Mountain Waves...

The Book of Ether in The Book of Mormon recently gave me some great insights. You know how it is...reading along and TA-DA, pleasantly surprised by the wee fleck of gold shimmering before your eyes and heart. In Ch. 6:7, the brother of Jared and the rest of the crew commended themselves to the Lord, so all is well from here on out, right? Wrong. Not suddenly a happy little boat ride. The Lord in v. 7 causes a wind…not just a wind, but a furious wind to blow on the waters moving them toward the promised land. Gee, nice of the Lord to help them along, huh? If you were in that ship, you may not think it so nice because “they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind…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.” N.O.T. fun. Imagine being inside of that air-tight ship with some stones for light, a bunch of animals and some food. They may have had some genius inventions, courtesy inspirations from the Lord, but something tells me that they weren’t equipped with hand sanitizer, Glade, comfy recliners, beds, and entertainment. They were likely tossed around themselves. When I was in California, I went surfing…ahem...attempted, and I felt like a character in an action movie getting punched down, relentlessly getting back up, but getting punched down again. Those waves (on a calm day) knocked me down like a pin in a bowling alley. If I was in that ship with “mountain waves” breaking on it and having to “cry unto the Lord” to bring us back up to the top of the waters, I think it would feel like a trial.

They got an answer of specific direction from the Lord to build a ship and go to the Promised Land, like when Noah built a ship for the flood, but that did not mean easy-peezy from there on out. "If we are serious about our discipleship, Jesus will eventually request each of us to do those very things which are most difficult for us to do," as Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated. If we believe the Lord when He shows His consent, prompts us, or we receive guidance to move in a direction, we can EXPECT trials to come. We can EXPECT that what comes next won’t be easy, like mountain waves breaking on us. True discipleship was never easy and Christ was the perfect example of that. We will continually need to show the Lord we trust Him and are confident in His direction.

The most important of all is that despite the trials they had on the ship, they did “sing praises unto the Lord all the day long” and all night long. They were serious about their gratitude and faith in the Lord. They saw their blessings amongst the hard times. That shows strength of character and love for the Lord. They were on the water for almost a whole year (344 days) before they arrived in the Promised Land! Does that take patience and true discipleship? You bet! In fact, when they arrived (v.12), they were so glad to be alive and arrived, that they bowed down and shed tears. I can’t imagine the relief and gratitude they must have felt. After 344 days in a tempest tossed sea, sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold, would you be praising the Lord for His tender mercies of letting you live and letting you get there? Let us praise the Lord by showing gratitude though He helps us along with a furious wind sometimes. What you are going through I am sure is hard, but if you really think about it, it could be worse.