The Scriptures - Warning and Nourishment

This morning, when I first logged on, the internet was acting up, so I thought I'd read an Ensign article and write my feelings about it, so I could blog about it later. That's been my fall-back plan for when I didn't have access to the internet since I started this daily blog. In looking for an Ensign article to read and write about, I saw that there was a General Conference titled The Key to Spiritual Protection. I started to read it, but one of our cats wanted to go through a door, so I got up to help them, and on my way back, I checked on the internet and found that it was working again.

At that point, I could have gone back to what I normally do in the mornings, skim through Facebook looking for a nice quote, but I think that with that brief technical problem, God was trying to tell me something. I remember a time when I would watch and read a General Conference talk every morning and blog about that. Maybe God wants me to start doing that again.

According to President Boyd K. Packer,

The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. ... 

Make scripture reading a part of your regular routine, and the blessings will follow. There is in the scriptures a voice of warning, but there is also great nourishment. ... 

Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path. Those who stray will have the ability to return and, with help, can find their way back.

As I read these passages, it seems to me that the blessings of the scriptures in offering spiritual protection are two-fold: First with prevention, and second with help to return.

President Packer spoke of there being a "voice of warning" in the scripture. These warnings can help us to recognize the temptations of the devil for what they really are. They can help us resist and avoid those temptations by sharing the stories of those who were wise enough and strong enough to resist temptation, and stories of the consequences that befell those who weren't.  "Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path."

But staying on that path is hard for everyone, and some of us fall by the wayside sometimes. In these cases, the scriptures offer healing and they help us to come back. I believe that one form the "great nourishment" President Packer spoke of takes is the kind that heals broken hearts and fills in the gaps where we feel empty. In sin, there is despair. Regular study of the scriptures can heal that sorrow and help us feel hope again. Though there is always that warning telling us to "Sin no more," there is also that comforting message that we can be forgiven.

The scriptures repeatedly teach us the basic principles of the gospel. We all need those reminders because the principles seem to be so easy to forget, and they need to be ingrained in our minds to really change us. The scriptures have the power to make us better people and help us live up to our potential. The more we read them, the better off we'll be.

Of course, this is nothing new to any of you, but it's nice to have the reminder.