4 O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto thee. (Helaman 11)In the verses that follow, there is an interesting pairing of the word "turn." As the people begin to "turn" to God, His anger (the famine) is "turned away."
8 And the people began to plead with their chief judges and their leaders, that they would say unto Nephi: Behold, we know that thou art a man of God, and therefore cry unto the Lord our God that he turn away from us this famine, lest all the words which thou hast spoken concerning our destruction be fulfilled.
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11 Now, O Lord, because of this their humility wilt thou turn away thine anger, and let thine anger be appeased in the destruction of those wicked men whom thou hast already destroyed.
12 O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, yea, thy fierce anger, and cause that this famine may cease in this land.
14 O Lord, thou didst hearken unto my words when I said, Let there be a famine, that the pestilence of the sword might cease; and I know that thou wilt, even at this time, hearken unto my words, for thou saidst that: If this people repent I will spare them.
15 Yea, O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them.
16 And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, and try again if they will serve thee? And if so, O Lord, thou canst bless them according to thy words which thou hast said.
17 And it came to pass that in the seventy and sixth year the Lord did turn away his anger from the people, and caused that rain should fall upon the earth, insomuch that it did bring forth her fruit in the season of her fruit. And it came to pass that it did bring forth her grain in the season of her grain. (Helaman 11)
There is some kind of poetic beauty in this pairing, and it ultimately stems from agency. Each of us can choose to turn to God, and by so doing turn away "His anger." Or we can "turn" away from Him, focus on that which is carnal, and have a cursing turned on us. Either way, we choose how to turn.
This is similar to the scriptural pairing of the fire of the Holy Ghost and the hellfire of damnation -- either way there will be fire in our hearts, we get to choose which kind of fire we want.
I know people who take issue at the idea that God would send a curse of famine on a people just because they refuse to obey His commandments. I see it very differently. The famine, to me, is nothing more than a reminder of two important truths:
- God is ultimately in command of all things, temporal and spiritual.
- To be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life eternal. When a famine comes, it is a gift from a loving God to stir us up to remember and focus on the things in life that will last beyond mortality. Without that focus, whether now or some time in the near future, an end will certainly come.
