Asking for the Lord's Help

"Where do I find the ore?"

That’s Nephi’s question after he is given the commandment to build a boat. He needed ore to make tools. He knew what to do with the ore to make them, but he didn’t know where to find the ore, so the Lord showed him. It’s a great example of working with the Lord. He expects us to do what we can do, while He provides the missing elements (knowledge or whatever) which we can’t do.

Then he had to build the boat, but he first needed the tools to both cut and work the wood.

That’s such a great lesson!

Into the Wilderness

After more than a year of preparation, and after receiving the Liahona, Lehi's party headed out into the Arabian wilderness. Talk about a flight of faith into the unknown!

Lehi's flight into the desert is an allegory for our day. The import and example can be a source of great comfort for us as we look forward to an uncertain future. Consider how events played out: The Lord gave Lehi time to prepare and step by step, got him ready for the trip. Then when the time was right, He led them into the wilderness of Arabia.

Lehi spent a significant amount of time in the Valley of Lemuel before heading into the wilderness. There were a lot of preparations the Lord knew they needed to make.

1.    They needed a written, non-perishable record of scripture, the Brass Plates of Laban. This helped them and future generations to remember the covenants Israel had made with God. It became the touchstone of the Nephite cultural identity. It had to be metallic plates so they'd withstand the ravages of time.

2.    You need people to make a colony. Lehi's sons needed good Jewish girls for wives to preserve their culture in a distant land. There would be none where they were going, so Ishmael's family was as important to preserving the expedition's culture as the plates were.

3.    They would need food for the trip and for their final destination, hence the gathering of seeds. It's interesting that they gathered "fruit" seeds as well as grain seeds. 

4.    As city dwellers, they had to adjust and get familiar or comfortable with living in tents. Maybe Lehi was already familiar with doing so. Ishmael? We don't know, but there was probably some time needed to get used to the rhythm and patterns of living in a tent in the desert wilderness after living in a city.

Finally, after all the marriages were completed, the supplies and seeds gathered and their written history was assured, the Lord gave them the next key component of the trip: a "map" in the form of the Liahona.

And off they went.

They had prepared for the trip, but it was still a leap into the unknown. A leap which took great faith. All they "knew" is the Liahona would guide them to their eventual new home. Talk about an epic journey! They crossed a deadly desert and a great ocean before arriving at their new home.

When I think about today and what that means for me, I think of the scriptures which say, "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." I also think of Pres. Nelson's invitation to learn to live by revelation: to learn to live by our own personal Liahona's as it were.

It's as important today as it was for Lehi. For while the physical dangers aren't as significant today as then, the uncertainty of the future is just as unsettling. With our personal Liahonas (revelation) and a determined faith, we can navigate our time just as surely as Lehi did those wilderness deserts. After years of effort, they ended up in their Promised Land. We can too.

Nephi and Laban, a David and Goliath Story

Nephi’s actions to get the Brass Plates is meaningful for our day. In particular, I’m mindful of what he told Laman and Lemuel after they’d lost their family fortune to Laban.

Laman said: 

“How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man and he can command fifty. Yea, even he can slay fifty, then why not us?”

Nephi’s answer: 

“Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord. For behold, he is mightier than all the earth. Then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty? Yea, or even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up.”

Then Nephi does and he recounts, “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”

He took action. In doing so, I think the Lord led him to where Laban had passed out in a drunken stupor. (Because he was celebrating his newly acquired wealth?) Whereupon Nephi is obedient to the Spirit and kills Laban so he can get the plates. This is a great link that goes deeper into explaining the “legality” of Nephi murdering Laban:

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/was-nephis-slaying-of-laban-legal

It’s interesting, in light of what is happening today, that what Nephi was told to get was a history of his people. The Lord intended it to preserve the Nephite's history, language, and culture. The Lamanites and Mulekites didn’t have it and they forgot who they were. With the crackdown and censoring going on by Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube, this is also what’s also at stake for us to remember who we are in the face of deliberate "cancelling" of the truth from our society.

It’s also instructive, that despite Laban’s overwhelming political power compared to what Nephi and his brothers had at that time. When it really mattered, it didn't matter at all: the Lord’s will was still accomplished.

Alma 18-20 - Lamoni's Conversion

The lesson on leading with faith, which began in chapter 17, is reaffirmed in this passage. Because Ammon followed the whisperings of the Holy Ghost he became an instrument in God’s hands to teach the Gospel to Lamoni. In a miraculous series of events, Lamoni, his wife, many servants, and others in his house are all converted too.

Mormon makes another comment about the divine protection Mosiah got from the Lord for his sons. The brother of the leader of those who sought to scatter the king’s flocks, who was killed by Ammon, sees an opportunity for revenge. He raises his sword to kill him and dies in the act. The lesson here is the Lord keeps His promises.

Yet the story continues on and Ammon shows his willingness to follow where the Spirit leads when he tells Lamoni he’s going to Midoni to save his brother Aaron and two friends. Lamoni chooses to go with him. On their way, they meet Lamoni’s father, the king over all the lands of the Lamanites.

A fight ensues that ends up with the king seeing just how much Ammon loves his son. It changes his heart towards Ammon and the people in his group. Which prepares him to be taught by Aaron.

These missionary stories are amazing to read and contemplate. There is a common thread here that begs further comment. These spectacular conversions occurred because Ammon and Aaron and the others had faith they could happen. They had it because they’d already seen it in their own lives and especially with Alma the Younger. They knew from personal experience what the Lord could do and so they went forth and acted, expecting Him to do it again. And He did.

It’s a powerful lesson that the Lord blesses us according to our faith. All we have to do is act upon it ourselves, live righteously and follow the Holy Ghost’s promptings.

1 Nephi 99-22 - A Primer on Isaiah

This finishes out First Nephi. It’s an interesting segue in that we are introduced to Isaiah. First, Nephi explains how the two sets of records came to be, then he launches into the future-history of the Jews and Gentiles and he uses Isaiah to tell it.

In Chapter Nineteen, Nephi tells us how the Lord first instructed him to make the plates and keep a record on them. Once he did that, the Lord then instructs him to make another set. It’s an insight into how the Lord operates with us. He gives us what we need in the moment then, once we’ve finished that, He gives us the next step. Always He has the end goal, our salvation in mind. I recommend it as an approach we should take too. Keep the eternal perspective, but focus on the now to do the steps which lead to that long range goal.

In Chapters Twenty to the end, we are introduced to Isaiah. Nephi doesn’t actually introduce him other than to say he used Isaiah to more fully persuade them (us) to believe in the Lord. He records Isaiah 48 in Chapter Twenty-One, then he explains it.

This is a personal chapter for Nephi because the prophecies Isaiah wrote are what Lehi and Nephi experienced. Read 1 Nephi 21:1. It's a summary of 1 Nephi 1-2. It's worth pondering.

If you want to understand Isaiah, the last two chapters are a primer on how to do it. In one chapter you have “Isaiah-speak” and in the other you have “Nephi-speak” saying the same thing. Nephi also explains you need the Spirit to understand Isaiah. With all these tools in place and once you master it, all the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi will be much easier to understand.