1 Nephi 3-15 NEPHI'S DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE

While Lehi powerfully preached to his elder sons, hoping for a change or softening in them, another son was listening.  Lehi's words penetrated deeply, for Nephi wanted to know the truth.  He describes that feeling as "great desires to know of the mysteries of God."  He was not too proud to go straight to the source; he "did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father . . ."

Was it a vision, like Lehi's first vision?  Or was it some other assuring and comforting witness?  I believe it was a vision, the first of many to come to Nephi.  

Lehi's timing was good.  When he broke the news to Nephi that he and his brothers were to return to Jerusalem for the brass plates, (scriptural records that were in the possession of  man named Laban,) Nephi had just returned from this experience with God.  He had not even had a chance to tell his father about it.  His father, on the other hand, had just returned from telling Laman and Lemuel what was required.  Did he wonder if Nephi would respond as they did, with doubt and resistance? (It's too hard!, they said.)  He did not hold back, but told Nephi it was a commandment, and must be done, and assured him of God's help.

Nephi had humbled himself, had directly asked God his questions, and in response he was allowed to personally taste of God's love and power, and know God's awareness of him.  If you and I were to know that, wouldn't we also do anything to retain that goodness?  Nephi knows he can do whatever it takes, whatever the Lord requires.  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."  The Apostle Paul stated it this way:  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philllipians 4:13)  Laman's right!  We often can't do hard things by ourselves--they are too hard.  But if God requires something hard, like a 3-day march back through the desert to Jerusalem to obtain a rare and valuable record from a greed-filled man who has no reason to respect you and no motive to give it up, you can still do the hard thing, because you know Who is asking it, and you can depend on Him.  I call Nephi's response a declaration of dependence, as reminder that I can completely trust and depend on the Lord.

A HABIT OF DOUBT

I hope you're keeping up with the story, because I am not filling in the blanks for you . . .

The last words of 1 Nephi, chapter two, are the first words out Laman's mouth after a visit from an angel.  Amazingly, they are words of doubt: "How is it possible that the Lord will deliver (don't miss that word deliver) Laban into our hands?  Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty...even slay fifty; then why not us?"  (1 Nephi 3:31)

Remember This Day, by David Linn
Available at http://www.turnercarrollgallery.com/index.htm

This reaction causes many a believer in The Book of Mormon to scratch the head in bewilderment.  Isn't it implausible, that this would be Laman's response?  It's just not what one expects of a man whose violence upon his brother has just been interrupted and rebuked by an angel!  How could Laman and Lemuel be so . . . well . . . unintelligent, to put it nicely.  Laman did not seem to doubt that he had been visited by an angel, he just doubted what the angel said:  "Ye shall go to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands."

Human beings have an amazing capacity for belief and for doubt.  Doubt is the default, I believe, and Laman had a deeply ingrained doubt habit at this point in his life, which he was not willing to even recognize, much less tackle and overcome.  Poor Laman--I sympathize again.  Old habits die hard, and the habit of doubt might be among the hardest to surmount.  Because it shows up at the very root of action--in the thoughts.  It isn't like biting fingernails, which is physical, and often managed with a simple physical solution.  It isn't even like swearing, because swearing is a stand-out habit, right?--Draws attention to itself (or at least used to).  But doubt is just thinking.  No shocking words to call you up short, no bedraggled nails to regret for days afterwards.  Just the slow painting of the canvas of life in muted, darker tones.  It seems, in fact, that it's just like belief!  So much so that I wonder if there's any difference, besides the fact that one is dark and the other is light.

I've struggled with habits of doubt, too--not much about big things like God's existence, nor the Bible's truth, or the Book of Mormon's.  But what about the little insidious doubts that are part of every day life, that affect our understanding and actions?  Such as, "I had better speed (break the law) or I won't arrive in time."  We doubt we can abide by the law in a particular instance.  "I knew he would leave his dirty clothes on the bathroom floor again."  We doubt the potential of a loved one to change.  "Nothing I do will help me succeed at -- (fill in the blank:  losing weight, advancing in my career, perfecting my violin bow-hold, whatever the struggle may be.)  These are the doubts that might keep us from ever believing something so pure as the Book of Mormon, or the words of prophet who dresses in a business suit rather than homespun flowing robes.  Or even if we do believe those things, such doubts might prevent us from experiencing what Nephi and Lehi did in this world.  If you struggle with doubts, great or small, play around with this for a few days.  Try out believing in things that you usually doubt.  I will, too.  Let's see what happens.

