Mountain Waves

In Moroni’s description of the Jaredites’ travel across the ocean, he wrote this: “And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind” (Ether 6:5-6). I was struck by the phrase “mountain waves” in this verse—what is a mountain wave? Surely it is not something that one on the water would hope to see, and undoubtedly it was part of the “great and terrible tempests” that was a part of this voyage of the Jaredites. Their boats were tossed on the water in terrible storms, sunk deep underneath the surface, and hit with waves so large they were described as mountains. Though the Lord was guiding them, though He had helped them prepare vessels and given them light, though they were doing exactly what He had asked, their voyage was still harrowing and dangerous. Surely there must have been moments when these “mountain waves” crashed upon them and they were “buried in the deep” that some of them wondered if this had really been the right choice to travel in these barges across the ocean. The Lord certainly protected them and brought them through safely, but it was by no means an easy or stress-free journey as they crossed the great deep.

                President Packer told an interesting story in general conference about a time when he experienced mountain waves as he participated in stake conferences in Samoa. During the trip they had to take a boat from one island to another, and they ran into a terrible storm. He told how two elders had failed to turn on a light for their passage, and they were unable to make it through to where they needed to go. So they had to go around the island a much longer way, and he described, “We were helpless against the ferocious power of the elements. I do not remember ever being where it was so dark. We made no progress for the first hour, even though the engine was at full throttle. The boat would struggle up a mountainous wave and then pause in exhaustion at the top of the crest with the propellers out of the water. The vibration of the propellers would shake the boat almost to pieces before it slid down the other side.” They did finally make it to their destination safely after all night on the water in the storm, but the failure of those elders to turn on the lower lights had nearly taken their lives. To me these two stories together teach two important lessons for us all. First, we may face mountainous waves of adversity in our lives even if we are doing what is right and even on the right path. President Packer and the Jaredites both were on that water because they were seeking to do the Lord’s will for them; that alone didn’t stop the storm from coming. But ultimately it wasn’t calm waters that they needed most; rather, it was light. The light of the Savior that shown through those rocks of the Jaredites surely is what kept them going on that long voyage. How often they must have looked at the shining rocks in their barges—with waves crashing in all around them—and gained comfort knowing that He was with them still. And it was the light that President Packer’s group didn’t have that prevented them from making their way through the storm.

And so surely it is with us today as we face our oceans to cross and our storms to weather. How we need the light of the Savior to see us through! The Lord’s words to Nephi and his group as they made their own difficult journey describe His offer of help to us as well: “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land” (1 Nephi 17:13). Wherever that promised land is for each of us, we must reach out to the Savior as the brother of Jared and seek His light above all else to carry us through.