The Lord Wants to Bless His People

I think we sometimes underestimate the Lord's willingness to help and bless us. The Jaredites had gone through a few generations of wickedness, and it continued for a while. Finally, Omer was a righteous king and then his son Emer followed suit. The righteous kings influenced the people, and they were prospered by the Lord.

"16 And the Lord began again to take the curse from off the land, and the house of Emer did prosper exceedingly under the reign of Emer; and in the space of sixty and two years they had become exceedingly strong, insomuch that they became exceedingly rich—

20 And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was choice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath." (Ether 9:16,20)

Emer was very righteous. In fact, there is passing mention of a pretty awesome experience.

"yea, and he even saw the Son of Righteousness, and did rejoice and glory in his day; and he died in peace." (Ether 9:22)

He saw Jesus! That's pretty cool. I think it says a lot about the type of leader he was and how he lived his life.

For a couple more generations, this righteousness continued, but then the people began to be wicked and prideful again, and dig up the secret combinations that had caused so much misery and destruction. As usual, when the people fall into wickedness, the Lord wants to give them a chance. He warns them of upcoming punishments before they actually get punished, just to try to get them to avoid having to be punished.

"And there came prophets in the land again, crying repentance unto them—that they must prepare the way of the Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land; yea, even there should be a great famine, in which they should be destroyed if they did not repent." (Ether 9:28)

They had been given another chance. But instead of heeding the words of the prophets, or even ignoring them, they went overboard the other direction. They cast them out, or cast them into pits. And their punishments, which the Lord had given them ample opportunities to avoid, were handed out. They suffered famine and even poisonous serpents, because of their wickedness. The serpents even chased them out of their lands.

"Now when the people saw that they must perish they began to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord." (Ether 9:34)

The Lord even blesses His wicked people. He sends them punishments that are intended to humble them, rather than just utter destruction.

"And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again, and there began to be fruit in the north countries, and in all the countries round about. And the Lord did show forth his power unto them in preserving them from famine." (Ether 9:35)

Pretty much as soon as they were humbled enough, the Lord solved their problems, and allowed them to survive. He gave them time to repent and draw close to Him, which is His end goal anyway.

I am thankful for all the blessings that the Lord sees fit to bestow upon His children, even when (maybe especially when) they don't deserve it. He wants to bless us. So much. He just looks for even the smallest reasons to do it. I hope I can always be aware and conscientious of the many blessings given to me, and I hope I can be grateful, and willing to be a blessing to others as well.

Secret Combinations Cause Destruction

A couple more generations of the Jaredites are recorded my Moroni, and he describes some circumstances where people plotted to murder for power and gain.

"18 And it came to pass that they formed a secret combination, even as they of old; which combination is most abominable and wicked above all, in the sight of God;
19 For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man." (Ether 8:18-19)

I think this is an interesting distinction. The Lord worketh not in secret combinations. He freely shares His will with those who will listen. 

Moroni doesn't write the specifics of the secret combinations, but he points out:

"21 And they have caused the destruction of this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi.

22 And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not." (Ether 8:21-22)

Entire nations have and will be destroyed because of these secret combinations, this plotting and murdering and things, just to get power and gain. In fact, Moroni gives a word of warning to the Gentiles, or those in the future who will read these words:

"23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up." (Ether 8:23-24)

He wants us to watch out for ourselves and the nations we belong to, and be aware of what's going on around us. This is probably the only way to really protect ourselves from the wiles of the adversary, who would love nothing more than to see yet another nation destroyed by secret combinations.

So let's keep our eyes open and see if we can prevent those secret combinations from leading us to destruction.

Righteous vs. Wicked Kings

Jared and hist brother gathered all their posterity together and asked what they could do for their people before they died. The people wanted them to establish a king over all the people.

"And now behold, this was grievous unto them. And the brother of Jared said unto them: Surely this thing leadeth into captivity." (Ether 6:23)

They didn't really like the idea. I think he perhaps saw a little into the future, knowing that there would be something that happened to the people, knowing the influence of a king, for better or worse, depending on their righteousness or wickedness.

It turns out that indeed he was right. Jared's son, Orihah, was made king. He was a good man, and the people prospered under his rule.

"And it came to pass that Orihah did walk humbly before the Lord, and did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers." (Ether 6:30)

A good, righteous king will teach people correct principles and have them do good things.

