Isaiah 44:1-5 – As Willows by the Water Courses

1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant;

and Israel, whom I have chosen:

2          Thus saith the Lord that made thee,

and formed thee from the womb,

which will help thee;

Fear not,

O Jacob, my servant;

and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

3                                  For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,

and floods upon the dry ground:

I will pour my spirit upon thy seed,

and my blessing upon thine offspring:

4                                              And they shall spring up as among the grass,

as willows by the water courses.

5 One shall say, I am the Lord’s;

and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob;

and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord,

and surname himself by the name of Israel. (Isaiah 44:1-5)

I like these verses and how easy it is to see the parallelism of repeated thoughts and themes. (I indented at various levels to make it a little more easy to see what things I think go together.)

In verse 1, the Lord is trying to get covenant Israel to listen and is reminding Israel they are chosen and they are His servants. He chose them from the beginning to be His servants. We recognize this because one is not born into the house of Israel by accident, but by design.

Covenant Israel has a tendency to think the job of blessing the entire world is overwhelmingly big, but the Lord tells Israel in v2, “[I] will help thee; Fear not.”

Covenant Israel also recognizes that blessing the whole world is hard work and there are moments when we feel like it would be nice to relax and have others do the teaching for a change. And while we are being examples to the rest of the world, where will we get our examples?  In verse 3, the Lord promises to pour out water (spiritual water) upon those that are thirsty—thirsting after righteousness. “I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” It is the Spirit that teaches our children, and often they end up teaching us.

Then there is some beautiful imagery: “they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”  To understand this, we only need to remember how grass doesn’t grow unless there is plenty of water.  Similarly, willows grow best when very near some sort of river or lake. This is teaching us that with all the spiritual water the Lord pours out through the Holy Ghost, we and our children will grow easily, just like those plants that grow best when there is plenty of water around.

With that kind of spiritual environment, covenant Israel will know for sure they are the Lord’s people. They will be so certain, they will want to take on a new name, perhaps calling themselves Jacob, or Israel, or perhaps consecrating themselves completely to God.

What do I learn from these verses? They tell us to FEAR NOT.  If we draw near to the Lord, He will draw near to us and satisfy our spiritual hunger and yearnings.

Factors that remove hearts from God

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. (Hosea 4:11)

It is fascinating that Hosea observed how immorality and drunkenness took people’s hearts away from God. Today there is scientific evidence for how pornography in particular has terrible effects on brain chemistry. Also chemical addictions stunt real spirituality with counterfeit sensations.  Basically, both practices rewire the brain so that it takes pleasure in sin and indulgence instead of God’s commandments and doing righteousness.

Everyone has an inner soul hunger that yearns to be satisfied and tries to find ways of filling that up.  But the wrong things just make it worse.  We have to turn to Christ instead.

 Christ promises, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

When I turn to Christ and bring Him my empty soul, He fills me as I contemplate His sacrifice. I can testify to that.

Traveling with the Liahona and afflictions in 1 Nephi 16

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

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?

His soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled

And he [Jesus] said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled. (3 Nephi 20:8)

I was reading reading randomly through the scriptures and I noticed this particular verse. The context is Jesus administering the sacrament to the Nephites. Somehow I noticed what a difference it makes between if Jesus had said “eatheth of my body to his body” and what He did say, which was “eateth of my body to his soul.” Jesus said this eating bread and wine of the sacrament was to our souls, not our bodies. It is amazing that the sacrament can benefit our spirits with this little act of eating, which normally would only benefit our bodies.

It’s an amazing promise that goes with it. To those of us who eat the bread and wine to our souls, we are promised our souls “shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled.” What might that mean to us to never have a hungry, thirsty soul? What might it mean to always be filled? How would that bless our lives? What might it feel like?

I know my soul is filled when I take the sacrament. I can feel it. (I think I began to really notice it in my late teens.) I’m sure you have felt it too. For me, it is as if all the holes in my soul are filled in and smoothed over, the cracks joined and glued together. I can feel my desires to do good are renewed and strengthened.

I can keep it a few days, but usually by Saturday I feel like I am struggling a bit. After looking at that verse, though, it seems to me like there has to be something I can do to keep that “filled” feeling in my soul. Perhaps I need to remember Jesus more. I am both haunted and inspired by that promise that my soul “shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled.”

