1 Nephi 3

To me the beginning of chapter 3 is a lesson in How God Works and the importance of obedience.

Nephi was very close to God. In chapter 3 he had just finished "speaking with the Lord", yet the Lord told Lehi, not Nephi, that he (Nephi) needed to go back to Jerusalem for the plates.

Obviously, Nephi was capable of receiving revelation. He was clearly worthy of receiving revelation, and he surely was available to receive the revelation, but Lehi- the father of the family, the prophet, was the one who the Lord went to to give commandments for the sons.

We are allowed and encouraged to pray for direction and guidance in our lives. We can expect an answer to our prayers. We can know that God loves us and wants us to talk to Him. But when there is something globally important, something beyond our personal guidance, God speaks to the prophet, and then it's up to us to decide whether we will follow the words of the prophet. God WILL tell us in our private revelation whether what the prophet is saying came from Him, but the lesson is that God speaks to prophets, who then tell us God's will.

We have opportunities to hear what God has told our prophets all the time. He speaks to them now, and those words are just as relevant to our lives as Lehi's words to Nephi and his brothers were then.

It's also obvious that what the Lord was commanding them was far from convenient and the timing seemed horrible. Any intelligent person (who did not have a true testimony that Lehi was a prophet of God), would question the logic, reason, and timing of that commandment. Sometimes, especially if our faith is weak, we need to pray to know that what the prophet says really did come from God, but we can know, and we can follow Nephi's example to OBEY! That doesn't mean it will be easy, but we will be blessed if we just OBEY.

1 Nephi Chapter 2, v 16-24

At the end of chapter 2, Nephi admits although he was 'exceedingly young',  he had 'great desires' to know the mysteries of God. Then, because he acts on those great desires the rest of the chapter tells the blessings God promises him.

I think one of the most important things we need to work on in ourselves is to study and analyze what our greatest desires are. Sometimes we say, and we think we know that our greatest desires are of an eternal nature, and worthy desires, but our actions show the opposite. We sometimes think, I really want to know the scriptures; I really want to understand how God thinks, what He thinks of me, or, I want to be a kind, loving person who gives service freely. Then we go about our days and scriptures get missed and visits or phone calls never get done.

Nephi is a great example to us, even when he was 'exceedingly young'. I love the scriptures. I love the inspiration I receive when I am reading or studying them, but I am easily distracted from that study. I want to know the scriptures. I want to be able to find a specific scripture easily and quickly. These verses are key in remembering what our great desires should be and remembering to act on them quickly, frequently, and consistently.

1 Nephi chapter 2 - about Obedience

Verse 1, Lehi is blessed for being faithful and for being a good missionary. All my life I've heard in meetings the importance of being faithful missionaries, yet I've never done as Lehi and gone out and "declared unto the people of the things" that we are commanded to declare. I've served 3 missions, two of which were proselyting missions and then I did spend the whole two years trying to declare the Gospel, but the rest of my life, not so much. I believe if we want to be blessed, if we want the Lord to be pleased with us, we need to be faithful missionaries every day. If we do that, we will be taken to a 'promised land'. If we don't, we might get left behind with those who wouldn't listen to the Prophets.

Verse 2, As soon as Lehi was commanded, he obeyed. It wasn't an easy thing to do - at least I don't think there are very many people in the world who would just pack up some tents and supplies and leave everything in their house, knowing they would never go back to it. What would be the hardest thing to leave? While we were in Chile, I missed having a couch to sit on. I missed my sewing machine all the time. I missed having my flute. I missed the comforts and conveniences of America. I wonder if I could have been so faithful and quickly obedient as Lehi.

Verse 6, I think it's very important to note that one of the first things Lehi did as soon as they pitched their tents was to build an altar where he could make offerings and give thanks. He was grateful, in spite of the difficulties he was currently going through. On my mission I had a companion who always said a prayer of gratitude the second we walked out of a place where we had taught a lesson. She didn't wait till she got back to the apartment, or until her nightly prayers. She stopped in the street, right there, bowed her head, and offered a silent prayer of gratitude. What a great example!

