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.