Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. --Helaman 5:12

This is one of the precious few scripture mastery scriptures that I managed to remember by the time I graduated from seminary. I'd never really experienced a whole lot of adversity at that point, and it was easy for me to take this scripture for granted. I had no way to understand the significance of it at the time.

I don't want to make it sound like my life is super hard now. I really can't complain about how well my Father in Heaven has taken care of me. But I do have a lot more experience than I did before. When I go back and read this scripture, there are so many things that jump out at me. Like it was written in a foreign language before, and now I've finally learned enough to understand it better.

First of all, I've started to see the word "must" or other words like it in the scriptures a lot.

...Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation....

I don't know why I didn't see this before, but I realize now that when a prophet says a word like that, he isn't joking around! This is the beginning of a promise to us.

...That when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds...

There's another word that we need to take seriously. Helaman doesn't say "if"; he says "when". He's telling us that he knows with all certainty that the devil WILL try to tempt and discourage us. He goes on to list some of the things that Satan will send our way, and it doesn't sound pretty. From this, he shows us exactly why we need spiritual protection and healing through Christ.

...Yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo....

Here comes the end of the promise. Build your foundation upon the rock of the Redeemer, and the devil will have no power over you, regardless of whatever hardships he could throw your way.

And why will he have no power?

...Because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

If we build our foundations on the rock of our Savior--base our faith and our actions in Him and in the atonement that He performed for each and every one of us--WE CANNOT FALL. We can't fail. We can't be overtaken by the adversary. We just can't. That is the promise that a prophet of God gave to us, and because of that, I have absolute faith that I will be spiritually safe as I live by this counsel.

Hopefully this is helpful for you guys. I enjoyed writing this one.