Helaman 8 - If He did it then, why not now?

Appalled by the people’s wickedness after his return from a mission to the northern lands, Nephi, son of Helaman II prays on his garden tower. More a lament than a prayer, it attracts a lot of attention. Soon a crowd of people is listening which gives him an opening to begin preaching to them. While I won’t go into the story’s details, a device he uses to persuade the people to believe him struck me. I want to talk about it.

In Helaman chapter eight, he recounts the prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem and compares them with his own. He knew unless they repented, a similar fate awaited them. He uses argument, if God warns people and then follows through on that warning in once instance, why do you think He can’t do it in another?

Likening this passage to my own life and time, I come up with this observation: if God promised to help you in the past and He did, why do you think He won’t help you again according to those same promises? There is substance to the expression, “God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

As I face my dragons, my personal Gethsemane’s and all the other trials that come with living in mortality, I need to remember in whom I have trusted. God hasn’t changed. He is ever ready to help as promised. But just as Nephi, Lehi’s son, had trials and challenges as he sought to do God’s will, I will too. The promises were never that life would be easy only that it wouldn’t overcome us. With this assurance we can face them without fear.

That’s a great blessing.