2 Nephi 1:13 -- On Waking from the Sleep of Hell

"O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe."
2 Nephi 1:13


This is a prophecy of Lehi. he is speaking to his sons here, but also all of us, because God showed him some of the things that would happen in the future, and he is really worried about the people dwindling in unbelief.

This reminds me of a quotation from the movie Joe Versus the Volcano, where the character Patricia says "My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement."

I feel like that is true with regard to the gospel. We are often figuratively asleep, blind to the possibilities all around us. That "sleep of hell" is caused by disbelief, by putting other things before God, by choosing to rebel against God, or sometimes just by casual disobedience. Hell doesn't always attack us with obvious temptations or pain, but often just by convincing us that this is all there is, and there isn't anything else, or at least nothing that matters... that communication with God is just bouncing our thoughts off of a wall and back to us.

The thing is, when there are walls between ourselves and God, it is always because we put them there, not because God isn't there or isn't listening. The amazing thing is that if we turn to God in sincerity and try to get past the obstacles that we built, he can help us tear them down, and just the barest crack can help us see through to God, and get the emanations of hope and of deep and profound love that he is always broadcasting to us, encouraging us to keep trying and to wake up and see what he has in store for us. Today, let's work on that. Let's not let Hell lull us into the drugged sleep of faithlessness and unbelief, but instead make the effort to connect with God. Every small prayer, every verse of the scriptures... it all counts, and helps us wake up to the Spirit, and the miraculous possibilities all around us. Christ is our example of wakefulness... he was always aware of an open to God, communicating with him constantly. Let's trust in that and exercise our faith to see, and be, more.