1 Nephi 3

(July 6, 2014)

                When we read this chapter, our minds tend to be drawn to Nephi’s statement of faith (“I will go and do”).  But equally interesting is Lehi’s reaction to this display of faith (“for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord”).  Notice the tense of the verb – not that Nephi would be blessed, but rather than he had been blessed.  Do we see that in our own lives?  As we struggle with our challenges and as we face up to difficult trials, do we see the faith and confidence with which we approach those trials as the blessing and the gift that it is?  Facing an impossible situation, Nephi bravely trusted in the Lord.  This trust was the blessing that he “had been blessed” with and the Brass Plates became the blessing that he was ultimately blessed with in the future.

                Sometimes, and I am struggling with this now, we face a set of circumstances that seem to tax us to the very limits of what we feel we can do.  In those circumstances, our ability to go on in faith is a blessing, and in following the commandment to remember the Hand of the Lord in all things it is important that we express gratitude for that gift.