Kib, Orihah's son, took over as king, and his son drew away a faction of people and took Kib (his own father) captive.

"And when he had gathered together an army he came up unto the land of Moron where the king dwelt, and took him captive, which brought to pass the saying of the brother of Jared that they would be brought into captivity." (Ether 7 5)

After much back and forth, Shule, another one of Kib's sons, became king, and he was a righteous king.

"And he did execute a law throughout all the land, which gave power unto the prophets that they should go whithersoever they would; and by this cause the people were brought unto repentance." (Ether 7:25)

Through the laws that were established by the righteous king, people were brought to repentance.

One leader can have a great influence over so many people.

A Light to Shine in the Darkness

I was reading this account of Jared's people crossing the ocean in these barges, and I had a distinct thought that it was more like an analogy for our lives.

In our pre-mortal lives, our spirits were with God, and we have been around forever. We were learning and growing as much as we could there, but we had reached a point where we could no longer progress. You could think of this like the shoreline where the Jaredites camped before crossing the ocean.

God wanted the people to reach the promised land, but to get there, they had to cross this big scary ocean, and endure a lot of unknowns. I believe there are a couple of things about this story of the Jaredites that relates very closely to what we experience.

First, the Lord gave them some light:

"And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness." (Ether 6:3)

As we know, He touched these stones so they would provide light to the Jaredites as they crossed the ocean in these barges. God provides us light in a couple of ways, to navigate this life.

First of all, we have been given the gift of the Savior. Abinadi said, speaking of Christ, "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." (Mosiah 16:9) He has provided a perfect life and atonement. God knew we wouldn't make it through this life on our own, making our own choices, without messing up sometimes. He provided a Savior and an atonement for us to allow us to make it back to Him (in the "promised land").

Secondly, we are given a light to show us the way, the Holy Ghost. He can teach us all things ("enlighten" us), and bring things to our remembrance.

God has given us tools that we couldn't have provided for ourselves, to help us get through this life.

Another thing He has done for us, just like the Jaredites, is that He knew life would be difficult, tumultuous, and stormy. He helped the Jaredites across the ocean. Sometimes that help can seem like it's not very helpful.

"5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind." (Ether 6:5-8)

I think one of the big things here is that the Lord caused a furious wind to blow so they could be carried toward the promised land. I think in life, we are sometimes faced with challenges which seem like obstacles when we are in the midst of them. How many of those things, however, might be just the "push" we needed to get to the spot we need to be in our lives. The fact that the "wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land" makes me feel like the storms of life, and the challenges and obstacles we face, are always blowing us toward the promised land, if we will submit ourselves to the Lord's will for us.

One thing of note, "when they were encompassed about by many waters, they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters". When we face especially difficult challenges, if we cry unto the Lord in our lives for the things that we need, we will be blessed and helped out of our deepest struggles.

The Promised Land that the Lord was prepared to give them was unreachable on their own, with the tools they had. They had to take the leap and climb into those barges.

Similarly, each of us took the chance, knowing this life was an important part of our eternal progress, and kept our first estate, coming to this earth, clothed in a mortal body, trusting God that it would be ok and that He would lead us to this blessed place, the celestial kingdom, to live with Him forever.

I know this to be true.

Unto Three Shall They Be Shown

Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God. He had help. There were a few people who acted as scribe as Joseph dictated the words of the book. Even though they sat there for hours, they never saw the actual plates during this time. There was always a barrier either between Joseph and the scribe. They had translated quite a lot of the Book of Mormon by the time he got to this passage.

"2 And behold, ye may be privileged that ye may show the plates unto those who shall assist to bring forth this work;
3 And unto three shall they be shown by the power of God; wherefore they shall know of a surety that these things are true." (Ether 5:2-3)

Now, I don't know who was specifically helping Joseph at the time this passage in particular was dictated, but can you imagine being the scribe at this point? The fact that someone was actually going to be shown the plates, that must have been exciting to hear. Even the prospect of seeing the plates must have been awesome! At least two of the three witnesses that were shown the plates by the power of God (an angel appeared to them to show them the plates and let them touch and feel them).

What an amazing experience to have! Especially if you were the one who literally wrote that passage down in the manuscript. To both know that it was foretold this event would take place hundreds of years in the future, and then see the prophecy for the first time and then perhaps even take part in the fulfillment of that!

Pretty amazing testimony builder, if you ask me.