Verse 12, since this post is about obedience, I think verse 12 is the key to our lack of obedience. It is universally true that if we really knew the 'dealings of that God who had created' us, we would want to be obedient to Him. If we are lazy or complacent about obedience, it is probably mostly because we just don't know God, our Heavenly Father, well enough. The more we know Him, the more we LOVE Him and WANT to obey.

Verse 16, and then this verse gives the key to knowing God so that we will want to obey. First Nephi had DESIRES to know of the mysteries of GOD. If Laman and Lemuel, or if WE, want to be obedient, first we need the DESIRE. The 2nd step was to pray. But it wasn't just a rote-same-as-last night's-prayer type of prayer. He CRIED unto the Lord. Verse 19 says Nephi sought God diligently, with lowliness of heart. That's the key to becoming obedient. We need the desire, then we need to pray with all our heart and soul. If we do that, we will be faithfully obedient and receive all the blessings God has for us.

1 Nephi chapter 1 - About Revelations

I'm changing this blog from only places where the scriptures are more clear in Spanish, to all my ponderings and insights as I read.

1 Nephi 1:6         I didn’t notice before that the pillar of fire wasn’t already on the rock when Lehi saw it. It says, “there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock”. Now it sounds to me more like a pillar of fire came down, caught his attention, and then dwelt on the rock. God knows how to get someone’s attention when He wants to, but we have to remember that this pillar of fire was a response to prayer. It is important to be praying in the first place. We aren’t told what Lehi was praying about, but I would think he was probably pondering what the prophets had said, and looking for guidance for his life - to be protected from the things they were saying were going to happen. In other words, the answers, the revelations, the pillar of fire come AFTER praying, “with all our might” as Lehi did.And it doesn't say so, but it seems logical to me that this prayer he was uttering while working wasn't an isolated incident. He most probably had been praying before bedtime, upon rising, while brushing his teeth, and it continued while he was traveling for his work.

v 7       Nephi tells us Lehi was so overcome with the Spirit after the vision, that he returned home. He called in sick from work (figuratively) and went home and went to bed. Joseph Smith tells us of how much it tires the human body to receive revelations. When he was young and received the visitations from Moroni, he was so exhausted he couldn't work or cross a fence. That wasn't just because he was awake all night. Visits by the Spirit wear out the human body and Joseph Smith built up his spiritual muscles to the point that he wasn't exhausted each time he received a revelation.

But Lehi wasn't used to it and had to go home and 'cast himself upon his bed'. The best part is that because he went home instead of trying to return his mind to his work, is that he remained in the right frame of mind so that he could receive even more revelation - the revelation that gave him directions for his family that changed their future and started the events that created our Book of Mormon. We can be so grateful to Lehi for his choices that day!

v14-15      In Sunday School this week, we're studying the New Testament. In Philippians 3:1 Paul repeatedly counseled them to 'rejoice in the Lord". Our teacher asked us what we think it means to 'rejoice in the Lord'. I thought about Lehi, where in these verses Nephi tells what Lehi did after receiving this vision. It says he "did exclaim many things unto the Lord such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heaven, and thy power, and goodness and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth and, beause thou art meriful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!

And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen..... "

I think Paul in the New Testament is telling us that we need to know God well enough to know of His mercy and justice and power and goodness in order to feel like we want to rejoice in the Lord.

v18        After Lehi received the vision he immediately went about telling other people to warn them and to encourage them to repent and be saved. When we understand the Gospel, when we are truly converted, we want to share that with others to encourage then to repent and be saved!

v20        I've read that this verse contains the central message of the Book of Mormon - that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.    The Book of Mormon isn't just an interesting history, altho it is that; it isn't just a study of God's dealings with a people, altho it is that; it isn't just prophets warning us, altho it certainly is that. The central message of the Book of Mormon is that God loves us and His tender mercies are over us if we have faith!! and that through that faith we can be delivered from evil and dangers.