On Debts and Covenants

A day or two ago, Marissa and I were reading in Mosiah chapter 9 where Zeniff leads a group of Nephites to the land of their first inheritance (Nephi), in order to possess the land. There they met a group of Lamanites and Zeniff decided to try and strike up a bargain with the king of the Lamanites to allow them to live there in peace. (remember that the Nephites and Lamanites are perpetually at war with each other). Surprisingly enough, King Laman was more than happy to oblige. In fact, he commanded his people to uproot and leave a part of the land in order to give room for the Nephites. Sound too good to be true? Well, it was. As the Nephites began to be prosperous in the land, the Lamanites started to attack them in an effort to subdue them. In verse 10 it says that "it was the cunning and craftiness of King Laman, to bring my people into bondage, that he yielded up the land that we might possess it." As Marissa and I were pondering how this could have application to our lives, we decided that King Laman represented the adversary. Zeniff unfortunately, made a deal with the devil, and just like all deals made with the devil, it turned out to be in the devil's favor. He should have known that this was just too good to be true. Sometimes this is how the devil works. Rather than destroying us on the spot like King Laman maybe could have done, he sometimes succors us into a false sense of security and of course he has ulterior motives. To further prove the point, Marissa and I were later reading in the book "Believing Christ." In it, it talked about the difference between a covenant and a 1 way covenant. A covenant is a promise between two people with conditions for both. There is no such thing as a 1 way covenant. He said that a 1 way covenant is simply a debt or slavery (1 person owes something and the other owes nothing). Marissa and I found this very interesting in light of what we had read earlier. Zeniff essentially made a 1 way covenant with King Laman - one that would certainly lead to bondage and slavery. I am so grateful for the lessons the scriptures teach. The devil always has cheap counterfeits that are never good for the person that gets succored into them. I am so grateful to have a Savior who makes a covenant with me where I do not have to worry as long as I am fulfilling my end, whether He will fulfill His.