Dwell Safely in the Holy One of Israel

In his final talk in the most recent general conference, President Nelson said this, “Our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, stand ready to help you. I urge you to increase your efforts to seek Their help.” Surely we need their help more than ever to face the complexities of our day and overcome challenges that are never in short supply. He has been teaching us over the past several years that one of the ways that we seek their help and grow closer to them is through repentance. He taught, “Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” He finished this talk with this blessing: “I bless you with the courage to repent daily and learn how to exercise full priesthood power. I bless you to communicate the love of the Savior to your wife and children and to all who know you. I bless you to do better and be better. And I bless you that as you make these efforts, you will experience miracles in your life.” As we repent we can have the power of the Lord close to us and see His miracles. In that spirit Nephi gave this promise: “But, behold, all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will repent” (1 Nephi 22:28). If we will repent like President Nelson has taught us, continually seeking to become more like the Savior and turning from our mistakes and weaknesses, we will “dwell safely” with Him no matter what calamities come upon the world.

                The invitation to repent in the scriptures is everywhere. Adam was told this from the beginning: “Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore” (Moses 5:8). The first recorded words we have of John the Baptist are these: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). When the Savior started preaching soon after him, His message was the same: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). When the Savior’s voice was heard by the Nephites shortly after His death, He likewise invited them to repent: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” He continued, “Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (3 Nephi 9:13,22). When Peter took over the mantle of leadership after the ascension of the Savior to heaven, his message was the same: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). When Mormon left his final message for us in our day, he said this: “Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved…. Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God…. Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ” (Mormon 7:3,5,8). In our dispensation in the earliest revelation recorded from the Savior, He said this to the Prophet Joseph: “But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you.” He spoke of how the Book of Mormon was preserved so that “the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:20). Surely the Book of Mormon is meant to do that for all of us: through it we can come to know the Lord and repent so that we might be saved. And surely as we seek more earnestly to repent, we will find more abundantly “Their help” in our lives to overcome all the difficulties that we face. And this promise of Samuel the Lamanite will be fulfilled for us in mortality and in eternity: “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).