What might it mean to us in the middle of our trials and troubles and afflictions if our soul never hungers or thirsts but is filled? How might a “filled” soul handle inevitable difficulties? How might a “filled” soul deal with heavy responsibility? Is a “filled” soul resilient? Serene? Hopeful? (Obviously I need to really internalize these promises..)

I was asking myself these questions, and interestingly enough a little later, I ran across a scripture that showed me the opposite of “filled.”

It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth;

but he awaketh, and his soul is empty:

or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh;

but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:

so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. (Isaiah 29:8)

So it seems that being filled is meant to help us escape the terrible predicament that Isaiah described of having a hungry, dissatisfied soul. It seems to be a benefit of knowing you are on the right track and walking in the true way we’re supposed to go.

If you’ve had experience with fulfillment of this promise, will you share what it is you do to do your part?

Importance of frequent provisioning

Alma 57 is another chapter in which the great acts of the stripling warriors in the second part overshadow the text of the first part. So we will look at that first part. Here Helaman reports how he was able to regain the city Cumeni. Notice how important provisions become to this story.

6 And it came to pass that in the commencement of the twenty and ninth year, we received a supply of provisions, and also an addition to our army, from the land of Zarahemla, and from the land round about, to the number of six thousand men, besides sixty of the sons of the Ammonites who had come to join their brethren, my little band of two thousand. And now behold, we were strong, yea, and we had also plenty of provisions brought unto us.
7 And it came to pass that it was our desire to wage a battle with the army which was placed to protect the city Cumeni.
8 And now behold, I will show unto you that we soon accomplished our desire; yea, with our strong force, or with a part of our strong force, we did surround, by night, the city Cumeni, a little before they were to receive a supply of provisions.
9 And it came to pass that we did camp round about the city for many nights; but we did sleep upon our swords, and keep guards, that the Lamanites could not come upon us by night and slay us, which they attempted many times; but as many times as they attempted this their blood was spilt.
10 At length their provisions did arrive, and they were about to enter the city by night. And we, instead of being Lamanites, were Nephites; therefore, we did take them and their provisions.
11 And notwithstanding the Lamanites being cut off from their support after this manner, they were still determined to maintain the city; therefore it became expedient that we should take those provisions and send them to Judea, and our prisoners to the land of Zarahemla.
12 And it came to pass that not many days had passed away before the Lamanites began to lose all hopes of succor; therefore they yielded up the city unto our hands; and thus we had accomplished our designs in obtaining the city Cumeni. (Alma 57:6-12, emphasis added)

Essentially Helaman besieges the Lamanites by disrupting their supply lines. It is very interesting how this is described. It says that the Nephite army surrounded the city “a little before they were to receive a supply of provisions.” This tells us that Helaman had observed that the Lamanite supply came according to a schedule, so he used that schedule to get in the way. Then there is another little interesting detail—“at length their provisions did arrive”—that “at length” sounds like the Lamanite provisions were significantly delayed. What kind of effect did this have? At first, the Lamanites were still determined to keep the city, but then “not many days had passed away before the Lamanites began to lose all hopes of succor,” so they gave up the city. (Unbeknownst to them, another Lamanite army with provisions was coming their way in verse 17, but the Cumeni Lamanites had lost faith, so they couldn’t wait and they gave up.)

Satan knows when we are scheduled to receive reinforcements and provisions, so he tries to get in the way. We get a supply of strength ever week at church. Just two weeks ago, a woman in our ward shared her experience of having to work hard to resist Satan’s temptations as he tried to prevent her from going to church. Even though she felt like her health problems (of a physical frailty type) provided her with a legitimate excuse to stay home, she also had the feeling that it was important to come to church and she was elated to tell us during Relief Society that she had experienced a spiritual outpouring that had made it worth it for her to come. She had prevented Satan from disrupting her spiritual supply lines.

We get a supply of strength from going to the temple. So of course Satan will try to get in the way of us going then too. I remember as a teen that my Mom told me that she always seemed to be hit with extra opposition just as she and Dad were getting ready to go on the 100-mile trip to the Chicago temple. She told me Satan would try to prevent it. I began to see it too at the beginning of our youth temple trips, which happened twice a year. Someone would always join the car pool group feeling irritated and cranky for seemingly no reason and it seemed that Satan was trying to destroy our peace. Thankfully, the prayer to bless the trip seemed to smooth things over. Other obstacles are: forgetting temple recommends, late starts, car troubles, etc. I can just imagine the troubles that families with children face.

