Famine and Pestilence and Death

In describing a time when the Nephites returned to their wickedness after a brief period of righteousness, Mormon lamented, “And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him” (Helaman 12:3).  The people he had just been describing had indeed turned to the Lord after these kinds of sore trials that Mormon described had been given to them by the Lord.  Nephi, the prophet at the time, had described in prayer, “O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them” (Helaman 11:15).  They had indeed had famine and pestilence and seen death and destruction among them, and because of that, “the people had repented and did humble themselves in sackcloth” (Helaman 11:9).  But that repentance was short lived, and Mormon lamented that it took hardship and suffering to get the people to turn to the Lord.    

            We see how the Lord followed the description of Mormon’s lament of Helaman 12:3  with the northern kingdom before they were scattered.  Amos told of all of the trials that the Lord sent upon the people in an attempt to help them repent: “And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord” (Amos 4:6).  He tried a famine, but that did not motivate the people to return unto Him.  He similarly tried a drought: “And also I have withholden the rain from you….  So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied:  Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord” (Amos 4:7-8).  The Lord also tried to motivate their repentance by destroying their crops through pestilence: “I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt” (Amos 4:9-10).  They were also visited with the death and destruction in their cities: “Your young men have I slain with the sword….  I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning” (Amos 4:10-11).  So, just as Mormon told us, the Lord tried to chasten them with the afflictions of death and terror and family and pestilence, but even then, the people of Israel still did not repent and turn to Him.  There was then nothing left for the Lord to do but to let them be scattered and destroyed and let them come to face Him in judgment: “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12).  He had done everything He could to motivate their repentance without removing their agency, but because they still refused to turn to Him in their affliction, their opportunity to repent eventually ended and they were destroyed and scattered.  These stories along with Mormon’s lament are reminders to us that we need to turn to the Lord whether we are facing sore trials or not—we don’t have to wait until famine and pestilence arrives to repent and come unto the Lord.  But, unfortunately, as Mormon lamented, most do wait, and sometimes even in affliction never turn to the Lord at all.