Ether 8

WHAT ARE OUR DESIRES & Where will they LEAD US?

Omer was a friend to Akish, and yet he was willing to kill Akish to obtain his desires. How did his desires ever bring him to that point:

The son of the king (Jared) wanted to reign in his father's stead, so his daughter devised a plan to dance in front of Akish so that she might please him enough, so that he would desire her to be his wife. After this was accomplished, Jared agreed to allow Akish to wed his daughter IF he delivered the head of Omer.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

1. “Desire denotes a real longing or craving...
   “… What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity” (“According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 21).
   Akish allowed his desire of the daughter of Jared to work within him so much so that he was willing to give up on what mattered most to obtain that desire. In fact, as he was executing his plan, he and his followers swore an oath to conceal the killing. The interesting thing about this procedure is that the swore and oath by the God of heaven (vs. 14). This very act convinces me that they knew God existed. It blows my mind that they created a secret combination to kill someone and part of that process was to swear it on God's throne. The very being that had taught them "Thou shall not kill". They swore an oath to follow through with one of the greatest sins of mankind against our Eternal Father????
2. This is a direct example of what happens when we allow ourselves to desire things of the world over things of God. In verse 7, it speaks of Jared desiring for the glory of the world. When we set our hearts on things contrary to God, we can convince ourselves that God will be okay with us committing a little sin, and maybe even swearing by his name and evil oath...that might be okay too.
3. There are so many things in our society today that wants to draw our desires away from the God we love. Some of these things are clothed in "the love of all men" that it can be difficult to see the right course. As I contemplate same sex marriage and planned parenthood, I think of how conniving Satan is in causing us to doubt. We must be diligent in keeping our desires focused on God. We must control the desires of our hearts.