Book of Mormon Teaches How to Survive Quarantine

 

What!? The Book of Mormon teaches how to survive a quarantine!?

A couple years after the Nephites defeated the Gadianton robbers in what Mormon describes as the greatest slaughter ever among the descendants of Lehi, a new tactic is used. This time the robbers decide to "lay siege", "hem them in on every side", and "cut them off from all their outward privilege." In essence, they imposed an quarantine on the Nephite city.

How did the Nephites survive quarantine and isolation from the outside world? They didn't even have the Internet or Netflix!

First, they had prepared flocks, food, and provisions to "subsist for the space of seven years."

Second, we know they were prayerful and trusting in God because of Mormon's earlier description that they "did lift their cries to the Lord their God, that he would spare them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies."

And third, they didn't sit around passively and wait as helpless victims for the siege to end. They "were continually marching out by day and by night" to mount small offenses against their enemy.

We've been under siege for months now, so what's the application for us today?

We must make efforts to be self-reliant, not just physically but spiritually as well. In fact, this pandemic might be a greater spiritual assault than physical (think about it in your own life).

We must trust God and seek His grace and deliverance in our lives.

And lastly, we must be anxiously engaged in a good cause. Fight back by serving and lifting others, armed with the sword of the Spirit.

Ultimately, after years in quarantine, the Nephites win, and they're able to destroy the Gadianton robbers. We will win too! And when we win, I hope we can rejoice as did the Nephites:

"And it came to pass that they did break forth, all as one, in singing, and praising their God for the great thing which he had done for them, in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies.

"Yea, they did cry: Hosanna to the Most High God. And they did cry: Blessed be the name of the Lord God Almighty, the Most High God.

"And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction."

3 Nephi 4