There are two scriptures in the Book of Mormon where it talks about the Lamanites to scourge Nephites to stir them up in remembrance (1 Ne. 2:24, 2 Ne. 5:25).
What does the Lord use today to scourge us to remembrance of Him?
Before answering that, its important to know how a scourge might help us to remember God. From the Book of Mormon we see time after time of when the righteous were prosperous and then felt as if they were untouchable. Its the same iceberg of pride that sank the Titanic. When we enter that mode of thought that we're immune to failure or beyond the reach of danger, then we are straight for a course into an iceberg.
The Lord uses these scourges to keep us on our toes, to keep us watchful, diligent and humble. We don't have these scourges to keep us in grief or despair. The Lord's purposes are always to edify us, even if that means tearing down pride from time to time.
Helaman 5:12
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
The reason we fall is because we're not built on the sure foundation. We can't sustain ourselves through the storm without an anchor of faith in Christ. We'll lose ourselves in the storm that is guaranteed to come our way.
Here in Utah, many talk of the sheltered lives Mormons live. "The Bubble" they say. As if to say a large population of active Mormons are ignorant to the outside world. Could be true. Doesn't matter though really. I mean when we start to evaluate and judge we seem so easily persuaded to start thinking we're better than so and so or that so and so thinks they're better than us. Its real easy to make the wrong things the enemy and real easy to take comfort or pride in the distorted views.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not easy. It is never ending and it is demanding of all that is you. How is one expected to give so much?
Satan always sets up his kingdom in opposition to the Lord. He does that through a false justification of our imperfection. Where Christ turns our imperfections into perfection through our repentance, Satan tells us that we need not repent because our sins aren't sins. In other words, Christ changes us by us accepting His laws and gospel, Satan changes the laws to be more accepting of us in our sins. Its kind of confusing but lets try it again- The Lord wants us to accept Him so that He can make us happier, stronger, cleaner, and all around perfect and He does this by showing us our weaknesses so that we can see the need for our repentance and thus turn to Him for our source of life which helps us begin to live a new life with a new heart from the Lord. Satan just wants us to be miserably enslaved to our passions and pleasures so that they overpower our morality and we become lifeless and shallow in our sins.
Which is why in the verses before Helaman 5:12 it read:
...for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.
And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.
The Lord's work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He is a Gardner. Trimming the hedges, pruning the trees, working the fields etc. all in order to make sure we have every chance to grow spiritually. He doesn't want us to grow in our sins but in our righteousness. The message of the scriptures is always to repent of our sins and come unto the Lord. We must repent and become better or we are as the salt that lost its flavor or the fruit that went bitter and just good for nothing but to be hewn down.
Its our duty to repent and turn to Christ to help us change who we are into something greater. If we aren't doing that then we aren't repenting and we are losing our flavor.
Back to the original question, what are the scourges of today? Our weaknesses. We have plenty to choose from. Nothing to grieve about. The Lord uses them so we remember we aren't perfect but vulnerable and in His hands.
Ether 12:27
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
If we are humble about our weaknesses and seek not to justify them as Satan would have us do, then we are in a position to gain strength and mercy from the Lord and He will then help us to make these weaknesses be replaced with strengths. Whenever the Nephites were righteous, a group of them would go and preach the word of the Lord to the Lamanites in hopes of helping them have peace and prosperity together. I can imagine the burden they felt living next to an idolatrous people that knew not the Lord. When they were humble they faced this burden with the word, when they were wicked they faced it with the sword. Which way is more effective?
Alma 31:5
And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
How we choose to deal with our righteous responsibilities will determine so much of our spiritual growth. We can hide from it, attack it, justify ourselves, or simply stand vulnerable before the Lord and accept His will over ours. Until we do that, we cannot call ourselves Christians.
