Be Prepared

Today during my lunch hour I was reading from The Book of Mormon. I was reading in Alma 43 - the beginning of all the war chapters - and I came across something interesting.

The chapter explains that the Lamanites, Zoramites, and Amalekites were diligently trying to get the Nephites under bondage - they determined to do so by going to battle.

Verses 17-21:
"And Moroni took all the command, and the government of their wars. And he was only twenty and five years old when he was appointed chief captain over the armies of the Nephites.

"And it came to pass that he met the Lamanites in the borders of Jershon, and his people were armed with swords, and with cimeters, and all manner of weapons of ward.

"And when the armies of the Lamanites saw that the people of Nephi, or that Moroni, had prepared his people with breastplates and with arm-shields, yea, and also shields to defend their heads, and also they were dressed with thick clothing --

"Now the army of Zerahemnah was not prepared with any such thing; they had only their swords and their cimeters, their bows and their arrows, their stones and their slings; and they were naked, save it were a skin which was girded about their loins; yea, all were naked, save it were the Zoramites and the Amalekites;

"But they were not armed with breastplates, nor shields-therefore, they were exceedingly afraid of the armies of the Nephites because of their armor, notwithstanding their number being so much greater than the Nephites."

So lets think about this. The Lamanites (including the Zoramites and Amalekites) wanted so badly to overthrow the Nephites - to bring them under bondage - so then, why did they come so unprepared?? They thought it would be so easy to bring the Nephites into bondage. They didn't take in account the following - verse 9: "And now the desing of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires."

The Nephites had good reasons to prepare - look at what they were fighting for:

- their lands
- their houses
- their wives
- their children
- their right to worship as they pleased

When you have such reasons it will give you even more reason to prepare fully.

The Lord will always bless and protect those that choose to follow Him. He will help us to prepare ourselves for coming danger. One important way that we can prepare ourselves is to listen to our prophets - they receive direct revelation from Heavenly Father on what we need to do. We've been warned many times on how to prepare - both temporally and spiritually. Are we doing everything that we need to do to prepare ourselves fully so that when the Lamanites in OUR day come to bring into bondage that we will be able to scare them off?

Just a thought.