Three Ways to Respond to Commandments

I started reading the Book of Mormon again last week, and my companion and I started reading it with one of our investigators, as well, so I've been really focusing on the first few chapters of 1 Nephi. Just like people always say, new things stand out to you every time, and this time I found a fascinating comparison in Chapter 2. It shows us three very different ways to respond to commandments, particularly difficult commandments.

At the beginning of the chapter, Lehi is commanded that he needs to leave Jerusalem. That doesn't just mean pack up his stuff and move to Syria or something, he had to leave everything, and the scriptures make it clear he was a pretty wealthy guy.

I feel for Lehi, here. Leaving what I had going for me back home to come on a mission was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and it absolutely terrified me. Even now, I'm terrified of when I'll be transferred from my first area, but look at the three ways people in Lehi's family responded:

1) Laman and Lemuel, as always, whine and complain about what they've been asked to do. In verse 12, it says, "they did murmer because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them." I think we all understand that this was the inappropriate reaction. They just got saved from being destroyed in Jerusalem, for goodness sakes!

But, I think we've all had our times of being like Laman and Lemuel. I think it is worth pointing out that they did leave with their family, when they could have just stayed at home alone. I give them slight amounts of props for at least obeying the commandment, even if it was very begrudgingly and without heart.

2) Lehi probably has the most faithful reaction. In verse 7, it says that as soon as Lehi got out of Jerusalem and found a place to camp out, he "gave thanks unto the Lord our God." What a man! He just had to leave everything he had going for him and the first thing he does when he stops hiking is give thanks! Clearly, he understood that the Lord only gives us commandments in order to bless us.

But, can we really do the same? Well, I would naturally, as a representative of Jesus Christ, say, "Of course we can!" As a 19-year-old mortal boy, though, I would say, "I don't know if I could really do that..."

3) Here's where I think we can ALL aim for, though: Let's be like Nephi. Nephi, I noticed, felt a little apprehensive. Trusting in the Lord and hopeful, still, but noticeably nervous about what was going down here. But look at how he handled this fear! In verse 16, Nephi says, "Having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I 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."

I think we can do that! I think we can all trust in the Lord just enough to at least ask Him for comfort and ask Him for help understanding the hard things we are asked to do. One of my favorite verses in the scriptures is later on in 1 Nephi, this time in chapter 11, verse 17. It reads, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

We all subconsciously acknowledge that our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, have a purpose in everything they do. If we can just internalize that they do EVERYTHING out of love, and then simply have the faith to pray to Heavenly Father and ask for help, he will, just as He did for Nephi, "soften [our] heart" so that we can believe "all the words which have been spoken" from God.