Editor’s Note: Today we continue the serialization of Light in the Wilderness by scripture scholar and former BYU professor M. Catherine Thomas. When I read this book (and then re-read it for the pure joy of it), I wanted to share it with everyone I knew, for its delicious and illuminating ideas were like a gift, stirring my ancient spirit. Meridian is so pleased to share this serialization on this and upcoming Fridays. Maurine Proctor
And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led. 1 Nephi 17:13
What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? … What will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? Ether 2:23, 25
Our scene opens in the premortal world as the waiting spirits face the sobering prospect before them: the descent into the darkened world; the journey in the wilderness of mortality; the embarking upon the great waters of the telestial world in untried “vessels.” This venture would take courage and faith.
And pondering the journey, we must have asked something like, “Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?” (Ether 2:22). And we must have heard in reply, “Ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth” (Ether 2:25). We undertook extensive preparations. Covenants were entered into, light and knowledge promised, and the vessels fitted with light receptors for the journey.
Instructions came to us about the nature of the world we would descend to and the way in which the Lord would be with us. We learned that He would be in the sun and the light of the sun, in the moonlight, and in the starlight. Nevertheless, as we looked upon the furious winds, the turbulent depths of the sea with its mountain waves, and saw ourselves buried in the deep, we said, “But, the winds and the waters. …” We were reassured, “I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and floods have I sent forth” (Ether 2:24). He would be embedded in every part of our natural world, in the seen and the unseen, His reality always nearer than we would know at first.
All would be under His sole control, and He would be our vigilant Ally in our journey through the fallen world. He told us, “I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee” (Abraham 2:8). “Thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me” (Moses 6:34). We would learn to cry unto Him and to walk with Him.
However, the perils in the journey were not imaginary. There would have to be waves, winds, rains, tempests, and darkness, as well as whales and monsters of the deep. Nevertheless, trusting in the promises, we left our premortal glories and set “ forth into the sea, commending [ourselves] unto the Lord [our] God” (Ether 6:4).
And now, the great temporal adventure undertaken, we commence our search for the promised Light in the Wilderness and the Heavenly Forces upon the Great Waters.
The Book of Mormon is the manual provided for their unveiling, with its types and shadows of our own personal journey. The Jaredite mariners, for example, sailed before a great wind that drove them toward their destination: “The Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind” (Ether 6:5). The Nephites also “put forth into the sea and were driven forth before the wind towards the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:8).
What is the nature of this Wind upon the Great Waters? The scriptural use of wind reveals the meaning. In the biblical text, the word for wind (Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma) can also mean “spirit” or “breath” 1 and often refers to the presence and activity of the Spirit. We read, for example, of the “rushing mighty wind” of the Lord’s spirit and glory filling places of worship (d&c 109:37; Acts 2:2). As the Jaredites felt the force of their great wind, they knew it came forth by the power of the Heavenly Spirit pressing them toward their divine destination.
When that force became more than they could handle alone, they remembered to enlist help from the One who drives the winds: “They were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind” (Ether 6:6). But the Lord fulfilled His promise to them, for “when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters” (Ether 6:7).
This Wind, these Waves, and all that they stand for, can be fearsome as the Mighty Being ceaselessly tends to His eternal work: “And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind” (Ether 6:8). Tempestuous forces, rolling upon us by day and by night, drive us toward our high destiny and do not relent in their commission to deliver us back into the divine presence.
However, their force is neither lesser nor greater than it must be to accomplish the Work. Elder Richard G. Scott explains:
Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Proverbs 3:11–12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain. … Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love.2
Even those trials that we create with our disobedience, whatever the consequences the Lord may permit to come upon us, have a benevolent purpose behind them and with repentance can be turned to our eternal benefit.
As to the necessity of the ordeals of winds and tempests during the mortal probation, we learn from Brigham Young:
All intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed for intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and exaltation.
Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation.3
If man could have been made perfect, in his double capacity of body and spirit, without passing through the ordeals of mortality, there would have been no necessity of our coming into this state of trial and suffering. Could the Lord have glorified his children in spirit, without a body like his own, He … would have done so. … He will not exalt a spirit to thrones, to immortality, and eternal lives, unless that spirit is first clothed in mortal flesh, and with it, passes through a mortal probation, and overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil through the atonement made by Jesus Christ and the power of the Gospel. The spirit must be clothed as He is, or it never can be glorified with him. He must of necessity subject his children to the same, through a strict observance of the ordinances and rules of salvation.4
It appears that every tempest, and even every monster, is necessary, but also that every ordinance and rule of salvation will keep the travelers on course, while the Heavenly Wind (whether fierce or gentle), never ceases “blowing” them across the waters.
Understanding the nature of the journey makes all the difference in our experience in the wilderness world. Realization of the purposes and forces behind the journey opens our spiritual sight to see beyond the apparent forms. The terrors of the deep subside. It was for the very reason that the Jaredite seafarers understood the origin of the winds, even tossed as they were upon the waves, that they were able to “sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord” (Ether 6:9).
Their insight and gratitude produced a continual revelation of Light: “And they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water” (Ether 6:10). Nephi also “did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions” (1 Nephi 18:16). In further reflection on his own journey through the Wilderness, Nephi says, “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh” (2 Nephi 4:19–21). How instructive these seers are! What light they cast on the manner in which the true Seeker of Christ pursues his own journey through his appointed afflictions in the Wilderness, led by the consuming, albeit fearsome, love of the Lord. It was, in fact, their trust and gratitude that made it possible for Him to keep sending them Light as they sped along before the wind.
We notice that the Lord could have delivered them miraculously to their destination in many fewer than three hundred and forty-four days on the water. But Man’s travels in the mortal probation, whether in the Wilderness or on the Waters, are designed to provide the purifying preparation for greater things.
Through their devotion, the Jaredites sensed that all Creation is permeated by the conscious, benevolent, spiritual presence of the Lord Jesus Christ (see d&c 88:41) and that, although His grace is abundantly shed forth on all His children, the greater portion of Light comes to those who comprehend Him and His purposes in the mortal probation. In fact, He is able to help them transcend the sorrows and bondages of this life to the degree that they are able to put their trust in Him:
And now … I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma 38:5)
The unaided sight of the Natural Man will not perceive all this embedded divinity. There is a perceptible world of Light beyond this one, but something must happen to our way of seeing; our perception must be born again, in order that the spiritual blindness we’re subject to can give way to a comforting new dimension of reality. Alma shares his experience: “Now, my son, I would not that ye should think that I know these things of myself, but it is the Spirit of God which is in me which maketh these things known unto me; for if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things” (Alma 38:6). Many passages of scripture reassure us that our eyes can be opened to see and feel beyond the present physical world with its seemingly inexplicable sorrows. The power to “see” is already in us, but may be blocked by our spiritual inexperience and meager trust. The following passages describe the adjustments that make greater sight possible:
And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will. (D&C 88:67–68)
That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. (D&C 50:24)
Light for the Journey
Many arrangements were put in place premortally to ensure our success in a dangerous world. Among these, a revelatory system was engendered in each child. Through this means the Great Creator could be with His children individually as a mentor, a revelator, and an empowerer: “And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in the darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness”(Ether 6:3).
He promised that He would arrange life situations, would intervene in earthly ccircumstances, and would provide means to help us accomplish the plans and covenants we entered into in the premortal stages of our existence:
And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. (1 Nephi 17:3)
He promised to prepare the way ahead:
And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.
(1 Nephi 17:13)
We do not always sense the Light; we do not always perceive that “it is by me that ye are led.” Lehi represents all of us at one time or another when he says: “I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste ” (1 Nephi 8:7)—just before he saw the Tree. We resonate with those in the prison who were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness and an awful, solemn fear—just before they learned that if they would “repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ … the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you”(Helaman 5:41–42); as they learned to cry to the Lord, the darkness was dispersed and they saw that they were encircled about as by fire.
