"But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head."
Helaman 13:38
This is one of the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite to the Nephites, trying to wake them up to the corruption around them. He tells them of a time to come when the land will be cursed and things will get bad and they will look to God and say "Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us?" (Helaman 13:37). So, it seems like in their extremities they are finally repentant... but that they have gone past the point when that is possible, and at that time it will be "everlastingly too late."
I don't think that in our lives now that we need to worry about it being too late... the point of the scripture isn't to make us lose hope in the possibility of repentance. The point is that we need to act now--"this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32), and if we wait until circumstances force us into regret (like in the very last days as it seems it was for them in this prophecy), that is the point where it is too late. We have to choose God now, when we have the freedom to do so, and not wait until that choice is the only real choice and obvious to everyone... otherwise the choice has no meaning.
One of the huge ideas in this verse is the idea that we often seek happiness in doing iniquity, which seems to be at least one of the things "which ye could not obtain" ... or in other words, which is impossible. That's a truth that hits pretty hard because I think we do that a lot... look for happiness in places that we are definitely not going to find it, and yet we persist in thinking that such a thing is possible.
Today, let's remember that God's commandments are there to help us towards happiness, not to deny that to us. Following God's commandments leads to our happy ending, and it is the only way to get there. There aren't shortcuts or alternate ways to that ultimate triumph. We have to endure the ups and downs and the chapters when things seem bleak so that we can learn to be the heroes that will stand with God, victorious. Let's act now, and choose the path that leads to that happiness (and also helps us to be happy in the interim) rather than one that can't possibly get us there.
Helaman 13:38
This is one of the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite to the Nephites, trying to wake them up to the corruption around them. He tells them of a time to come when the land will be cursed and things will get bad and they will look to God and say "Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us?" (Helaman 13:37). So, it seems like in their extremities they are finally repentant... but that they have gone past the point when that is possible, and at that time it will be "everlastingly too late."
I don't think that in our lives now that we need to worry about it being too late... the point of the scripture isn't to make us lose hope in the possibility of repentance. The point is that we need to act now--"this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32), and if we wait until circumstances force us into regret (like in the very last days as it seems it was for them in this prophecy), that is the point where it is too late. We have to choose God now, when we have the freedom to do so, and not wait until that choice is the only real choice and obvious to everyone... otherwise the choice has no meaning.
One of the huge ideas in this verse is the idea that we often seek happiness in doing iniquity, which seems to be at least one of the things "which ye could not obtain" ... or in other words, which is impossible. That's a truth that hits pretty hard because I think we do that a lot... look for happiness in places that we are definitely not going to find it, and yet we persist in thinking that such a thing is possible.
Today, let's remember that God's commandments are there to help us towards happiness, not to deny that to us. Following God's commandments leads to our happy ending, and it is the only way to get there. There aren't shortcuts or alternate ways to that ultimate triumph. We have to endure the ups and downs and the chapters when things seem bleak so that we can learn to be the heroes that will stand with God, victorious. Let's act now, and choose the path that leads to that happiness (and also helps us to be happy in the interim) rather than one that can't possibly get us there.
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