"Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur,
saying: How is it possible that the Lord
will ..."
-this more than anything manifests
the truly sad condition of Laman and Lemuel.
I don’t even know how to explain the how and whys of this
situation. It would be unbearable to
live with the fear and uncertainty that accompanies a lack of faith.
-What is
making them doubt?
-lack
of faith -attitude
-denying
God's power -fear
of man
“how is it
possible…”
-what
motivates this question?:
-sever lack of faith.
-denial of or complete ignorance to the power
of God.
-fixed mal-attitude.
-no eternal perspective.
Although we perceive this question as evidence of a
character beyond our belief, how is it that we fail to pay our tithing because
“how is it possible” for us to meet our financial obligation? How is it possible that the Lord will bless
us? How is it that we resist any
commandment because we don’t see “how it is possible” that we can endure the
sacrifice of it?
-the
situation for Laman and for us is, in an eternal perspective, quite ironic
because the true question is really: How is it possible that the Lord will not
deliver and bless us? It is
impossible. He will always deliver us
because He rules the circumstances of this world, this existence and this
reality by the power of His word.
"he can
command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?"
-Did
Nephi have to go against fifty when the Lord directed him? He didn't even have to go
against the full strength of
one. Laban, himself, was out.
“he can slay
fifty, why not us?”
-why not
us? Because a man engaged in God’s work/errand
is able to do more than 50. His power
enables the righteous man or woman to overcome what would otherwise be
impossible situations.
-when
Nephi is led back into Jerusalem and faces Laban, does he face fifty armed and
trained soldiers? Does he even have to
defeat 5 able men in an armed confrontation?
No, neither. The Lord
accomplishes his work in his own way (and a way that evens the field for us). Nephi did not even have to face Laban
personally in all his strength. Laban’s
weakness was part of his own undoing.
Summary of Plans 1 & 2
There
seems to be one obvious and perplexing question that comes out of the
experience so far: Why did two attempts
meet with failure when they had been striving only to fulfill the command of
the Lord? Perhaps there are many
reasons; one possibility is that they
were tested to see if they would be persistently obedient in doing God’s
will. There are many other reasons. Plan 3 , or the 3rd attempt into
Jerusalem, illustrates some differences from the previous two. Since Plan C succeeded it is probably safe to
assume that those steps taken --that are unique to this last attempt-- facilitated
its success.
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