deliverance.

A few days ago as I was reading in Ether (Book of Mormon) I was struck by an impression.

The people of Jared had a hard time with staying righteous and were greatly influenced by the kings who ruled over them. When there was a king who followed God, the people usually followed suite. When the king would rather kill his dad for the throne than wait around and maybe inherit it, their society tended to decay.

One king, Shule, made sure that the prophets could come in and call his people to repentance. The people fixed their lives and were blessed for it. What was the reason that Shule, unlike a few kings before him was concerned with what God wanted?

"And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them across the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days." (emphasis added, Ether 7:27)

So. Shule remembered how God had spared his ancestors from the Tower of Babel and brought them to the Americas.

Sound a little familiar?

In the Old Testament there are countless times where the children of Israel remember how their ancestors were delivered from Egyptian captivity (or didn't and roamed around in the wilderness, or were conquered and put into captivity again) and this led them to live the commandments of God. Nephi and his righteous descendants always looked back on their "Exodus," from Israel to the American continent.

So what is my point? Every group of righteous people had something in common. They remembered how God had delivered them. When he had taken them in His mercy and put them in a much better situation where they could be blessed if they would stay faithful to him.

It led me to ask myself, what event in my life has been the foundation of my belief and testimony? What can I always look back on to renew my desire to live correctly? I have a certain night in mind where God answered one of my prayers. So I suppose you can call it my "Exodus," my figurative deliverance from captivity.

Which deliverance do we remember to keep us strong?