13 And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in days of old.
14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.
15 Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters.
16 And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart.
17 And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.
18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;
19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree. (D&C 61:13-19)
These verses are associated with the experience that Joseph Smith and some of the other elders of the church had as they traveled on the Missouri river and had a dangerous time avoiding canoe turnover from underwater hazards and got in fights with each other over what happened.
These are really strange verses and sound very mystical and woo-woo. However, today when I was reading and pondering them, I realized they hold some larger principles that we can still use today.
Verse 14 and 17 talk about how some things were first blessed then later cursed, or first cursed then later blessed. What this says to us is that sometimes things can start out good and then turn bad, or they can start out bad and then turn good.
If we apply this today, this might be like if a travel method starts out as very safe and then over time becomes more dangerous and risky. If handcart travel across the plans started out easy, then became more and more dangerous because of weather or bandits or natural disasters, then that would follow the pattern of verse 14. If something starts out dangerous and then gradually becomes safer, then that falls into a pattern like verse 17. So the message is that safety conditions can change over time for travel (or anything really) and it is important to notice when that transition happens and not continue to do something that is becoming more and more risky.
Verse 15 says the day would come when no flesh would be safe upon the waters. At bottom this is a statement about RISK. When something becomes so dangerous that no one is safe when doing it, then it is RISKY. So we have to notice where risk occurs and it is wise to avoid unnecessary risk. Avoiding unnecessary risk when better alternatives exist is not stupid. It is not cowardly. It is wise.
“And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart.” – If the previous verse points out there is risk, then this verse tells us that when a certain method of travel becomes risky, the only protection is being righteous. Why would this be? Because someone who is righteous, if they have to do something risky, will be doing it only for a good reason when they have no other alternative, and they will learn about the risk, plan how to mitigate it, and be extremely careful, and also ask for the Lord’s protection. (The story of Thomas S. Monson sneaking the temple ceremony information into Soviet-controlled eastern Europe comes to mind here.) The Lord sees that sort of activity as worthy of protection. This is part of the principle that we don’t test the Lord’s blessings of protection unless we absolutely need them because there is no other alternative.
“And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares” – The key phrase here is “forewarn your brethren.” When you find out something is dangerous, you don’t keep that info to yourself; you tell others about it too so that they can stay safe. This is one reason why the missionary standards booklet (also known as the missionary white bible) has a section on unauthorized activities because these activities are risky and we want them to stay safe when doing the Lord’s work.
“the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof” – This is a very vivid phrase and it captures the imagination. Speculation abounds on what it means. I personally think it is simple. I think “the destroyer” simply means disease because at that time cholera a common deadly disease in river towns. It had to do with a lack of water sanitation and since no one knew germ theory at that time, it would be a long time before that sanitation problem would be fixed. (Also remember the Word of Wisdom promised that those who follow the principles would be saved from the destroying angel, and we know that good nutrition does help prevent and moderate disease, so there are examples of that terminology being a reference to disease.)
Ultimately, the principles in these verses are widely applicable today. We need to be alert to notice when good activities or travel means turn unsafe and avoid them to mitigate risk to ourselves and others. We need to warn people about danger and risk.
There’s a beautiful promise in verse 17 about the good travel methods and can be extrapolated to refer to good activities as well: “even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.” Good things (safe travel means, good activities) are for the Lord’s saints and we can enjoy it to its fullest extent and rejoice in it and feel grateful for it and recommend it and be creative with it and make it ours.
Just for fun, I’m going to rewrite the above verses to apply to social media and we will see how these principles can transfer.
13 And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in days of old.
14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed social media; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed social media.
15 Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe looking at social media.
16 And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to be on social media but he that is upright in heart.
17 And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed TV, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.
18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning social media, that they come not onto it, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;
19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree. (D&C 61:13-19)
Saying that TV used to be cursed but now is blessed seems like nonsense right now, but I did that in this example to show how it illustrates there is always the possibility that something that used to be harmful changes into something good. Also, hopefully the modernized version gives you a sense of how these principles are more universally applicable than just one little journey of prophets and elders on a midwestern river in the 1830s.
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