If you haven't figured it out yet, by the end of these two chapters you should know with great clarity that while God helps us to our respective Promised Lands, the journey there is never easy nor without travail and adversity. He has to help us because the trip is overwhelmingly daunting otherwise. And that's by divine design.
In chapter seventeen, Nephi is trying to build a boat. His labor pool consists of his brothers and Ishmael's sons. Laman and Lemuel think the idea is ridiculous and fight him. Only divine intervention saves Nephi's life and gets them to help.
Then, in the boat, they forget all the miracles and mutiny, wresting control of the boat from Nephi and Lehi. It's not until they face certain death in the face of a terrible storm, do they relent. Only when they come face to face with the reality that there is much in their lives over which they have no control that they finally get it.
So it is with us. God grants us agency, the ability to choose what we do and think. But we are not in control of our lives and environment. Death, illness, accidents, the actions of others near and far can destroy our world in an instant. The only thing we really control is how we choose to respond.
We see from these two stories, the correct choice is to be grateful to God and acknowledge He is in control and do our best within that context.
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