I, John, was truly touched by the tender mercies entry recently. There are many parts to that story that I did not know about and was touched as I read about them. Thank you for sharing that, I am very grateful for the many tender mercies, more specifically, that Claire survived!
I have been reading in the war chapters in Alma and can remember as a younger man how cool the war chapters were and the bloodshed and fighting just was ... entertaining to this, then teenage boys' mind. Now as I am reading it again, I am amazed at the spiritual strength of the Nephite leaders - Moroni, Helaman, Teancum, and others. I believe it is their spiritual strength that enabled them to receive the inspiration on how to tactically fight against the much larger Lamanite army.
I have been impressed time and time again at how they were able to outsmart the Lamanites over and over. Moroni protected all his cities by heaping up mounds of dirt, then pickets, then towers to defend against a Lamanite attack, more specifically the arrows of the Lamanites. This can be paralleled to how we protect what is most important to us, our families and testimony against the temptations of the adversary.
Helaman's stripling warriors were originally to be used as a decoy, but ended up fighting in the end and their faith was so strong that not a single one died. In Alma 57:21 we learn that these young warriors "did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness." This always makes me grateful for a loving mother who taught me to trust in the Lord just as these sons of Helaman were taught by their mothers. I am very grateful now for a wonderful wifey who is the mother of our little monster and is teaching him gospel principles in his early years.
Helaman, Teomner, and Gid outwitted the Lamanites getting them to retreat chase after a small portion of their army while the rest re-took the city of Manti.
Nephite prisoners were rescued and the city of Gid is taken without bloodshed.
All these and other stratagems employed by the Nephites in taking back their lands are a result of obedience to the commandments and the inspiration received by righteous men. This is obvious to me as later in the Book or Mormon as they become wicked, they begin to lose their battles and eventually are eliminated completely. Obedience is the key to revelation. I'm grateful good men (and women) who are obedient and who listen to the promptings of the spirit.
Momma P - please let me know if my comments above are appropriate for your blog
Recently while reading the war chapters, I was very aware of the principle of preparing ahead of time and being ready for our fights with the adversary. I noticed lots of times that it mentioned that they 'prepared' in many ways for attacks. Satan has many ways and tactics in fighting and we must prepare for all of them. With the help of Heavenly Father and doing all we can to prepare, we will never lose! I'm so happy to know that good will always win in the end
ReplyDeleteI loved your post John! This blog is all about our thoughts and experiences as they relate to reading the Book Of Mormon and how its teachings apply to us today. One of my favorite scriptures in the war chapters is this description of Captain Moroni:
ReplyDeleteAlma 48:17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.
I pray that all my Boys (you included) and girls will be 'like unto Moroni' and shake the very powers of hell with your obedience and righteous examples!
And there were many more tender mercies in the Claire story that I should write down....that was 10 days of heartache filled with many blessings. I am thankful she survived too! After the blessing given to her I remember Randy telling me that the Elder Quorum Pres. Mike Haynie looked him in the eye and said "You know who she it, right?" He told dad that Claire would be okay because her work was not yet done here on the earth and she was a very special daughter of Heavenly Father.