We get a supply of strength from general conferences. So Satan tries to disrupt that experience for us too. When I was a college student, it seemed like every time conference came around, inexplicably I’d have loads of homework dumped on me, and though I had gotten to the point that I was determined to watch conference and let homework go, it was still tempting to allow the stress get to me and affect my attitude between sessions and my relationship with my husband. I didn’t even notice that I had this problem until my husband pointed it out.

We can get a supply of strength from a number of other things, such as prayer, scripture study, and fasting. We can get it from religion classes, gospel discussions, family home evenings, church broadcasts, and church magazines. But it is often up to us how often these things are in our lives. The more sporadic they are, the more Satan will try to get in the way.

We have so many sources of strength to supply us, and this story from the Book of Mormon shows us that it matters how often we are supplied. The Lamanites were scheduled to be supplied only once in a while, and if something got in the way, they were in big trouble. In terms of spiritual things today, if the only provision we get is at church on Sunday, if we miss church, we’re in big trouble. (Personally, I really don’t see how a member can get by today just by going to church.)

Not only did an army get in the way of the Lamanite provisions, the people who were to supply the men and provisions delayed sending them, and that delay, added to the obstruction, caused the Lamanite army at Cumeni to lose all hope of succor. They lost hope that help would ever come because the previous delay sent a message that headquarters didn’t care about them. This shows us that if we delay reinforcing and supporting our children or those who depend on us, they will feel like we don’t care and they will lose hope and give in to… whatever. So how often do we mentally, physically, and emotionally and spiritually reinforce and supply our families, particularly our children, as they are under siege? How often do we seek strength from the Lord?

It seems that the Lamanites actually learned from their mistakes, and in the very next chapter, Helaman reports that “the Lamanites were also receiving great strength from day to day, and also many provisions” (Alma 58:5). The Lamanites figured out that it was much better to supply many provisions to their armies daily than to only send a big shipment every once in a while and risk having the big one disrupted. It is the same for us. It is best for us to give plenty of spiritual reinforcement to our families daily with family scripture time and family prayer than to only do a big thing once in a while. It is better to build the 3 month supply in increments than to get it all at once. It is better to receive our strength from the Lord through daily scripture study and personal prayer than to have a big spiritual binge session every once in a while.

Have you ever had experiences when your spiritual provisions were disrupted? If so, how did you remove the obstacle? If you’ve never allowed a disruption of your spiritual supply line, please tell when you realized the importance of it and how you have prevented that disruption.

Image: Dvids Defense video & imagery distribution system, http://www.dvidshub.net/image/292348/army-food-service-workers-serve-soldiers, U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Joseph Rivera, 120th Public Affairs Detachment

Complaining in 1 Nephi

Recently I read something that suggested that when similar events reoccur in the Book of Mormon, we should study those events to see what the differences are between those events. Something that happens over and over in 1 Nephi is complaining and murmuring, so I decided to study the different incidents to see what I could learn. I ended up making a chart in which I examined who did the complaining, what was complained about, and then what the solution turned out to be. I felt this was important for me to study because I recently had a few days of complaining against the Lord and I got heavenly admonishment for it, so I wanted to learn what I could do to fortify myself against situations that might cause me to complain.

Some questions I asked myself after having made this chart were the following:

Is there a pattern in the type of things that Laman & Lemuel complain about?

Do the types of things they complain about change over time?

If so, how does it change?

How are the complaints solved?

Who tends to administer the solutions to the complaints?

Who complains besides Laman & Lemuel and why?

Who doesn’t complain? Why?

Why do Laman & Lemuel change from complaint to anger? What are they angry about? Are these good reasons to be angry?