Make Choices by Persuasion

"And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good;" (Ether 4:12)

Such a simple, succinct way to determine whether we are being led by God or by our own thoughts. I think the point here is simply that when we are being led to do something good, whether by our own minds or specifically by God, does it really matter? I mean, we'll have to decide if the thing we're being led to do would actually be a good thing, but really, this is the only real determination we need to make.

I appreciate that kind of direction and help to determine what I should be doing. I just hope that I can stay on the side of the right, and always do things that persuade me to do good.

Boldness and Faith

The brother of Jared took his 16 stones to the Lord and asked Him to touch them so they would provide light in the barges as they crossed the sea. He expressed his faith in the Lord and His ability to do this thing.

"And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear." (Ether 3:6)

He had such great faith in the Lord that, according to Moroni, "he could not be kept from beholding within the veil". He was so humble, that his first reaction was to fall down before the Lord struck with fear lest the Lord should smite him.

He learned some things about the Lord and the nature of His being. I think the Lord decided to test the brother of Jared just a little bit. He, knowing everything, asked a question after the brother of Jared said he'd seen the finger of the Lord: "Sawest thou more than this?" (Ether 3:9)

It must have been pretty humbling to see the Lord's finger, and then to have a conversation with Him. One might normally expect a humble guy like the brother of Jared, who fell down in fear and faith when he saw the Lord's finger, to say to himself "wow, what a neat experience to see the finger of the Lord!" But his response to the Lord's question kinda gives me the chills every time I read it.

"And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me." (Ether 3:10)

I mean, can you imagine, in the presence of the Lord to tell Him to show Himself! That's bold!

See, I think faith gives us that boldness. I've heard it said that faith is the opposite of fear. I mean, fear isn't just "gone" when we have faith. But think about it. A fear of heights is essentially just a lack of faith in whatever you are climbing to support you and that it will somehow fail to keep you up, and you will fall. Does this mean that when you are high up, you don't feel a little bit of adrenaline start running through your system? No, but when you have faith, it becomes so much easier to do that particular thing. 

When we believe, as the brother of Jared did, we can have that kind of boldness too. This is something I need to do better, to trust in the Lord so I can be bold and get out of my comfort zone, and just go out and minister to those around me.

Different Ways God Answers Prayers

This is one of my favorite examples of showing different ways that God answers our prayers. The Lord told the brother of Jared to build barges to go across the water, toward the promised land. They got to work building the barges, but they noticed a few problems, which they took to the Lord.

"And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish." (Ether 2:19)

They had 3 questions or problems, each of which were answered in different ways.

We'll look at them a little out of order, but first we will look at "Whither shall we steer". The design of the barges didn't have any way to steer the boats. The Lord just took care of that aspect of their travel for them:

"5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.
8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind." (Ether 6:5, 8)

He didn't really give them any direction relating to this question, He just took care of it. I think sometimes, this is the way we get answers from Him too. For example, we ask for guidance or a direction in some decision we are making, and things fall into place to make our choice obvious. Or often, asking for blessings of protection, we don't know all the different ways the Lord protects us, but I have faith that if He wills it, He will give us that protection we seek.

Another question or problem the brother of Jared took to God while preparing the barges was "we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe". This seems like a pretty legitimate concern, since they were instructed to make these barges "tight, like unto a dish".

"And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood." (Ether 2:20)

In this case, the Lord simply told Jared exactly how to solve his problem. He gave him specific instructions. We get answers like this sometimes too, where we have a question, and the Lord gives us the answer. He expects us to follow through with what the answer was.

Finally, concern #3: the brother of Jared didn't want his people to have to travel across the ocean in complete darkness. He said "Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?" (Ether 2:22)

In  response, this is what the Lord did:

"23 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" (Ether 2:23-25)

Basically, the Lord left it up to the brother of Jared to come to Him with a solution. He gave the brother of Jared certain parameters he had to follow, but other than that, He just left it up to the brother of Jared to come up with something. He told him "You can't have windows, they'll break". Also, "don't use fire", which seems obvious, but it kind of illustrates my point. God will answer our prayers in which He gives parameters. The truth of it all is that the Lord wants us to become more self reliant. This is why sometimes He gives us a job to do, and gives us many of the details. In this case, He basically tells us to come to Him with a solution to see if it will work.