Today I spent two or three hours catching up, reading through 1 Nephi 15.  These are incredible chapters, full of richness, and full of themes that every reader of The Book of Mormon would do well to watch for.  There is no way I can possibly write all that I feel inspired to write about them.  But if i could, I would explore

The Lord is Able to Deliver Us 

Constrained by the Spirit

Huge Risks:  Obeying the Voice of the Spirit and How Did Nephi Do It? (1 Nephi 4)

Another Type of Deliverance:  Loss of Protection and Sustenance

I HAVE Obtained a Land of Promise (Lehi was years away from it yet)

Now I Know! (Sariah's personal obedience)

Are You As Surprised As I Am That Lehi Did Not Know His Genealogy Before Getting the Brass Plates?

Things of Worth

Persuaded to Come Unto Christ

The World and How to Please and Displease It

Hard Hearts, Soft Hearts

Being Faithful (big topic here)

Fruit That Can Make One Happy

Straight Paths and Strait Paths

Strait Paths and Broad Paths

Clinging to the Iron Rod

Feelings of Tender Parents and Tender Prophets

God Will Accomplish His Work, whether we help Him or not

God Will Fulfill All His Words, whether we believe Him or not.

A Savior, Messiah, Redeemer

More About Doubt

The Power of the Holy Ghost

When We've Seen, Heard, and Known for Ourselves

He that Diligently Seeks Shall Find

What Desirest Thou? 

What Beholdest Thou?

LOOK!

Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?

The Love of God which Sheddeth Itself Abroad in the Hearts of Men

Why I Don't Need to Know the Meaning of All Things  (at least not right now)

Angels Minister unto the Children of Men

Why "the Children of Men" and not Just "Men"?

Healing by the Power of the Lamb of God

The Son of God:  Judged of a World for whose Sins He was Slain

NEPHI BEHOLDS: What Didn't He Behold?

A Great and Terrible Gulf Dividing Men from the Tree of Life

Dwindling in Unbelief

Who are the Saints, and are they separate from the Covenant People?

Dealing with White, Fair, and Beautiful

America the Beautiful

The Other Church, Great and Abominable (there are only two and if we're not in one we're in the other)

Plain and Precious

The Power of an Idea that is True

The Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost

Brothers:  The Bible and the Book of Mormon

Words that Bring Men to Christ and Salvation

The Great Pit

Armed with Righteousness and Power

Understanding What's Hard to be Understood

Have Ye Inquired of the Lord?

The Will to Perish

The House of Israel (in a blog entry?  I don't think so . . .)

Tomorrow?  The journey continues . . .

1 Nephi 2-3: Choose to be Chosen

This is a photograph of the words on my friend Kathryn's kitchen wall.  Anyone who knows the Bible is familiar with the concept of being chosen.  It comes up in The Book of Mormon, too.  It can be a threatening concept for those of us who are insecure or proud--if God is doing the choosing, or calling some people chosen, then it means others are not.  Are we in?  Or are we out?  Just like when we were kids picking teams, no one likes to not be chosen.  This has caused a lot of confusion and concern for God's children through the millenia (not to mention wars, violence, and destruction).  Everyone wants to be on God's team, right?  How terrible if He should choose you and not me . . . or me, and not you.

But Nephi makes it clear at the end of chapter 1, that it isn't God choosing, but us!  "The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith . . ."  He sets the terms and conditions, the incentives and blessings;  but it is we who choose whether we will rise up and claim them or not.  Having faith in Christ and choosing His challenging but rewarding path is what the prophet Lehi did, and his son Nephi.  Thus they were chosen to inherit not only a promised new land, but many opportunities and blessings beyond that.

The older brothers Laman and Lemuel provide the contrast.  They were older than Nephi, and so when their father introduced his plan, they thought about--what?  Maybe their friends, their goals and plans, their expectations of life?  And they did not want to change course.  They liked their lives, and they liked Jerusalem, and they did not believe their father spoke as a prophet or received revelation.  It was certainly inconvenient for them to do so, and I sympathize.  It would be difficult for young men coming into their independence to submit.  But Nephi had the same challenge, and saw an entirely different opportunity.  That is a characteristic of a higher discipleship--a willingness to yield to God's will. Even a willingness to have faith in something you can't see.

Wadi Tayyib al-Ism on the Arabian
peninsula.  Some think this is a good
candidate for the River of Laman and
Valley of Lemeul.

In 1 Nephi chapter 2, vss 9-10, Lehi sets up camp by a river in a valley three days journey out of Jerusalem, and there he sees an opportunity to counsel his elder sons.  First Laman, the eldest and strongest, he adjures to "be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness."  Then Lemuel, the second son, who invariably yields to Laman, he counsels to "be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord."   In this Lehi gave us a type of how our Heavenly Father counsels and guides us.  He knows our individual strengths and weaknesses, and He will direct and guide us according to our needs.  Laman needed to learn to respond to the direction of the Lord, like the flow of a river defers to the lay of the land it encounters.  He could have been a happy man had he not been so determined to control his life.  Lemuel needed to learn to think for himself, to consider things independently, and not just follow Laman wherever he went.  He could have been a happy man had he learned to follow God, and not his powerful and proud elder brother.  Laman wanted to be chosen, I believe.  But he had that other, lower concept of being chosen in his heart--the win/lose one.  He was unwilling to consider that everyone could choose to be chosen. Frankly, he was not that different from many of us, who are tempted to find satisfaction in feeling superior to others. (Just listen to talk radio, for example.)  But win/lose is not God's way, as The Book of Mormon teaches, and the more Laman and Lemuel refused God's path in preference for their own, the less "chosen" they felt, and the more bitter they became.

