Today I read Mormon 3. In this chapter Mormon refuses to lead the Nephites any longer because of their wickedness. You really have to wonder about the Nephites and their sheer audacity of why they would boast of themselves and why they would so completely reject the Lord and the help He gave them. I suppose that if you really did not believe in the Lord and did not believe that He could or would help someone especially in a battle. You would have to be pretty obstinant though to disbelieve all your own people's history.
I have to wonder what would it be like to pray for your people but to have no faith in your prayers. I cannot really imagine praying for something but not believing at all that Heavenly Father will grant me my prayers. I know I have said it before but I really feel so sorry for Mormon and what his life must have been like.
I have to wonder if the only thing that kept Mormon going was the knowledge of just how important his work was. The important part of this chapter is Mormon telling us the purpose of the Book of Mormon. I almost wonder if the reason Mormon puts it in this chapter is to reassure himself of his mission and the importance of the Book of Mormon and the work he is tasked with doing for the Lord.
The Book of Mormon is of course to witness that Jesus is the Christ and that He is ever mindful of us and of all people. That He has a plan for us and that despite Satan's influence, he will not allow us to flounder in the dark and with half truths. He will not allow us to be unclear of the truths we need to know in order to return to live with Him. He knows that plain and precious truths were lost in the Bible and that the Book of Mormon would be needed to clarify the truths that were lost.
As I sit here and write this I can't help but wonder when Mormon was deciding what to include in the Book of Mormon as he read over all the records how much of the information he was allowed to pick and how much the Lord asked him to specifically include. I think he was allowed to choose a great deal of the content of the Book of Mormon because I think like Nephi he would not have done anything contrary to the will of the Lord.
It must have been very satisfying for Mormon to know that he was doing such an important work and that the Book of Mormon would be had amongst all peoples and nations. He truly did have a very important job and the importance of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated. The true purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Christ and it most certainly does that over and over again. I do think this interesting that in this particular chapter, as Mormon is reflecting on the sad state of his people he mentions that he wants to prepare all peoples to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. You can definitely see how influenced Mormon is by what is going on around him and how he wants to help all peoples avoid a similar fate.
I think Mormon would be happy to know how his work is helping millions of people to find Christ. I think he would be happy to know that through his efforts millions of people have been prepared to stand before Christ and be judged where without his efforts they would have been doomed to eternal damnation. I think he would be happy to know the full extent to which his mission has been accomplished. Until tomorrow.
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