In the Strength of the Lord

The Lord said to David Whitmer in 1830, “Behold, I say unto you, David, that you have feared man and have not relied on me for strength as you ought. But your mind has been on the things of the earth more than the things of me, your Maker” (Doctrine and Covenants 30:1-2). Surely this is a chastisement that we all merit at times as we focus on what the world thinks of us more than what the Lord does. We too often seek strength from the people and things of the world instead of from our Maker. This was a common theme in the writings of Isaiah. For example, he wrote, “Therefore, O Lord, thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the Philistines” (2 Nephi 12:6). I love the use of that word replenish--we all have times when our strength is low and we symbolically need to be restocked and refilled with spiritual and emotional energy. So where do we replenish our strength from? Do we go to the “east” and to the “soothsayers like unto the Philistines”—meaning from worldly sources—or do we “look up” to the Lord and get strength from Him? (Psalm 5:3)

               The Book of Mormon has several examples of those who sought to receive strength from the Lord. Alma prayed when faced with the daunting task of preaching to the wicked Zoramites: “O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities…. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength.” The prayer was answered for Alma and his mission companions as they went forth to serve Him: “And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:30-31, 38). When Zeniff and his people had to fight the Lamanites, he recorded, “Yea, in the strength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would deliver us out of the hands of our enemies.” Later when they fought again he repeated, “And it came to pass that we did go up in the strength of the Lord to battle” (Mosiah 9:17, 10:10). It was only with the Lord’s strength they could defeat the Lamanites. Lamoni declared to Ammon, “I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things” (Alma 20:4). When the Nephites faced the Gadianton robbers, “In the strength of the Lord they did receive them” (3 Nephi 4:10). Captain Moroni invited the people to “come forth in the strength of the Lord” and support the title of liberty. He also lamented later on in the war, “If we had gone forth against them in the strength of the Lord, we should have dispersed our enemies” (Alma 60:16). The Nephites were always blessed and helped when they sought the strength of the Lord to overcome their difficulties, and these passages and others invite us to seek to replenish our strength from the Lord instead of the world. Like David Whitmer we must learn to rely on the Savior for strength above all other sources.