13 And now, behold, for your good I gave
unto you a commandment
concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in
days of old.
14 Behold, I,
the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth
of my servant John, I cursed
the waters.
15 Wherefore,
the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters.
16 And it shall
be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the
waters, but he that is upright in heart.
17 And, as I,
the Lord, in the beginning cursed
the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my
saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.
18 And now I
give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you
shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in
journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;
19 I, the Lord,
have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not
the decree. (D&C 61:13-19)
These verses are
associated with the experience that Joseph Smith and some of the other elders
of the church had as they traveled on the Missouri river and had a dangerous
time avoiding canoe turnover from underwater hazards and got in fights with
each other over what happened.
These are really
strange verses and sound very mystical and woo-woo. However, today when I was reading
and pondering them, I realized they hold some larger principles that we can still
use today.
Verse 14 and 17 talk
about how some things were first blessed then later cursed, or first cursed then
later blessed. What this says to us is
that sometimes things can start out good and then turn bad, or they can start
out bad and then turn good.
If we apply this today,
this might be like if a travel method starts out as very safe and then over
time becomes more dangerous and risky. If handcart travel across the plans
started out easy, then became more and more dangerous because of weather or
bandits or natural disasters, then that would follow the pattern of verse 14.
If something starts out dangerous and then gradually becomes safer, then that
falls into a pattern like verse 17. So the
message is that safety conditions can change over time for travel (or anything
really) and it is important to notice when that transition happens and not
continue to do something that is becoming more and more risky.
Verse 15 says the day
would come when no flesh would be safe upon the waters. At bottom this is a statement about RISK. When something becomes so dangerous that no
one is safe when doing it, then it is RISKY.
So we have to notice where risk occurs and it is wise to avoid unnecessary
risk. Avoiding unnecessary risk when better alternatives exist is not stupid.
It is not cowardly. It is wise.
“And it shall be said
in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters,
but he that is upright in heart.” – If the previous verse points out there is
risk, then this verse tells us that when a certain method of travel becomes risky,
the only protection is being righteous.
Why would this be? Because
someone who is righteous, if they have to do something risky, will be doing it only
for a good reason when they have no other alternative, and they will learn
about the risk, plan how to mitigate it, and be extremely careful, and also ask
for the Lord’s protection. (The story of Thomas S. Monson sneaking the temple
ceremony information into Soviet-controlled eastern Europe comes to mind here.)
The Lord sees that sort of activity as
worthy of protection. This is part of
the principle that we don’t test the Lord’s blessings of protection unless we absolutely
need them because there is no other alternative.
“And now I give unto
you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall
forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in
journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares” –
The key phrase here is “forewarn your brethren.” When you find out something is dangerous, you
don’t keep that info to yourself; you tell others about it too so that they can
stay safe. This is one reason why the missionary standards booklet (also known
as the missionary white bible) has a section on unauthorized activities because
these activities are risky and we want them to stay safe when doing the Lord’s
work.
“the destroyer rideth
upon the face thereof” – This is a very vivid phrase and it captures the
imagination. Speculation abounds on what it means. I personally think it is
simple. I think “the destroyer” simply means disease because at that time cholera
a common deadly disease in river towns. It had to do with a lack of water
sanitation and since no one knew germ theory at that time, it would be a long
time before that sanitation problem would be fixed. (Also remember the Word of Wisdom promised
that those who follow the principles would be saved from the destroying angel,
and we know that good nutrition does help prevent and moderate disease, so
there are examples of that terminology being a reference to disease.)
Ultimately, the
principles in these verses are widely applicable today. We need to be alert to notice when good
activities or travel means turn unsafe and avoid them to mitigate risk to
ourselves and others. We need to warn people about danger and risk.
There’s a beautiful
promise in verse 17 about the good travel methods and can be extrapolated to
refer to good activities as well: “even so in the last days have I blessed it, in
its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.” Good things (safe travel means, good
activities) are for the Lord’s saints and we can enjoy it to its fullest extent
and rejoice in it and feel grateful for it and recommend it and be creative
with it and make it ours.
Just for fun, I’m going
to rewrite the above verses to apply to social media and we will see how these
principles can transfer.
13 And now, behold, for your good I gave
unto you a commandment
concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in
days of old.
14 Behold, I,
the Lord, in the beginning blessed social
media; but in the last days, by the
mouth of my servant John, I cursed
social media.
15 Wherefore,
the days will come that no flesh shall be safe looking at social media.
16 And it shall
be said in days to come that none is able to be on social media
but he that is upright in heart.
17 And, as I,
the Lord, in the beginning cursed
TV, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in
its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.
18 And now I
give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you
shall forewarn your brethren concerning social
media, that they come not onto it, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;
19 I, the Lord,
have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not
the decree. (D&C 61:13-19)
Saying that TV used to
be cursed but now is blessed seems like nonsense right now, but I did that in
this example to show how it illustrates there is always the possibility that
something that used to be harmful changes into something good. Also, hopefully the modernized version gives
you a sense of how these principles are more universally applicable than just
one little journey of prophets and elders on a midwestern river in the 1830s.
