I Will Carry

Isaiah gave us this description of the Savior: “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9). I love the idea that the Lord will carry us through our trials. The prophet similarly wrote, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4). He carries both us and our sorrows to help us through the challenges of mortality. After Nephi and his family reached the ocean, the Lord said this to him: “Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters” (1 Nephi 17:8). Though it required a great amount of work on Nephi’s part to build the boat, ultimately it was the Lord that carried them across the waters and delivered them to the promised land. Alma spoke about this to his son Helaman as he described the purpose and power of the Liahona which had helped Nephi’s group to make that journey by showing them the way. He said, “And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise” (Alma 37:45). The Lord had given them words on the Liahona which directed them in the right way to go, and He likewise has given us His words found in the holy scriptures to guide us. These sacred records will “carry us” beyond a world filled with sorrow into a future promised land of eternal life with the Lord.

               Isaiah spoke again about how the Lord will carry us in an interesting comparison with the idols of their day. He said, “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden.” He continued, “They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.” The false idols that the people worshipped were crafted by heavy metal into inanimate objects that the people themselves had to carry. They caused the carriages to be “heavy loaden” and they were a “burden to the weary beast.” Since the idols of course could not move themselves, they were carried around everywhere by man and beast. The Lord on the other hand, promises to carry us: “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:1-7). Unlike idols that are made by men and carried by men, the true and living God made us and will carry us. If our devotion is only to the idols of the world, they will ultimately become a burden and will never carry us through our trials. But if we come unto the Lord and His word, His promise is that He will carry us and deliver us and bring us to our promised land.