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Apr 2006 Issue
by Danielle Ellis
Certainly, the Lord can give any person any trial that he wants. Righteousness, as in the case of Job and the Savior, does not preclude trials; even the most severe ones. Yet the Lord often chastens His children when they stray from Him.
It seems to me that the Lord doesn’t want destruction. He asks, begs and pleads to us to return to Him. He repeats himself, he gently entreats us to come unto Him and find peace. But as His children grow more wicked, he adds a warning: repent and come unto me, or…
As we look at emergency preparedness, and ways to be prepared for disasters, we must include spiritual preparedness. Dare I even say it is possible to be spared from some disasters by repentance and righteousness? And can we be healed from the effects of others? Let’s review some of the scriptural accounts of emergencies to see if these statements could really be true.
Poisonous Serpents
While Moses was leading the children of Israel in the wilderness, they began to harden their hearts and complain against God and Moses (Numbers 21). So “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much of the people of Israel died” (v 6).
The people came to Moses and confessed their sins, and asked him to “Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us” (v 7). They wanted their troubles to go away. They thought if they repented, they would. Don’t we all want that?
But the Lord wasn’t teaching them a lesson about poisonous serpents or trials. He was teaching a lesson about looking to the Lord. He told Moses to make a brass serpent, and “put it on a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (v 8-9).
The Book of Mormon confirms that the serpent lifted up was a type of the Savior (Helaman 8). “As he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live” (v 8-9).
The Lord is indeed making a point about eternal life and salvation. But he’s also making a clear parallel to a temporal “emergency.” The consequences of looking or not looking were equally clear. “He did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they did harden their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity…. After they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41). Those who look to the Lord in their trials will live; those who don’t will perish.
Catastrophic Destruction
After the Savior’s death in Jerusalem, there is catastrophic destruction throughout the Book of Mormon lands. There are tempests, earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds and physical upheaval (that’s all stuff on our checklists, right?). 3 Nephi 9 records that the voice of the Savior is heard throughout the land. He recounts what he has done to sixteen cities: burned; sunk into the sea; sunk into the earth; put into the bottom of a brand new lake; put underneath a brand new mountain. (Yikes!)
The Savior tells the reason for the destruction of each city: “wickedness and abomination.” Then he counsels with all those who are still alive, “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
“Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me” (v 13-14). “Therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (v 22).
Again, a point about eternal salvation. But after they had just been literally spared from death, and being told it was because “ye were more righteous than they,” an offer of healing, life, mercy, blessing and being saved must have been incredibly powerful.
Back to the concept of preparing spiritually for emergencies—the people lived through the first emergency because they were righteous enough. Then they were given an offer of physical and spiritual healing—if they would come unto the Savior.
Every Kind of Trouble
This same pattern holds true through many more scriptural accounts. From the Old Testament to the Book of Mormon to the Latter-day Saints, the Lord chastens His children with wars, pestilence, famine, death and terror because they do not listen to the still small voice calling after them. If they repent, he will either save them, or prepare a way for them to save themselves. As Samuel the Lamanite put it, “nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Helaman 13: 6). (See also Helaman chapters 9 and 12, and Doctrine and Covenants 101 and 112).
Current Counsel
Last October, Elder Henry B. Eyring gave an excellent address on this very topic. His counsel was to “start early and be steady” in our obedience to the Lord. He reminded us about the purpose of creation, as recorded in Abraham. “We will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:24-25). Our duty is to obey. Blessings will come from obedience. Problems (small, large, temporal and eternal) will come from disobedience.
Elder Eyring suggested four areas in which to practice “quick and steady obedience. One is the command to feast upon the word of God. A second is to pray always. A third is the commandment to be a full-tithe payer. And the fourth is to escape from sin and its terrible effects. Each takes faith to start and then to persevere. And all can strengthen your capacity to know and obey the Lord’s commands.” He reminded us that everything in eternity depends upon passing this test of life. (Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady, Oct 2005 General Conference).
