His Mercy

The Book of Mormon opens with an account of a vision. Lehi sees many things and reads prophecies from a book given him by a heavenly being. After the vision, his heart overflows with joy, and he exclaims:

Great and marvelous are thy works,
O Lord God Almighty!
Thy throne is high in the heavens,
and thy power, and goodness, and mercy
are over all the inhabitants of the earth;
and, because thou art merciful,
thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee
that they shall perish!

1 Nephi 1:14

Mary offered a similar expression of gratitude for God’s mercy after hearing cousin Elizabeth testify that the child in her womb was in fact the Son of God. Here is part of Mary’s canticle, known as the Magnificat:

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

Luke 1:49-50

For both Lehi and Mary, an awareness that God had blessed them personally led naturally to a universal gratitude. Lehi recognized that God’s mercy was over “all the inhabitants of the earth,” and Mary testified of God’s mercy toward all who “fear him from generation to generation.”

The scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, can give us a similar perspective. At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni invites us to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts” (Moroni 10:3).

It’s not hard to see how the Book of Mormon can increase our awareness of God’s mercy. Some form of the word “mercy” appears 149 times in the book, almost always applied to God. We see His merciful hand guiding Lehi and his family safely to their promised land, just as He had done for Jared and his brother many years earlier. We see Him changing the hearts of individuals like Enos and Alma as well as groups of people like King Benjamin’s subjects. We see Him protecting the sons of Mosiah in their missionary efforts, and later doing the same for Helaman’s sons, Nephi and Lehi. We see the Savior teaching and healing people after the catastrophes which coincided with His death. We see the sacred writings of Nephite prophets carefully maintained and preserved for more than 1,000 years, and finally “sealed up” and buried by Moroni so that we could have their words today. If you read the Book of Mormon sincerely, you see God’s hand influencing not only individuals but also nations, across many generations.

What are we to conclude when we ponder this?

We can conclude that He will bless us today, just as He has always blessed those who love Him.

We can conclude that even when He seems distant, He is acting on our behalf, in ways that we may not see.

We can conclude that He is blessing all of His children, not just us.

So when we approach Him in prayer, our faith can be stronger because of our awareness of His mercy. We can pray with more faith, intent, and sincerity because we have seen His hand in our lives and in the lives of others. We can persist until we receive answers because we are sure those answers will come.

Today, I will remember God’s intergenerational mercy. I will be grateful that He loves all of His children, and I will keep that perspective in mind as I pray and as I serve.