Railing and reviling

Recently this scripture in the Book of Mormon caught my attention.

"Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railing for railing, while others would receive railing and ^apersecution and all manner of ^bafflictions, and would not turn and ^crevile again, but were humble and penitent before God."(3 Nephi 6:13). My understanding is that these were church members persecuting other church members. People who should have loved each other and been kind to each other.

This interested me so Camille (who likes expressive words) and I found definitions and synonyms for the words reviling and railing. Railing is to utter bitter complaint, it is an intense or emotional accusation, open condemnation, to rant, or to revile. Revile means: ridicule, mock, demean, verbally abuse, vilify, defame, belittle, insult or discredit.

We don't hear the words "revile" or "rail" much today so these synonyms helped me see more clearly how applicable these other words are in our lives. How often we hear put downs, mocking jokes, and complaining! Our natural response when they are directed at us is to get defense, hurt, angry or emotional and lash out at that person. Of course there are times to stand up for ourselves and the truth but the Lord has called peacemakers His children and has said that the meek will inherit the earth.

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." (Matt 5:44)

"Bear (persecution) patiently and revile not against them." (D&C 98:23)

I think that the world would call us weak or spineless not to react and respond to those who would revile against us. It may look from the outside as a passive response but it really is an active one. It takes self-discipline to control our body and our tongue. It takes patience in the situation and forgiveness after. It takes charity to care about their feelings and not to want to hurt them even though they have caused us pain. That can be very difficult to do but the Lord will bless us and help us in our efforts.

Blessings

I heard this song a couple of weeks ago on a radio station that plays "Sunday" music. It really touched me so I googled the lyrics and found it was written by a christian singer named Laura Story. I don't know how to link it but you can hear it on Utube. She wrote this song while her husband was fighting a brain tumor.

Blessings:

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It's not our home

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

As I listened to this song I was reminded of this story:

A Privilege to Pay the Price

Because of the unexpected delays and other unfortunate circumstances, over two hundred members of the Willie and Martin handcart companies died before they could reach the Salt Lake Valley. None of the other handcart companies coming to the valley before or after them suffered so many problems.

Some years after the Martin company made their journey to Salt Lake City, a teacher in a Church class commented how foolish it was for the Martin company to come across the plains when it did. The teacher criticized the Church leaders for allowing a company to make such a journey without more supplies and protection.

An old man sitting in the classroom listened for a few moments and then spoke out, asking that the criticism be stopped. He said, “Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it. … We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities [difficulties].

“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. … I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company” (quoted in David O. McKay, “Pioneer Women,” p. 8; emphasis in original).

It seems like when people talk about blessings in their lives and tender mercies from the Lord they are talking about when things went their way and good things happened. I am interested in this idea that through trials we come to really know the Lord, see his hand in our lives, and feel his love in ways that maybe aren't available to us during easier times. Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?