A lot of us would like to think that to prosper means to thrive and flourish, ideally with few to no interruptions or impediments or setbacks on our path to success. We like to assume that when the Lord promises us prosperity, He is sweeping aside all of the stumbling blocks in our way, tearing down the walls and hedges in front of us, quenching the fiery darts of the adversary, and generally shielding us from anything harmful or unpleasant. Sometimes, prospering may look something like that, maybe even for long, glorious stretches. But let’s consider what prospering in the land looked like for the people of Captain Moroni: “And this was their afaith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger; And also, that God would make it known unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity.” (Alma 48:15-16) When the Nephites strove to be faithful and keep the commandments in the hopes that God would prosper them in the land, their expectation wasn't that God would send a destroying angel to smite their enemies. Prospering in the land did not mean there would be no struggle, no battle, no enemies. Prospering in the land meant that either the Lord would show them where to defend themselves if they had a chance of defeating their enemy, or, if not, warning them to flee. Prospering sometimes means thriving, and sometimes it means just surviving. We would find it difficult to describe a refugee who has had to abandon their home and flee for their life as prospering, but that is how the ancient inhabitants of the promised land saw it. If an enemy wanted to destroy them and the Lord warned them to flee and thus delivered them from destruction, then their survival was a victory. Compared to those who would not heed the warning and thus lost even their lives, those who lost much but nevertheless survived were in fact prospering. To prosper in the land is to trust that the Lord will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, and will either strengthen us enough to resist the iniquity assailing us, or will prepare a way for us to escape. Prospering in the land is trusting that if our house burns down today, then the Lord will help us find a place to sleep tomorrow. Prospering in the land means trusting that however many battles we seem to be losing, with the Strength of the Lord we will nevertheless win the war. Prospering means preparing for battle. Prospering means prudently fleeing from an overwhelming foe. Prospering means trying to keep the commandments and live the gospel even and especially when it is a struggle. I know that we wish that we could take a ski lift right to the top of the success mountain, but true prospering means long hard slogs, zigzagging back and forth on the switchbacks, fighting for every inch of elevation, but never giving up.
