1
Nephi 18:21
Calming
The Tempests
What
21 And
it came to pass after they had loosed me, behold, I took the compass,
and it did work whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I a
prayed unto
the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm
did cease, and there was a great calm.
Why
1-
They loosed Nephi because they realized that they would be destroyed
by the storm if they did not.
2-As
soon as Nephi was released he took the compass which had not been
working and it worked for Nephi because he was righteous and desired
only the Lord's will.
3-Nephi
prayed that the storm would stop because they were all in danger of
being drowned in the sea.
4-The
storm stopped because the storm had also stopped inside the people on
the ship and they were all submissive to his will.
5-Because
they had all now shown repentance and Nephi was now the leader, they
felt the spirit of the Lord and there was a calm in the sea and a
calmness in their hearts. Satan no longer had power over their
journey.
Pattern
A
similar situation happened with Jonah
Jonah
1:66
6
So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou,
O sleeper? arise, call upon
thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
Christ
Matthew
8:24-27
24 And,
behold, there arose a great a tempest in
the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he
was asleep.
26 And
he saith unto them, Why are ye a fearful,
O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and brebuked the
winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But
the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the
winds and the asea obey
him!
Conference
4/2001
Thomas S. Monson
To
the Rescue
While
reading this letter, I returned in my thoughts to a visit to one of
the great art galleries of the world—even the famed Victoria and
Albert Museum in London, England. There, exquisitely framed, was a
masterpiece painted in 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner. The
painting features heavy-laden black clouds and the fury of a
turbulent sea portending danger and death. A light from a stranded
vessel gleams far off. In the foreground, tossed high by incoming
waves of foaming water, is a large lifeboat. The men pull mightily on
the oars as the lifeboat plunges into the tempest. On the shore there
stand a wife and two children, wet with rain and whipped by wind.
They gaze anxiously seaward. In my mind I abbreviated the name of the
painting. To me, it became To
the Rescue.
Amidst
the storms of life, danger lurks; and men, like boats, find
themselves stranded and facing destruction. Who will man the
lifeboats, leaving behind the comforts of home and family, and go to
the rescue?
President
John Taylor cautioned us, “If you do not magnify your callings, God
will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you
done your duty.”2
Brethren,
our task is not insurmountable. We are on the Lord’s errand, and
therefore we are entitled to the Lord’s help. But we must try. From
the stage play Shenandoah comes
the spoken line which inspires: “If we don’t try, then we don’t
do; and if we don’t do, then why are we here?”
...In
a day of danger or a time of trial, such knowledge, such hope, such
understanding bring comfort to a troubled soul and a grieving heart.
Shadows of despair are dispelled by rays of hope; sorrow yields to
joy; and the feeling of being lost in the crowd of life vanishes with
the certain knowledge that our Heavenly Father is mindful of each of
us.
In
closing, I return to the painting by Turner. In a very real sense,
those persons stranded on the vessel which had run aground in the
storm-tossed sea are like many young men—and older men as well—who
await rescue by those of us who have the priesthood responsibility to
man the lifeboats. Their hearts yearn for help. Mothers and fathers
pray for their sons. Wives and children plead to heaven that Daddy
and others may be reached.
Tonight
I pray that all of us who hold the priesthood may sense our
responsibilities and, as one, follow our Leader—even the Lord Jesus
Christ, and His prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley—to
the rescue.
Apply
How
can I rescue? How can I calm the storm-tossed sea in my life and in
the lives of others? First, we must calm the storms in our own
lives. Bring peace to our own souls by turning to Christ and
following His example then we can reach out to others.
Continue
to have faith like Nephi, Do not complain but be patient and trust in
the Lord and His power.
Hymn
105
Master the Tempest Is Raging
Children
177-Teach
Me to Walk In The Light
57-
Tell Me The Stories of Jesus
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