Reference & event	Who complains	Cause of Complaint	Solution
1 Nephi 2:11-13 leaving Jerusalem	Laman & Lemuel	Father Lehi is a visionary man Father led family out of Jerusalem We left precious things behind We will perish in the wilderness	Lehi speaks with power and the Spirit Lehi confounds them Their frames shake They dare not speak against him They obey
1 Nephi 3:5 getting the plates	Laman & Lemuel	We have to get the plates from Laban (hard thing)	Sam & Nephi to go with them
1 Nephi 3:28 losing family inheritance to Laban	Laman & Lemuel (beat Sam & Nephi, speak hard words)	We lost all property to Laban We have not obtained the plates (returning to Jerusalem to the same standard of living as before is now not an option)	Angel comes Angel chastises L & L Angel commands them to go get plates Nephi goes to get plates, succeeds
1 Nephi 5:2 waiting for sons to return with plates	Sariah	Husband Lehi is a visionary man I’ve been led from land of inheritance My sons have perished My family will perish	Lehi comforts her: (“I am visionary, I’ve seen things of God, I know God’s goodness, We’ve left Jerusalem so we won’t perish, We’ve obtained a land of promise, The Lord will save our sons”) Lehi’s sons return safe with the plates
1 Nephi 7:6-7 returning from getting Ishmael’s family	Laman & Lemuel, 2 daughters of Ishmael, 2 sons of Ishmael + their families	? (We want to return to Jerusalem)	Nephi chastises Laman & Lemuel 1 daughter of Ishmael + wife of Ishmael plead for Nephi Laman & Lemuel repent
1 Nephi 16:1 Nephi explaining Lehi’s dream and prophecies	Laman & Lemuel	Nephi speaks hard things we can’t bear about no unclean thing inheriting kingdom of God and being cast out as filthiness	Nephi exhorts brothers to diligence
1 Nephi 16:18-22 Nephi breaks his bow	Laman & Lemuel, sons of Ishmael, Lehi	Nephi broke his bow Our families obtain no food We’re tired We’ve suffered and affliction in the wilderness Laman & Lemuel’s bows lost their springs God (is making us do this)	Nephi makes a bow and arrow Nephi asks Lehi where to hunt for food Voice of the Lord chastens Lehi New words written on Liahona to give understanding of the Lord’s ways Families fear and tremble Nephi observes guidance comes with faith and diligence Nephi gets food
1 Nephi 16: 35-38 Ishmael’s death	Daughters of Ishmael, Laman (to Lemuel, sons of Ishmael)	D: Father Ishmael has died in the wilderness We’ve wandered much in the wilderness We’ve suffered hunger, thirst, fatigue We’ll die in the wilderness of hunger L: Nephi is acting as ruler, getting revelations (suspicious of Nephi’s motives, stirring others to ANGER)	Voice of the Lord speaks to them (which ones? All of them?) Voice of the Lord chastens them exceedingly They repent Blessed with food
1 Nephi 17:17-18, 19-22 Nephi starts to build ship	Laman & Lemuel	Nephi is trying to build a ship (foolish, no boat can cross the waters, don’t want to work, don’t think God commanded him) Our wives had to labor hard while pregnant We might have enjoyed inheritance during all this We might have been happy at Jerusalem Death would be better than what we went through Jerusalem was righteous Lehi judged Jerusalem unjustly ANGER at Nephi’s words	Nephi preaches to L & L (God has chastened them like rebellious children of Israel, the righteous are favored, Israel was ripe for destruction, L & L are murderers in their hearts, L & L past feeling, fear L & L will be cast off,God can command me and help me build ship) Nephi: “Touch me not!” God tells Nephi to shock L & L L & L repent
1 Nephi 18:9,10,17 While on the ship	Laman & Lemuel, Sons of Ishmael	Nephi speaks soberly to us about our rudeness Nephi is trying to rule over us ANGER (they tie him up) Others are pleading for Nephi	Huge 4 day storm (Liahona stops working, Lehi speaks to them,family cries, parents about to die) All about to be swallowed by mountain waves
2 Nephi 4:13 Nephi preaches after Lehi’s death	Laman & Lemuel, Sons of Ishmael	ANGER at Nephi because of admonitions of the Lord We think Nephi wants to rule over us We’ve had trial because of Nephi We don’t get to rule over the people	(Nephi prays) (Nephi takes good people and leaves)

So, the following things can lead to complaining:

• Having one’s course of life unexpectedly changed in a direction one doesn’t like
• Being unexpectedly asked/commanded to complete a large and complicated project
• Trying to do something important and then failing or having an unexpected setback
• Loss of valuable belongings
  
• Breakage of important tools
  
• Circumstances of physical hardship—hunger, thirst, fatigue, extended suffering
• Seeing loved ones suffer
• Feeling one’s own common sense suggestions are being ignored in favor of a risky course with no end in sight

I noticed that Laman and Lemuel begin to try to add greater weight to their complaints by rehearsing past complaints as well. At the same time, they forget the blessings that have come. This shows me that rehearsing all past problems along with current complaints without acknowledging past solutions is ungrateful and only makes it worse.

