Thursday, August 13, 2015

1 Nephi 4:14

14  And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: aInasmuch as thy seed shall keep my bcommandments, they shall cprosper in the dland of promise.
     “I remembered the words of the Lord”
            -when we are in the midst of a difficult situation/trial, especially when the heat of the situation is at its highest intensity, the last thing we are often able to do is clear our minds to think.  It is one of the most powerful workings of the Spirit to come to our consciousness and “bring our minds to a remembrance of the things God” has spoken unto us or would have us do.  I don’t think that Nephi’s remembrance here as a careless process, but rather a spiritual one.  At this point “it all fit together”, things became clear.  The spirit spoke peace to his mind and heart and he knew which direction to go.

        “in the wilderness”
            -I think we may, safely, take this experience of Nephi’s and parabolically relate it to our lives.  It may serve us well as a parable –we can learn many things from it.  This phrase, for instance, lets us know that during times in our lives when we are in the “wilderness”/the wilderness of our lives –times of not knowing what to do, what course to take, when we feel we’re in unfamiliar circumstances, even when we are lost and don’t know which way to turn- the Lord will take the opportunity to teach and tutor us.  When we find ourselves in this kind of predicament the troubles of the wilderness might be handled easier if we knew why the Lord took us there.

       “inasmuch as they seed shall keep… they shall prosper in the land of promise.”
            -this phrase has definite meaning in this context but to pull it out from the line or reasoning it means something just as powerful.  This phrase and command appears over and over again.  It is a promise made to almost every prophet and people.  Is the Lord trying to tell us something?  Obviously, but what?  First is the importance of the directive, the specific commandment to which this blessing is tied, secondly is the universality with which it seems to be offered.  The plain and simple primary message is clear:  keep the commandments and prosper in the land.  Live it and claim it!

No comments:

Post a Comment