Every day we step into the unknown on our journey. From moment to moment we do not know where it will take us. Mosiah, for example, warned by the Lord to leave the land of Nephi with as many as “would hearken unto the voice of the Lord” (Omni 1:13), departed into an unknown wilderness. But they were led by continual admonishments through the word of God, by many preachings and prophesyings, and by the power of the Lord’s arm, until they came to the place the Lord intended them to be, temporally and spiritually. This is the refining nature of the Wilderness we travel in and the Light and Power by which we are led. We learn to cry to the Lord and to cultivate the power to hear the Voice.
So we see that if all a person knows is what he gathers from his own limited senses, his reasoning, and the distorted perceptions and traditions of fellow travelers in this earthly Wilderness, he will conclude that Man prospers only by his own genius and strength (see Alma 30:17), to prey and be preyed upon in a risky, tooth-for-tooth world. He will think that all causes begin in this world. He will miss that it is our Father who plants, nourishes, prunes, and tends the vineyard we live in (see Jacob 5); that it is He who prepares the “fruit and also wild honey” (1 Nephi 17:5); that it is He who empowers the Gazelems with stones “which shall shine forth in darkness unto light” (Alma 37:23), provides with Urim and Thummim, with Liahonas, with clouds and pillars of fire, and all the other manifestations and symbols of spiritual realities; that it is He who [goes] before us, leading us by day and giving light by night and doing all things for us which are “expedient for man to receive”(1 Nephi 17:30). And that it is He who in our afflictions is afflicted; and that it is He who, in His love and in His pity, redeems us and bears us and carries us all our days (see D&C 133:53).
And all this Light, all these temporal and spiritual gifts—what is their meaning? The chasing of food, clothes, shelter, possessions, and busyness, even spiritual wonders, so often become ends in themselves. We notice that when the Lord Himself comes among men to fulfill the ends of His ministry with them, He first takes care of physical distractions and temporal needs: He heals them (see 3 Nephi 17:7), provides bread and wine (see 3 Nephi 18:1), and baptizes them. But it becomes obvious that all these things are preliminaries only, not ends in themselves. Once the physical needs and the spiritual preparations are attended to, as Hugh Nibley says,
That is where the gospel begins; that is where other activities end. Once we have taken care of that part of it, once the people are all fed and clothed and healed of any afflictions and cleaned up, the work is done. “What do we do now, sit around and be bored?” No—then the teaching begins. All this in preparation for real teachings and manifestations that follow. The gift of the mysteries is far beyond the imagination.5
We have embarked on this journey to obtain the treasure of the mysteries of godliness secured in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Gradually we learn to pay less heed to this or that siren song that might distract us from our spiritual purposes. We came here “in earthen vessels” to collect on the promises of Light, Knowledge, and Presence, and we cannot be satisfied with less.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:6–7)
This book is about journeying through the illusory physical world while participating with that Light that shines into our Wilderness, so that at the end, our thanks and praise will pour out of us to God for the easing of our burdens, for the pure knowledge that greatly enlarged our soul, and for the deliverances out of many bondages, “for [we] were in bondage, and none could deliver [us] except it were the Lord [our] God” (Mosiah 24:21–22).
But the journey yet lies before us; therefore, let us now commence our explorations of the Light in the Wilderness.
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1. As in John 3:8, where the Savior plays on the words wind and spirit. It’s the translator’s task to determine the sense of the text and, therefore, which appropriate English word to use: wind, breath, or spirit. Some translations of John 3:8 do not use wind at all, but translate the word pneuma only as spirit, losing in that particular example a fuller sense of the passage. We infer from the scriptural use of wind, as in Ether 6, that any heavenly wind refers to the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. “Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, November 1995, 16.
3. JD 8:150.
4. Ibid., 11:43–44.
5. Approaching Zion, ed. Don Norton (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 107; italics in original.