I also noticed a progression through these incidents:

1. Being swift to do iniquity and slow to remember the Lord causes our hearts to harden. (1 Nephi 17:45)
2. Complaining arises from a hard heart.
3. Complaining about circumstances gradually leads to complaining about the people who seem to bring these circumstances.
4. Complaining against people leads to anger against people (even righteous people)
5. There may be a reason for complaint, but when ANGER enters it, soon any kind of reason is enough to raise anger. Anger is unreasonable.

Nephi always responds to complaints and murmuring by preaching faith in the Lord, using examples from the scriptures and from shared past experiences.
Nephi cries to the Lord in difficulty.
Nephi doesn’t complain in difficulty; he focuses on being part of the solution and he keeps trying solutions.
Nephi only complains once (instance not on the chart), but that is about his own sins and the temptations that so easily beset him, and then he quickly remembers all the Lord has done for him and prays for strength. (see 2 Nephi 4:17-35)


Doctrines that help us not complain:

• The righteous don’t do anything except by (or according to) the word of God. (The righteous get their assignments from God.) (1 Nephi 17:3)
• If God has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that He can’t instruct me to__________? (1 Nephi 17:51)
• If God commanded me to do all things, I could do them. (1 Nephi 17:50)
• The Lord makes us mighty. (1 Nephi 17:32)
• The Lord goes before us, leading by day and giving light by night, doing all things for us which are expedient for us to receive. (1 Nephi 17:30)
• The Lord prepares a way for us to accomplish His commandments (1 Nephi 3:7)
• If we keep the commandments, we will be led to a better place. (1 Nephi 17:13)

Is there anything that you’ve learned that helps you not complain? Will you share with me a time when you didn’t complain when in difficulty and were blessed?

Feeding the Five Thousand versus the Leaven of Pharisees

5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 ¶ Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12)

This little bit always puzzled me. I just didn’t understand how Christ would explain His beware-the-Pharisee’s-leaven speech by referring to the miracle of feeding the five thousand and the leftovers that they collected afterwards.

So I went back to the beginning of this story and thought about why Christ may have said those words in the first place. It seemed to have arisen over the apostle’s realization that they had forgotten to take bread. (I don’t know whether this meant the apostles had forgotten to eat or whether the apostles had forgotten to pack their lunch.) But it suddenly occurred to me that Christ tended to use ordinary happenings to teach important principles and that this might be one of those cases. He wouldn’t have said what He did if there hadn’t been an important idea to impress upon the apostles.

The circumstance was that the apostles were hungry. I think Christ knew that there were different kinds of hunger besides physical hunger. He knew that the apostles would have times when they were spiritually hungry as well. It is hard for us to imagine that apostles could be spiritually hungry, but we have to remember Christ’s words elsewhere: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). This indicates that the apostles, by virtue of their character, were destined to experience this hunger very often.

Hungry people have to get food somewhere. But where? “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Christ wanted to make sure that the apostles didn’t go to any old source for spiritual nourishment, particularly the Pharisees and Sadducees, who had blunted the effect of the law of Moses through their corrupted traditions. That source was tainted.

Of course the apostles were thinking with their stomachs and so Christ’s words seemed strange to them. They figured He was a little irritated that they hadn’t brought bread with them in the first place. If they perceived Christ’s spiritual message even dimly, they probably thought He just meant that they should make sure to always be spiritually full.

I realized that Christ knew it was impossible to be spiritually full all the time, and He wouldn’t warn them away from the doctrine of the Pharisees and Saducees without giving them a better alternative. This is why He reminded them of the miracle of feeding the five thousand. Just like the food to feed all those people was produced miraculously—essentially coming down from heaven like manna—nourishing doctrine would come to them from heaven right when they needed it. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). That fullness would come through revelation and inspiration. They were to depend on God to fill them with doctrine.

