1 Nephi 2

(January 4, 2015)

                When I read verse 3 today, I noticed something that I hadn’t noticed despite the countless times that I had read this chapter (let’s face it – before I started on my reading schedule I started the Book of Mormon countless times – I fizzled out along the way a number of times, but rarely before 1 Nephi 2).

                Nephi states that Lehi was obedient to the commandments of the Lord, wherefore he went into the wilderness.  I always thought that the first phrase (Lehi being obedient) was almost a restatement of the second phrase (Lehi went into the desert).  Or, at a minimum, Nephi is speaking of a pair of events correlated in time chronologically – Lehi decided to be obedient and so he headed out into the desert. But that really isn’t the case.

                Nephi is giving a description of Lehi’s character in the first phrase – Lehi was obedient to the commandments of the Lord.  This wasn’t limited to the time when he received this particular commandment, but was rather a trait that Lehi had developed over time.  In that light, Nephi is saying (if I can rephrase the words of a prophet of the Lord), ‘Lehi had developed the quality of obedience to the Lord.  As a result, when the Lord commanded Lehi to take his family into the desert, Lehi was obedient to this commandment the way he had been obedient to all the other commandments of the Lord.’

                Read in this light (and I think that is the correct light, there is an important lesson to be learned here.  When the Lord calls on us to forsake everything for Him, we will not be able to be obedient unless we have developed that quality in our character through effort and the application of Grace.  The story goes that Elder J. Golden Kimball asked a congregation to raise their hands if they would die for the Church (every hand was raised, of course).  He then asked the same congregation to raise their hands if they were full tithe-payers (only about a third of the hands were raised).  Elder Kimball turned to the Stake President and said, “See?  The Members of your Stake would rather die than pay their tithing!”

                The same thing is true in our lives.  We may not be called upon to give our lives for the Church.  We may not be called upon to sell everything like the rich young man was told to do by Christ.  We may not be called upon to sacrifice our children on the altar like Abraham was.  But the day will come when we are given instructions from the Lord that seem beyond our capacity.  In that moment of trial, our ability to obey is dependent upon how well we have developed the capacity to obey in the moments of safety and security.