Of course, in this story, we know that the brother of Jared gave it some thought, and he took 16 stones to the mountain, and prayed:

"I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea." (Ether 3:4)

We are familiar with his marvelous experience at this point, but the main point is that the Lord followed through on the brother of Jared's faith, and He touched the stones and they provided light, solving their issue.

So in summary, this illustrates 3 ways the Lord answers our prayers. Sometimes, He just provides for us without any real effort on our part (other than our faith and prayers). Other times, He will give us the answer of what we need to do, but we still have to be the ones to do it. Finally, He gives us a little direction, but expects us to study out an answer and them come back to Him.

I know I have experienced each of these types of answers, and this story in Ether has just helped me so much to better recognize the different kinds of answers from Him. I also know that God answers our prayers. Every time. Maybe not in the way we expect or hope, but He always does. 

I think it's interesting that the brother of Jared had this experience right after being chastened by the Lord for basically slacking off in his prayers. Perhaps this was a lesson for the brother of Jared to use to strengthen his testimony of and commitment to prayer. It has mine.

Three Hour Interview

Jared and his brother and friends are led away from the tower and all the people with their confounded language. The Lord had told them that He would lead them to a land of promise. The people camped by the seashore (not yet having arrived in the promised land that the Lord had told them about) for four years. At this point, the brother of Jared had a unique experience.

"And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord." (Ether 2:14)

Can you imagine? Sitting and talking with the Lord for 3 hours! To top it off, I guess the brother of Jared had been slacking in saying his prayers, so the Lord chastened him for it.

I guess I would like to point out that the Lord still came and talked with him for 3 hours. You don't spend time with Him like that if you are super wicked. I think about the amount of faith the brother of Jared had, to ask the Lord to not confound their language and everything. It can happen to the best of people, to just begin to neglect to call upon God.

I know that I can do better in my effort to pray, to really communicate with God. This is a sin of omission, and it's super easy to fall into that trap. To just get relaxed about things that we do, or rather, don't do, that we should be doing. It's good to have reminders and things to make sure we are doing what we're supposed to.

A Great Nation

Jared and his brother were both there at the time of the tower of Babel. The story is that the Lord wasn't very happy with them because the people were trying to reach heaven by building a tall tower, so He confounded the peoples' language and they were scattered.

I don't know how the word got out about this, but it would seem like they knew it was going to happen before it actually did happen, because Jared and his brother had time to request that their language didn't get confounded.

Jared asked his brother to "Cry unto the Lord" several times, first asking if their language would not be confounded, then asking if their friends could also have their language not confounded.

Then, they asked the Lord where they should go, and He told them He would lead them to a new land, and to gather their stuff and essentially get ready to go. He told them they should be made into a great nation.

"And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me." (Ether 1:43)

The record of this great nation is entirely captured in 15 chapters in the Book of Mormon. As always, the Lord's promises are based on righteousness. If the people are righteous, they receive the blessing. But the opposite is also true. This ends up being true for these people. We will see that as we read through the rest of the book of Ether.

God is Still a God of Miracles

Moroni wrote this as what he thought would be the last thing he wrote to future generations. It seems he really wanted to make it clear that God is an unchangeable God, and since He has done miracles in the past, He can (and does) continue to perform miracles now. So he chose to address his words to those who don't believe that God still performs miracles today.

"And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles." (Mormon 9:18)

He essentially says, we know that there were miracles performed. We have a record of them. 

"And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles." (Mormon 9:19)

I love this concept. The fact that even God must play by the rules. If He didn't, He would cease to even be able to be God. So if He is unchangeable, and He's performed miracles in the past, He can perform miracles now or else that would constitute a change, making Him changeable, which would mean He ceases to be God. As Moroni points out, though, He doesn't cease to be God, and therefore He must be able to perform miracles.

There may be some who hadn't experienced the miracles that could be brought about, which might lead them to believe that God doesn't do them any more. Moroni had this to say to those people:

"And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust" (Mormon 9:20)

There may be periods of time that God doesn't perform as many miracles as He has in the past. However, this is because a miracle is usually a 2 way thing. The power comes from God, but He doesn't just do it whenever. It is usually in response to some faith-filled believer. This is a crucial thing for miracles.

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth." (Mormon 9:21)

I personally believe in and have experienced miracles in my own life. I've seen them. Lived them. It's pretty amazing when you understand that some of God's power was used to bless your life. He loves us so much and I feel that love in the divine experiences that I have had in my life. And I love Him. I hope I can always be a believer and follower of Him.