How often I have been as willful and obstinate as Laman, wanting what I want more than what is right?  Or as distracted and deferential as Lemuel, fearing the opinion of others more than the truth of God.  How often am I too stubborn or fearful to leave my comfort zone and rise up to the standard Christ has set, choosing Him above all, at the cost of everything, if need be?  It was Nephi's and Lehi's and Laman's and Lemuels's privilege, just as it is mine and yours, to choose to be chosen.

We've just celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States.  Tomorrow we'll talk about what I call Nephi's Declaration of Dependence.

STARTING OUT--1 Nephi

The Book of Mormon is getting a lot of press lately, thanks to Broadway and the media.  We could say, those of us who love and revere this scripture, that the attention is not all that good.  But if it's true that "even bad publicity is good publicity," maybe it isn't all that bad.  Now that The Book of Mormon has been brought to the New York stage, join me in taking time to do what its true author, the prophet Mormon, called on us to do:  Read it with real intent.  Ponder and reflect on its words with an honest heart.  Ask sincere questions, and listen in faith for answers.    

Today I am beginning another read-through of the Book of Mormon, a quick one this time, with a goal to be completed (hopefully in the company of my two teenagers) before school starts again in August.   Please join us as we wonder, ponder, and marvel over the Book of Mormon.






Before reading, some business:  The Schedule

Though far from being the most beautifully designed chart available, I'm fond of this.  I drew it up at the beginning of the summer, starting from where I was reading at the time, and aiming finish by early July (to earn an Honor Bee, if you know what that is).  Then, to encourage and accompany my children in their goal, I planned to start over, keeping up the pace so we could finish together on the same day in August.  

If you're interested in something more tidy, here are sites where you can create a schedule:  http://www.ldsscripturetools.com/ or http://www.bookofmormoncalculator.com/book-of-mormon-calculator.php.  There are others--just google it.  

(The intrepid who examine and decipher this schedule above will recognize that I'm already a day behind.  This being my first blog, I've spent more time than I wanted to learning how--and have much yet to learn.  Will catch up tomorrow.)

And now we begin:

1 Nephi 1-3

Knowledge of the Goodness of God

The most important thing to know about reading The Book of Mormon is evident right in the first sentence, when Nephi, the first record-keeper and writer, says he has been "born of goodly parents," and despite many afflictions, has been "favored of the Lord in all [his] days" with a "knowledge of the goodness of God."  When you read, find that place in your own heart--the place of grateful remembrance of God's goodness to you--and it will make all the difference in how you understand this book.  If you don't know how to find it, say a simple prayer and ask God to help you.  If you don't believe in God right now, open your mind to the possibility that He exists and is aware of you.  If you're willing to do even just this much, you will come understand what Broadway can't tell you about the Book of Mormon.   

Choose Deliverance in Christ

"I, Nephi, will show unto you 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."  1 Nephi 1:20  

The last word of 1 Nephi, chapter 1, is deliverance.  How many times a day do we cry out for it?  In everything from annoyance to tragedy, we seek deliverance.  This book is composed of one story of deliverance  after another.  Here in chapter 1 it's Lehi, a Jew in Jerusalem around 600 B.C., who heard prophets calling him and his people to repentance, warning of destruction if they would not.  In praying to God "with all his heart" for his people's deliverance and that of his beautiful city, he was surprised by a vision, seeing among other things, "a pillar of fire" that "dwelt on a rock before him."  (Is that how one becomes worthy of visions?--not condemning, but rather caring with all one's heart for others, as Lehi did?)

Lehi was not to have that particular prayer answered.  Having been called to prophesy along with others, and finding the Jerusalemites of the time not only unwilling to listen or change, but quite willing to silence him by taking his life, the deliverance they might have chosen was reserved for him and his family (and others who were willing to receive it, as we will later read).  Lehi gathered his wife and sons and set forth into the desert, taking nothing but provisions and leaving behind considerable wealth, trusting, faithful, obedient, toward an unknown but promised land.  

The media world I live in today does not admire people like Lehi very much, but there are still many people like him, who know how to act on faith.  Thank you, Lehi, for this first Book of Mormon example of faith.  Care for others, speak the truth in love, know God, and choose to obey Him at any cost.  He will deliver.

My friend Kathryn has these words emblazoned on her kitchen wall:  "Choose to be chosen."  More on this tomorrow.