’s will over ours. “I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.” (2 Nephi 9:40) “Wherefore…reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh.” (2 Nephi 10:24) The Lord promises to give us the standards that we need to survive mortality, “this saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people.” (2 Nephi 6:6) For it is never the Lord who walks away from His people, but “for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves.” (2 Nephi 7:1) The Lord desires to bless each and every one of us, and is willing to carry those who will make covenants unto Him, “behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh.” (2 Nephi 10:7) He will restore light, truth, blessings, and hope into our broken and contrite hearts.
For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; (2 Nephi 6:13)
I am not sure there is anything more delightful then the power of the “infinite atonement”, (2 Nephi 9:7), “it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.” (2 Nephi 10:24) “The atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice,” (2 Nephi 9:26) for “the righteous…they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it,” (2 Nephi 9:18) as well as those “who have not the law given to them,” (2 Nephi 9:26) “they shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (2 Nephi 9:18) All men, everywhere are within the boundaries of the Atonement, “He cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21) “The Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance.” (2 Nephi 6:11) This is the “great plan of our God,” (2 Nephi 9:13) to save us from spiritual death, “spiritual death is hell,” (2 Nephi 9:12) that we will dwell in the “paradise of God.” “The paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.” (2 Nephi 9:13)
2 Nephi 9: 51 Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.
-Written by Sherri Jorgensen
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