Famine watch. Also, my story about housing.

2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face….
6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom….
8 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
11 ¶ But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain….
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. (Isaiah 65:2-3, 6, 8-9, 11-14)

This is a stiff prophecy of Isaiah’s and I have a feeling it is about to be fulfilled in our day, especially that part in verse 13 about hunger and thirst.

Have you noticed that oil prices have dropped by more than half? Good for us. So far. That’s taking away profit margin from oil companies. And demand has plummeted too. But those dropping prices… if they fall too far, then it becomes unprofitable for companies to remain in business, so they will close operations.

And the credit crisis. (Which I think is really a debt-default crisis causing a trust crisis.) Banks are making it really hard for companies to borrow money for their day-to-day operations. (And I don’t understand why businesses borrow money for the day-to-day expenses. That doesn’t sound like a very self-reliant model.) Banks are also making it hard for companies to borrow money to buy their inventory. (Buying inventory on credit doesn’t sound very smart to me either.) So if fewer people can buy inventory, then there will be less inventory and we will have shortages. When shippers, distributors, and other middlemen in the supply chain become unable to obtain credit to fund day-to-day operations, they will be forced to fold. When this happens to the farmers, food shippers, and grocery stores, we will have famine.

I’ve already read some news about farmers being unable to obtain loans to buy fertilizer. Hope you have your food storage.

And houses. When nobody has money for a down payment, no one is be able to buy a house. And when no one is able to buy, no one is able to sell. And if no one is able to sell, then no one can move between houses. So the price of houses will drop to practically nothing, forcing those who bought at higher prices upside down. Just as businesses walk away from a market when they can’t make a profit, homeowners walk away from a house that puts them in debt for more than it can fetch on the market. Of course, this is all pretty obvious to everyone now.

I remember back in 2004 and 2005 there were a lot of news stories that talked about the immense amount of debt that Americans were carrying. I remember wondering if anyone listened to those stories. They were a warning. I suppose they were easy to ignore; the consequences took several years to work through the whole system, and it is easy to ignore warnings and think they are too “alarmist” when the consequences don’t come immediately.

I suppose you’re wondering what my husband and I did during those boom years. Well, we had our own learning experience a little earlier. We bought a duplex in Austin, Texas a few months before September 11th. Austin was going through its own little real estate bubble at that time and we bought near the top of it. We were just married and we were eager to have our own home to live in. Yeah, we bought. Two mortgages, 80% and 10%, I think it was. And then September 11th happened and the economy tanked. And there was the “Tech Wreck” when technology stocks took a nosedive. Around 2005, we moved to Phoenix and we needed to sell our duplex. By that time Austin’s real estate bubble had popped. Somehow we managed to sell and we just barely broke even. (Talk about a miracle! Boy did we feel blessed that we got out of that!)

And we got to Phoenix just about when its housing bubble was close to the top, right at the time when prices were more than a little insane, right when it was hard to find any house with a For Sale sign in front of it that didn’t say “pending” or “sold”. And prices were much higher than they were in Austin, so.. we rented. We could have bought something out in the boondocks, but we didn’t want to drive for hours everyday to get to work or school. After experiencing the Austin-bubble-poppage, we were not excited about jumping into a repeat performance in Phoenix.

I think that at least one reason so many people bought houses was peer pressure. My husband remembers all the times his co-workers kept telling him, “You really should buy now; prices are only going to go higher. They’re never going to come down. They might stagnate for a while, but historically, home prices never drop.” (Sounds like a sick joke now, doesn't it?) Who knows how many times these conversations were duplicated across the city… or the nation? How many people caved and bought because of this?

We muddled through the pressure of all those flyers that were stuck in our door jamb. ("Why throw your money away when you can buy with no money down?! 6% interest rate! 4% interest rate! 3% interest rate for first 5 years!") We heard the stories about people buying houses and then selling them for an obscene profit a few months later. We read the stories of the people who sold their house in California for half a million and then bought in Arizona and retired. Sighhhhhh.

For a while I worked for a plumbing company in their estimating department. I saw all the house plans for all the new communities they plumbed. I heard about the numbers of houses being built. Do you know how hard it is to keep from buying a house when you are working in the construction industry?! People are always talking about buying or looking and about what options they want. One fellow I worked with liked to change his plumbing fixtures every so often for a new look. I’d wonder, When will it ever be our turn to buy?

