One little devil

“A man, traveling through the country, came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, ‘This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.’

“The guide replied, ‘You do not understand, sir; this city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation and abomination of every kind that it only requires one devil to keep them all in subjection.’

“Traveling on a little further he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse looking devils.

“‘Why,’ says the traveller, ‘this must be a tremendously wicked old man, only see how many devils there are around him!’

“‘This,’ replied the guide, ‘is the only righteous man in the country and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path and they all cannot do it’” (in Deseret News, 11 Nov. 1857, 7:287).

Perish or remember

When the people became wicked the Lord brought a great famine upon the land. The work of destruction by the sword did cease because of the famine. When the people saw that they were about to perish they began to remember the Lord their God, and they began to remember the words of Nephi.  (Helaman 11)

Thy will Lord be done, in my life

Blessed art thou Nephi, for those things that thou hast done for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word which I have given unto thee unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will and to keep my commandments.” (Helaman 10:4)

There are many good things I might choose to do. I can read good books, including scriptures or listen to inspiring talks, and there is always someone: parents, teachers, friends to tell us what to do. All of this advice might be good, but the thing that I most want to do, the thing that is of most importance is that I do the Lord’s will for my life. Some might become famous singers, or speakers, or leaders and do great things, but the Lord’s will for me might be as a simple, poor, honest neighbor and friend to others.  Our job is to seek his will in our own life.  

O that I could have lived in the days of my fathers.

Nephi the son of Helaman had been away on a mission to the land northward for many years now. They didn’t have the internet, or radios or newspapers in those days so it is somewhat of a culture shock for him to come home and find that the Lamanites are more righteous that the Nephites. But oh how it grieved his soul.

Nephi goes out into his garden and climbs up on his tower which is by the wall by the highway and pours out his soul to God.  In my mind I think that he would normally go up on the tower and look over his garden and the land around about. He could probably see the result of his neighbors righteous living, or in this case unrighteous living.  I think his prayers would normally be of thanksgiving for the blessing God had given to him and his neighbors. But in this case his heart is grieved by what he sees. 

I don’t know what that would look like in his day, but I knda think he would be used to seeing humble dwellings of hard working, kind people. Instead I think he might have seen a division of very richly ornate dwellings and very ill kept trashy dwellings. He begins to talk to God about how he feels about what has happened to his people. One of the things he says is, “O, that I could have had my days when my father Nephi came out of the land of Jerusalem.” (Helaman 7:7)

Things were not smooth sailing in that day either. In fact, things were so bad that the first Nephi and his brother Laman went their separate ways and their followers became the Nephites and the Lamanites. 

Yet, I understand this and sometimes I long for that little log, two room cabin, on the banks of Cedar Creek that my grandpa built. I would go back to a two hole out hose with an old sears catalog. Water for drinking and washing from an open well that caught water that ran off from the roof of the house. We heated the house in the winter with wood we cut with our own hands. Our food was grown, and prepared by our own hands. Clothes were made from feed sacks and washed  on a scrub board.  

Things happened that were scandalous, but how innocent and pure were those days compared to what goes on today.