By the Power of His Word

One of the messages that is repeated in several places in the Book of Mormon is that God has power over the physical elements by the power of His word.  For example, Moroni testified that God “created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are,” and Jacob clarified that this was done by the power of His word: “For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word.”  Jacob expounded on this saying, “Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?” (Mormon 9:11, Jacob 4:9) The creation came and continues to be controlled by the power of God’s word, which Moroni also stated: “Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?” (Mormon 9:17)  God’s word is so powerful that even the elements obeyed at the time of creation.  And the same will be at the time of the end of the earth; again through God’s word will the earth be changed and governed, for as Mormon declared, “Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?” (Mormon 5:23)

               Other passages confirm that even now on the earth God has power to control the elements through His word.  Nephi declared with boldness to his brothers: “And ye also know that by the power of his almighty word he can cause the earth that it shall pass away; yea, and ye know that by his word he can cause the rough places to be made smooth, and smooth places shall be broken up” (1 Nephi 17:46).  Mormon expounded on this in an extensive treatment of God’s power to speak and control the elements.  He stated, “the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.”  Not only the dust obeys His commands, but “at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake” and “by the power of his voice they are broken up.”  God can make “the whole earth shake” and the “foundations rock, even to the very center” by the “power of his voice.”  He can cause by His word the whole earth to move or go back, the oceans to dry up, and even the mountains to be raised up and fall on a city (Helaman 12:8-17).  The elements all obey His word of command, all, that is, except for His children.  As Mormon lamented, “They do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them….   O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth” (Helaman 12:6-7).  We are less than the dust of the earth because the dust always obeys His voice, but we do not.  Perhaps the other lesson that we learn from the fact that God has all power through His word to control the earth is that He has ultimate respect for our agency.  He controls all of His creations through His voice except for us—He will not force us to obey as He does the rest of the elements on earth.  He will invite and command and even chastise men through His word, but He will not completely control us to make us heed His word.  As a hymn so beautifully states, “He’ll call, persuade, direct aright, And bless with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind.”  We must choose to follow His voice and obey His counsel, and that is the great test of mortality.  As Mormon invited us after his above description of the power of God over the elements, “Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved” (Helaman 12:23).