THE DESTINATION

 

 

I was telling my friend at Church today of my struggle with bad health and how I didn’t expect something in my life that would challenge my Church attendance. I have been a devout Latter-Day Saint for 49 years with a perfect Church attendance record. It has been troubling to me that I am now not at Church every Sunday.

My friend replied with something very significant. She said:

“You know how the Jaredites were set upon by the mighty waves and turned upside down over and over again? I think this is an allegory for mortality. Ether tells us that all the tumult came about because of the powerful winds that the Lord sent.

“It’s easy to wish that the winds would stop, especially when they’re coming from One who is meant to love us so very much. Had He not sent them, however, those barges wouldn’t have made it where He wanted them to go.”

I reflected on this and realized never a greater truth has been said. The Lord will send us challenges and we will have to hang on for dear life until we have passed the test. Without those challenges which stand to refine us and prove us, He cannot ensure that we will arrive to our ultimate destination.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell noted the value of trials when he said:

“Spiritual refinement is not only to make the gross more pure but to further refine the already fine!”

-        (Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds, Ensign, May 1991, 90)

Now here is something interesting about the destination of the Jaredites. The Lord did not blow those barges to just any other land. He blew them to ‘a choice land above all other lands’ (Ether 2:15).

And so it is for the elect of God who have been given the truth and the ordinances of His house…..the elect are destined for the Kingdom where God dwells, a ‘choice kingdom, above all other kingdoms’. Your challenges and trials might be great but look who’s in charge of your barge…..

You warned me

there would be mountains to climb

But promised there would be

resting spots along the way;

You warned me of the subtle pitfalls

And how deep and wide

the waters I would wade.

But you promised me

Your hand in mine

Every minute of the day

And that You would meet me

at the finish line

When I had conquered

all there was to pay.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: AI Generated)

A MEASURE OF TRUST

 

The story of the Jaredites would have to be one of the most interesting in the Book of Mormon.

Imagine the confusion and fear that would have ensued as the only language you have ever known became confounded and you saw people scattering  (Ether 1:33).

I presume this process was gradual and so the fear would have been so much greater. You would wonder if one day you would wake up and not be able to communicate with your family.

Ether, who was a descendant of Jared recorded that his brother cried unto the Lord a ‘long time’ before the Lord answered his petition to not confound the language in their family (Ether 1:6-32; 43). In fact, chapter 1 mentions the word ‘cry’ seven times suggesting the brother of Jared ‘pleaded’ with the Lord. But there is something else that piqued my interest.

I have never before noticed the hand that Jared had in his people’s possession of the land of promise. He must have been an optimist. He not only asked his brother to plead with the Lord so their language would not be confounded but he expressed a hope that the Lord might bless them beyond what they expect: “And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth?” This was the beginning of trust.

Then he went a step further. Jared did not only hope for the blessing but he ensured that his family and friends were worthy of the choicest land the Lord could give them by exhorting them to be faithful (Ether 1:38). He was no doubt the patriarch of his family and respected as a leader by his friends.

The Lord answered their petition and promised them He would deliver them to the land choice above all other lands (Ether 1:42,43). So intent was He that they would arrive to America that He personally led them in their travels and gave them directions where they should go ‘as he stood in a cloud’ in their midst (Ether 2:5).

The trust that the Jaredites had in the Lord during their experience is astounding.

I don’t know if this company of people ever travelled anywhere by sea. The fact that the Lord personally led them to it suggests, not (Ether 2:13). Now imagine you get into barges you had never seen or been in before to travel to another land. They were small and light and tight and the length of a tree (v 16,17).

All you know is that they were built according to the Lord’s instructions (v 16). And then a frightening warning: ‘you will be as a whale in the midst of the sea, for the mountain waves shall dash upon you’ (v 24).

If you were claustrophobic, would you get in? And once you are in, you see no rudder or anyone at the helm. All you are going on is the word of a friend who said that God told him He will blow you by the breath of His mouth to a ‘choice land’ you have never been to (Ether 2:24).

How would you feel if you were in there listening to the deafening sounds of crashing waves against the barge you were in? On top of that, you are constantly listening to a ‘furious wind which tossed you upon the waves of the sea continually’ (Ether 6:5). Add to that being ‘buried in the depths of the sea because of the terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind’ (v 6).

You have no idea if the other barges are safe, if the other half of your family is alive or not. No mobile phones, no reception, no communication. Only trust.

The worst is this: you do not know how long you have to endure this journey. Three hundred and forty and four days, to be exact (Ether 6:11). That’s 21 days short of a year.

But something marvelous happened in those barges. The trust never died….. for one reason. They sang praises to the Lord unceasingly (Ether 6:9). And 344 days of praises later, when they arrived, they shed tears of joy ‘because of the multitude of the Lord’s tender mercies over them’ (v 12).

Next time you are buried in the depths of your sea, sing…… 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: God of Wonders by Yongsung Kim)