Ether - Chapter 14

When the Stock Market took it's most recent nose dive, I thought of this verse:

1 And now there began to be a great curse upon all the land because of the iniquity of the people, in which, if a man should lay his tool or his sword upon his shelf, or upon the place whither he would keep it, behold, upon the morrow, he could not find it, so great was the curse upon the land.

Lots of people lost much of what they supposed to be their possessions.  Parking lots filled up with expensive toys, being sold in attempt to stay afloat.  People lost homes, jobs, hope.  Meanwhile, people who had followed the counsel of the prophets, were relatively unscathed, because they had stayed out of debt, supplied themselves with food storage, had lived moderately and within their means.

The next verse seems to hint at the possibility of things getting worse:

 2 Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend; and every man kept the hilt of his sword in his right hand, in the defence of his property and his own life and of his wives and children.

Quite a contrast to the promises of the New Jerusalem in the previous chapter.  I think part of the contrast may have a lot to do with what we value in this world.  I personally have no possessions really, I am merely a steward over that which God has entrusted me with.  I don't intend to sleep upon my sword in order to protect that which is God's,  He is quite capable of protecting it Himself.  If He sees fit that it be removed from me, that is quite fine.  He may do as He pleases with that which is His.  He has always provided me with enough to meet my needs.  If I remain faithful, I expect He will continue to so bless me.

The problem lies with those who in their wickedness think of their lives and property as their own.  The result is quite plain in the story of the Jaredites:

25 And thus we see that the Lord did visit them in the fulness of his wrath, and their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction.

This verse makes it plain that they did it to themselves and looking at our current economic conditions, so have we.  Will we continue down that same well worn path of carnage?