Today's Favorite Verse: Ether 11:7-8

Today's Favorite Verse: Ether 11:7-8
"And they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord, because of their wicked combinations; wherefore, there began to be wars and contentions in all the land, and also many famines and pestilences, insomuch that there was a great destruction, such an one as never had been known upon the face of the earth; and all this came to pass in the days of Shiblom.
And the people began to repent of their iniquity; and inasmuch as they did the Lord did have mercy on them."

I wondered what the great destruction was? They already had wars, contentions, famines and pestilences going on. Was it an earthquake or consuming fire? Regardless, there was absolute chaos happening around them. This was the voice of the Lord to wake up to their awful situation. The Lord follows natural laws to awaken us, after that they are left to themselves, which doesn't end well unless they repent.

"We read that as a result of the wars, famines, pestilences, and destructions, the people began to repent of their iniquity. President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918) helped us understand that sometimes the Lord uses natural disasters to bring about repentance in the lives of His children:
“The Latter-day Saints, though they themselves tremble because of their own wickedness and sins, believe that great judgments are coming upon the world because of iniquity; they firmly believe in the statements of the Holy Scriptures, that calamities will befall the nations as signs of the coming of Christ to judgment. They believe that God rules in the fire, the earthquake, the tidal wave, the volcanic eruption, and the storm. Him they recognize as the Master and Ruler of nature and her laws, and freely acknowledge his hand in all things. We believe that his judgments are poured out to bring mankind to a sense of his power and his purposes, that they may repent of their sins and prepare themselves for the second coming of Christ to reign in righteousness upon the earth. …
“We believe that these severe, natural calamities are visited upon men by the Lord for the good of his children, to quicken their devotion to others, and to bring out their better natures, that they may love and serve him” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 55; for additional references to the Lord using the elements of nature to speak to people who refuse to repent, see Helaman 12:3; D&C 43:21–25; 88:88–91).
(Book of Mormon Student Manual, Chapter 52: Ether 11-15, "Natural Disasters Can Lead to Repentance")

Day 3574