Finally, I complained to the Lord about it. And I got a very strong impression that the day would come when we’d be able to get whatever kind of house we wanted for a song and that the Lord was going to squeeze people’s wallets so much that George Washington was going to scream. That gave me the courage to hang on longer.

We rented through the boom. We’ve saved money for a down payment. We’re starting to look at houses now. My husband really wants to buy. He dreams of a house around which he can plant a peach tree and a cara cara orange tree and get loads of fruit. I’d like fruit trees too, but I’m not ready to fully cast off my caution. Waiting through the boom years taught me something very valuable—it’s okay wait and save even when people say it’s crazy.

One thing I’m not sure about is when I’ll know that housing prices in Phoenix have hit “song” level. Actually, you know what I’d consider “song” level? A price so good that we could buy the house outright with no loan needed. Do you think I’m crazy? Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. I've seen the credit crunch squeeze George Washington. (I think it is still squeezing as I write.) "Song" level prices may be just around the corner.

Hungering after righteousness

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matt 5:6,8)

I love to ask questions about the scriptures I read.

Some questions I have from these verses are “filled with what?” If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, what will we be filled with? I suppose the answer would be righteousness, because we get what we go searching for. Seek and ye shall find, right?

So now I have more questions. Once we are filled with righteousness, does that mean we will no longer be hungry for righteousness? Or will we be hungry for more? Maybe the answer lies in the metaphor that Christ uses, which is eating. Once we eat enough, we feel satisfied and comfortable and happy. Perhaps Christ implies that doing righteous things will satisfy our spirits like food satisfies our bodies, but perhaps like eating, the strongest feelings of satisfaction are temporary and have to be reinforced with more righteousness.

I know this is true, because I have felt this. When I have done something good, I have a very strong feeling of satisfaction for a while, but after a while I begin to want to do something good again. While I remember my previous satisfaction, the memory does not feed, just like memories of good food do not much help new hunger.

So if we go through life feeding our hunger for righteousness, that seems an awful lot like we’d become pure in heart. And Christ’s promise is that the pure in heart will see God. We are left to wonder whether it will happen in this life or the next. I hope it is this life.

Make this stone into bread...

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:1-4)

This is one of those episodes that we read over really quick and we assume that we know exactly what it means. “Duh! Man needs more than food to live! Man needs the word of God! Okay, next!”

Today, I ran across this incident in my reading and I noticed something that didn’t quite make sense to me. Christ is hungry after fasting 40 days. (it just boggles my mind that someone could fast for that long!) The devil is quick to offer a solution—“You’re the Son of God; just make some stones into bread!” I didn’t get why Christ resists this temptation by saying that He needs something else—the word of God--to live too. As if He says, "Yeah, so what? I'd rather read my scriptures right now."

I'm thinking, "Yes, you need the word of God, but right now, you are physically hungry!! How is the word of God going to solve that?! You might DIE!! What good is a Savior that lets Himself die of hunger!?"

A-ha! But if Christ is really the offspring of God and a mortal woman, then He won’t die…unless He decides it is time. No one could take His life from Him without His consent, no physical privation or stress could make His spirit leave that tabernacle unless He agreed to go. He had complete freedom to decide when and where and under what circumstances He would give up the ghost. (If He didn’t, how could His death be a voluntary sacrifice?)

How would Christ know when it was time to die? He had to have guidance about this, because so much depended upon it. He got that guidance from the word of God, both through personal revelation and the prophecies recorded in the scriptures. He lived by the word of God.

So when His stomach told Him that He was going to die if He didn’t eat immediately, and the temptation to change rocks to food came, because Christ knew His own nature and destiny and was committed to it, He knew being hungry wouldn’t kill Him. So, if hunger couldn’t kill Him, the body could wait a little longer for Him to get some bread the right way.

So what does this mean for us today? I consider this story of Christ valuable, because it shows that even a very urgent biological need can be put off a little while longer. It shows me that we can ignore the alarms of our biological clocks and live by the Lord’s schedule. We can refrain from sexual intimacy until He says it is right, and the Lord says it is right between a man and a woman lawfully married. We don’t have to eat all the time when we are hungry. If the Lord asks us to wait, it is for our good.