This is the chapter in which
Nephi and his brothers marry Ishmael’s daughters, Lehi finds the Liahona
outside his tent, the Liahona guides them on their journey, Nephi breaks his
bow and his brothers murmur, Ishmael dies and his daughters murmur, and Laman
and Lemuel are chastened by the Lord’s own voice. I have a number of observations to make in this chapter.
Food insecurity and a can-do attitude
One of the main concerns
that causes the murmuring in Lehi’s family is lack of food, and while I used to
condemn those that murmured about it, I have come to the conclusion that I
probably would have done the same, especially when I consider the difficulty
that have sometimes had with fasting.
Fasting teaches me that it takes a lot of extra self-control to be
cooperative while hungry. But I
usually know where my next meal is coming from when I’m fasting. Lehi’s people were dealing with pretty
consistent food insecurity, and I imagine that would wear on anyone. Because of this, I think Nephi’s
example is truly stellar. Even
though he must have been just as hungry as everyone else, he tried to be part
of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
Nephi’s can-do attitude and
focus on solutions reminds me of a little lesson I learned in the last house
that we rented. That house had
some pretty consistent leaks through the front window when it rained, and at
the beginning of our time staying in that house, I regret to say that when I
called the landlord to tell him about them, I complained and blamed him. Naturally, this did not go over
very well. Eventually I learned to
report the problem with out complaining or blaming and to focus on finding
solutions. Once I learned that,
repairs happened more quickly!
(Surprise, surprise!)
Hypocritical criticism
I think it is odd that Laman
and Lemuel got so torked at Nephi for breaking his bow when their bows had lost
their springs. Their bows were
just as useless, so why are they getting down on Nephi? It seems like hypocritical
criticism. It shows us something
we need to be careful we don’t do—get angry at others for something we have
done too. (In my life, one of the
things I get kinda picky about is keeping the house picked up. I have to be careful to put away my stuff at the same time that I get
after my husband for leaving things out.)
Carrying Capacity and seeking higher nourishment
Something else I noticed in
this chapter is where Nephi finally
finds food after the crisis of the broken bow:
30 And it came
to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the
top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the
ball.
31 And it came
to pass that I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our
families. (1 Nephi 16:30-31, emphasis added)
The Liahona directed Nephi
to the top of the mountains, a completely different place than where they
usually got food, which was “slaying food by the way” (v15). It makes me think that maybe staying in
one place may have caused them to exceed the carrying capacity of the land and
they had killed all the animals in the valley where they were traveling.
I also think there’s a
little lesson here for us about getting spiritual nourishment. Sometimes the spiritual food we get in
the normal course of our day is not going to be enough for the challenges we
face. So we have to follow the
Lord’s directions and go to the top of the mountains—the temple—to get the
strength we need. We will have to
seek it out, rather than just letting it come to us. Yes, it is nice when it comes, but the Lord does not intend
for us to always go through life as passive consumers of spiritual things,
taking only what insight is conveniently found. Rather, He wants us to learn to use our agency and search
for what we need.
Nearly there…
Another observation I have
is about the course they took in the wilderness. In the beginning when they have the Liahona, Nephi notes
that:
…we did go
forth again in the wilderness, following
the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness,
which were in the borders near the Red Sea….And we did follow the directions of
the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness. (1 Nephi
16:14, 16)
After all the trouble with
the hunger and broken bow is cleared up, they start moving again and we
something different—“we did again take our journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the
beginning” (v33) It wasn’t exactly the same course, but it was
nearly the same course. I really wonder
about that. Suppose Nephi was nearly following the Liahona, but not
completely? Actually, he probably was following the Liahona carefully and
still making it through the most fertile parts of the wilderness, but imagine
what would have happened if they began deviating even a little bit from the
course the Lord marked out for them?
As it was, they suffered a lot of hunger, thirst, and fatigue. If they had almost followed, but not completely, they probably would have found
themselves in much worse predicaments than they had.
This suggests a lesson to
us. How much blessing can we
expect if we nearly keep the
commandments, but not completely?
I suppose we can expect nearly
to be blessed, but not quite. But
who wants a near-blessing when they can have a full blessing? Or what if we nearly follow the prophets, but not completely? Or what if we nearly fast (but not totally), or almost pray, or nearly
keep the Sabbath day holy, but not completely, or almost have FHE, or get
really close to having family prayer and scripture study, but not
exactly? We’d be ALMOST blessed…
but not quite. And just as Lehi’s
family would have been in a bad way if they had wandered slightly off course,
we will also be in a bad way, possibly suffering spiritual famine in our lives,
if we wander slightly off course from the commandments.
Faith, diligence, and heed
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| http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2011/01/mormon-props.html |
Some of the best verses in
this chapter are Nephi’s realization about how the Liahona works.
And
it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that
they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give
unto them. (1 Nephi 16:28)
Faith, diligence, and heed
are important qualities to cultivate.
‘Faith’ happens when you believe that the source is good and will give
good counsel that will really help.
‘Heed’ happens when you try it out. ‘Diligence’ is about following the counsel consistently over
time.
Sometimes we may be really
good at one or two of these qualities, but not all of them. We may be good at faith and heeding,
but not so great at diligence. Or
we may be good at faith, but never quite make it to heeding and diligence. In many aspects of the gospel, I’m pretty
good at all three, but in some areas I haven’t quite got the diligence down
yet. To have consistent blessings,
we have to have all three—faith, heed, and diligence—at work.
Laman and Lemuel’s suspicion
I suppose once Nephi figured
out the Liahona was fueled by faith, diligence, and heed he worked hard to
follow those pointers and put all his energy into that. It is possible that he took possession
of the Liahona and became the navigator for the journey. If so, considering Laman and Lemuel’s
tendency to suspicion, it would certainly make Nephi’s older brothers nervous
to see Nephi with it all the time.
I think they thought he was manipulating the Liahona somehow, making it
do what it wasn’t supposed to do, just to have control over where the whole
group went. Eventually their
suspicions come out—
….he
tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he
may deceive our eyes, thinking, perhaps, that he may lead us away into some
strange wilderness; and after he has led us away, he has thought to make
himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his
will and pleasure. (1 Nephi 16:38)
There are modern Laman and
Lemuels today who suspect that prophets are just making it up about what is
important to do. They think the
prophets just want the pleasure of being in charge and telling people what to
do and where to go. We need faith
today in what the prophets warn us about, just as Lehi’s family had to have
faith that the Liahona was really giving guidance from God and was not being
meddled with by man.
Stopping places
A final observation I have
is that it seems like Lehi’s party usually gets into trouble when they stop for
a while to rest. In 1 Nephi 16, it
happens twice. I can’t really see
that the Liahona would tell them to stop; I think it would keep pointing the
way, but that they decided to stop
when they didn’t have faith to continue, and that’s when the Liahona wouldn’t
work anymore.
We kind of do the same thing
to ourselves, I think, when we decide to stop following the guidance we get; when
we do that, we don’t progress and we are more likely to get into a complaining
frame of mind, and (strangely) that’s when the guidance doesn’t seem to do any
good. But it isn’t because there
was anything wrong with that guidance; it is because we have ceased to move our
feet.
What are your favorite verses in this chapter and
why?
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