No Power Over Us

One of the most famous verses of scripture in the Book of Mormon is Helaman 5:12.  Helaman taught his sons that if they would build their foundation upon the “rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ” that the devil would “have no power over you.”  I think it’s interesting to think about what events in his life or in the life of others Helaman might have been thinking about when he gave this promise to his sons. 

We actually know very little of his life.  The first that we hear of him is when his uncle Shiblon conferred the plates upon him.  After the three sons of Pahoran who contended for the judgment seat in Helaman 1 all died, he became the chief judge.  The only story we have of him is that of his near assassination.  Kishkumen was coming to the judgment seat to murder him when miraculously his life was spared by one who found out about the plot and stopped it.  Surely Helaman must have credited “the rock of our Redeemer” for how he protected him from the power of Satan in that experience.  That story was told in Helaman 2, and then by the end of the next chapter he had died and the judgment seat passed to his son Nephi.  So we have no other stories from his own life, but we do know much about his father.  Surely Helaman who led the young stripling warriors must have told stories to his son of the miracles of battle in the great war with the Lamanites.   Perhaps Helaman the son was thinking about the incredible preservation of the lives of these 2000 sons when he promised Nephi and Lehi protection from the adversary if they built upon the rock of Christ.  And it may be that Helaman was thinking about many of the other stories he would have found in the record given to him by Shiblon.  One such story may have been Nephi’s preservation from the hands of his brothers on several occasions, including the visit of an angel to stop them from beating him.  Or he could have been thinking about how the righteousness and faith of the first Mosiah allowed him to be guided by the Lord out of the land of Nephi.  The lives of his people were preserved because of it and it left one in that company to invite us to “come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation” (Omni 1:26).  Helaman could have also been thinking about the miraculous deliverance of Limhi’s people and that of his great-grandfather Alma.  All of these stories show the great power that the Lord gives us when we have faith in Christ.  It is certainly one of the themes of the Book of Mormon: God will protect and empower and preserve His people who put their trust in Christ.  The stories I have mentioned are of a temporal nature, but the real power of the promise in Helaman 5:12 is spiritual.  We may not always be spared the trials and struggles and losses in this life, but Satan will have no ultimate power over us if our faith is indeed firm in the foundation of Christ.