THE LESSON IN OBEDIENCE

 

 

The mission I served in, back in the 80s, was very statistically oriented. It was drummed into us missionaries that obedience would yield baptisms. We were expected to baptise someone every month, to teach 15 discussions a week, place at least 1 Book of Mormon a day and make incredible sacrifices such as 100 hour weeks, not open our mail until our preparation day, and even occasionally give up those free days to prepare for the week, bring someone to Church every week and we were not allowed to listen to any music whatsoever, not even Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So high was the expectation placed on us that despite my nice tally of baptisms, I went home feeling like a failure because I had not brought anyone to the waters of baptism for the last seven months of my mission. I worried that all my district leaders I had to report our statistics to, suspected that I was not being obedient in all our missionary rituals and rules. My idealistic self thought I had not done enough.  

 

Abinadi went to his death not knowing that he had 1 convert but knowing he had done enough. He persisted against all odds until he had delivered the message God sent him to deliver and which cost him his life. Through Abinadi’s one convert came the next several generations of prophets who prepared the people for the coming of Jesus Christ among them. Abinadi’s only convert was a man called Alma, who believed all Abinadi testified against his people (Mosiah 17:2).

 

Alma wrote down Abinadi’s extensive preaching and taught it to his followers in secret (Mosiah 17:4; 18:1). Severe persecution from King Noah necessitated this group of faithful followers to flee to safer pastures (Mosiah 18:34). Following their departure, God's prophecies to King Noah and his unrepentant people began to be fulfilled. King Noah suffered death by fire and his people, under the new leadership of his son, Limhi, were taken into bondage by their enemies, the Lamanites.  Alma and his followers, through intricate circumstances, fell into bondage also. The lesson lies in these two groups of people and their respective conversions. The people of Alma repented of their sins when the call to repentance came. As the result of their conversion they covenanted with God through baptism to keep His commandments. The other group who were led by Noah's son Limhi repented out of necessity. Just as Abinadi prophesied, they were 'afflicted, smitten, driven to and fro and burdened according to the desires of their enemies' (Mosiah 21:13). And so the humility came in realising that only God could deliver them from their afflictions (Mosiah 21:4, 14).

 

Herein lies a great lesson. We often think that repentance will be a smooth road and the Lord will jump to rescue us the minute we ask. When Limhi's people could no longer bear the afflictions of their bondage, they began to 'cry mightily to God'....'all day long' begging to be delivered (Mosiah 21:5,14), but God was 'slow to hear their cry' (v 15). Why? Because the Lord can deliver but He cannot erase the consequences of our choices. It is the experience of those consequences that make us think twice about repeating the sin. What He did do was soften the hearts of the Lamanites so that 'they began to ease their burdens' (Mosiah 21:15). In other words, the Lord, because of His mercy, 'softened the blow'.

 

When in bondage, the path to freedom is laced with mercy. The mercy that He extends, however, will not be given at the cost of the lessons we need to learn first. When I left my mission feeling like I failure, I did not realise that I, a young convert to the Church, took home with me the best lesson I could possibly learn, that of obedience. 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: His Mighty Hand by Yongsung Kim)

ON GOING BACKWARDS

 

I could not help but see something significant as I started to read about the people of Limhi this morning. Limhi was the son of Noah who was the son of Zeniff who foolishly decided to abandon the land of Zarahemla and return to the land of Lehi-Nephi, the land of ‘their fathers’ (Mosiah 9:3). This was the land from which Nephi fled and separated himself and his followers from his murderous brothers (2 Nephi 5:57). At the time of Zeniff, the land was populated by the Lamanites.

When Zeniff was first sent as a spy to the land of Lehi-Nephi, it was to check out the Lamanites’ forces so that the Nephite army could come and destroy them (Mosiah 9:1). Something interesting happened to Zeniff on this expedition. He saw the good that was among the Lamanites and he was seduced (v 1). Perhaps Lamanites were not so bad after all….Herein lies the lesson. You should never go backwards. The Lamanites were welcoming at first and vacated lands for Zeniff and his people to occupy. The king even covenanted with Zeniff granting him the land but Zeniff did not foresee  ‘the cunning and the craftiness of king Laman’ who yielded up the land to bring his people into bondage (v 9). Zeniff saw the good of the Lamanites on the surface but in reality they were ‘a lazy and idolatrous people’ who put others in bondage to provide for them (v 12). After twelve years of being settled in the land, the glitter wore off and the bondage set in (v 11).

I could not help but see how this story relates to us who have abandoned a company they should not keep seeing the dangers of sin they were falling into, or have even fallen into such a life. Once removed, don’t look back because Satan works overtime to make appealing that sinful life or that company you have abandoned. Once the re-acquaintances have been made or sin revisited even once, the bondage begins.

When we are baptized we are baptized for ‘remission’ of our sins. This means our sins are simply put in remission until the day of forgiveness. If we commit that sin that is lying in remission, it will return. It is like a cancer, which is put into remission through treatment, but it can always come back. Our sins are the same, they lie in wait to return should we fail to be diligent in cultivating our spiritual strength. If we fail to do so and the mistake is repeated, always remember there is a way out. King Limhi understood the lesson and himself recognized the way to deliverance out of bondage is by ‘turning to the Lord with full purpose of heart, putting your trust in Him, and serving Him with all diligence of mind’. Then he says something interesting. If you do all this, the Lord will  ‘according to his own will and pleasure deliver you out of bondage’ (Mosiah 7:33). Be warned, the deliverance might mean a rough road of repentance and forgiveness….as in many cases,  groups of people in the Book of Mormon proved this to be true.

The real danger of going backwards is this…..you might never return. And what a loss that would be to your soul, your family, your loved ones, to the Saviour who suffered for you and to the Father who eagerly awaits you. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet by Greg Olsen)