Many Afflictions in His Days

In his recent general conference talk, Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke about the inevitable trials that we all face in mortality.  He said, “Look forward. Your troubles and sorrows are very real, but they will not last forever.  Your dark night will pass, because ‘the Son … [did rise] with healing in his wings.’”  In a footnote to this he added this commentary, “In the first verse of the Book of Mormon, Nephi explained that he had ‘seen many afflictions in the course of [his] days’ (1 Nephi 1:1). Later, Nephi said, ‘Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions’ (1 Nephi 18:16)”.  In other words, even Nephi, the example par excellence of obedience in the Book of Mormon, faced significant trials.  I think it is telling that Nephi would use his very first sentence in his record—what is now the very first verse of the Book of Mormon—to tell us that he had faced “many afflictions” in his life.  It is a sobering introduction that is a reflection of what we should expect in mortality.  As we read the account of his experiences of his brothers trying to kill him, nearly starving to death in the desert, nearly drowning in the sea, and many others, we see that his introduction was no exaggeration.  But in the same breath, Nephi also said that he had been “highly favored of the Lord,” a statement of how he had been able to overcome all his afflictions through the help of God. 

            The other Book of Mormon writers similarly summarized their experiences by speaking of the real trials they faced.  Near the very end of his record Nephi’s brother Jacob left us this solemn description, “We being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days” (Jacob 7:26).  Mormon told us of the sorrows he faced his whole life because of the wickedness of his people: “And wo is me because of their wickedness; for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days” (Mormon 2:19).  Surely his life, though he himself was righteous and totally faithful to the Lord, was incredibly difficult because of the constant violence around him.  His son Moroni began his record with this description representative of the difficult life he also led: “My father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not… My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not” (Mormon 8:3-5).  Moroni wandered alone for decades, but as Elder Andersen said, his troubles did not last forever.  He finished the Book of Mormon with a declaration of how he would overcome all of the mortal challenges he faced: “I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead” (Moroni 10:34).  It is fitting that the very first verse of the Book of Mormon acknowledges the many afflictions in that even the prophets face, and the very last verse declares how one overcame all his trials to become triumphant through Christ.