Wednesday, October 14, 2015

1 Nephi 7:1

Chapter 7:  Tree of life pre-cursor.  Pre-requisite for the vision
1  AND now I would that ye might know, that after my father, Lehi, had made an end of aprophesying concerning his seed, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto him again, saying that it was not meet for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness alone; but that his sons should take bdaughters to cwife, that they might raise up dseed unto the Lord in the land of promise.
            -Here an interesting lesson about revelation. The sequence of events is central and very instructive to that lesson.  Hardly does Lehi cease prophesying when he is addressed by God  -as if one led to the other….  Not only this, but the subject of Lehi’s prophecy is also the focus of the Lord’s instruction to him.  How are the two events related?  What may we learn from the connection?  The Lord’s direction to Lehi directly fulfills Lehi’s prophecy that at the time of the declaration was impossible (how could his “seed” do anything if his sons had no spouses to perpetuate and create seed?).

     “prophesying concerning his seed”…. “his sons should take daughters to wife”…
            -truth always leads to more truth, to solve a problem  (of how Lehi’s seed would continue)

     “it was not meet for him…”
            -a wonderful principle of revelation is taught here:  Lehi had been acting (doing) with the best he knew.  He was actively going forward in his obedience to God even though I have to assume that he was conscious of the fact that there were no young women for his sons to marry.  Lehi was proactive and acting in accordance to what he knew was best but his actions were taking him farther away from one small but important task the Lord needed for him to perform (securing wives for his sons) and so the Lord steps in only when necessary and makes a minor course/schedule adjustment before anything was seriously messed up.  We are also to act in accord with what we understand to be correct and rely upon the Lord to make adjustments when needed.  If we are seeking His will, He will not let us inadvertently stumble onto wrong courses.  He will directly involve himself in our lives from time to time upon necessity but if we have the spiritual sense enough to stay generally on target, we should not expect to see his hand born strongly in our lives.  The infrequency of his physical spiritual constraint should not be interpreted as his apathy or inability but rather as our correct judgment and consistent righteousness.

     “it is not meet for… but that his sons should take… that they might raise up seed…”
            -Lehi’s prophesies and the subsequent revelation from the Lord show to us the principle that truth leads to more truth.  This is a law.  And the inverse is also true:  untruth (lies or falsehoods) diminish the truth, cloud the mind and confuse the understanding. Lies, deception, and other forms of untruth lead to greater lies, deceptions and other forms of untruth.

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