Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation according to Thy word. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me; for I trust in thy word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
Because I was reading the talk by Sharon Eubank where she talks about how women must be articulate in talking about the gospel - my mind caught on to this section of Psalm 119 - " So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me;"
I would like to be articulate in speaking Gospel truths. Here is a simple example from yesterday. We had a guest for Christmas dinner - a woman who is new in our ward and I have been assigned to be her visiting teacher. We were asking her questions about her life.
At one point she was telling us about a relative with whom she has had problems and is still angry at him. Then, lo and behold, his house burned down. She said something like "The Lord did this for me. He loves me and he won't allow others to treat me unkindly."
We said something to challenge her on this but she is smart - she knows her scriptures so she quoted, "Vengeance is mine, said the Lord."
This was one of those rare times when I felt like I really knew what to say. I said to her, "Yes, vengeance belongs to the Lord. When we are feeling vengeful, the Lord says, "Give it to me. That is a terrible burden for you to carry. Let me take that from you. I can remove that from your heart."
I told her that God is so great that He can take those feelings and hold them for us but He does not then turn around and act with vengeance! God is good. He can only do good.
It is hard when we are angry to remember that God loves the person we are angry at as much as He loves us.
I believe she listened but we'll see. But what I know is that I spoke with power and testimony born of years of working out for myself what I believe about issues like vengeance. Why do there exist discrepancies in the scriptures about the character of God?!!
To be a faithful Latter-Day Saint requires that you be knowledgeable and articulate. I was grateful to have been able to speak to her as I did today.
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