1 Nephi 7:11

11  Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in ^adelivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?

   9 – 12.  Nephi identifies some important weaknesses that are intimate ingredients to Laman and Lemuel’s character:

            1.  “have not hearkened”

                        -they didn’t listen/give heed to the word of the Lord.

            2.  “have forgotten”

                        -they must have felt that it was not important or worth remembering.

                        a.  have seen an angel

                        b.  great things the Lord had done for them (delivered them from Laban)

                        c.  the Lord is able to do  (bring to being) all things.

            -I have often struggled with what makes one person align themselves with the Lord and another completely fight against him.  Did one have some kind of advantage over the other?  Did the one receive preferential treatment?  Verses 9-12 illustrate that both were given the same experiences, the difference is that each deals with or accepts them in different manners.

     “what great things the Lord hath done for us”

            -this statement can be, for us, a rich point to ponder.  It is a point of departure that illustrates the difference between Nephi and his brothers.  Our answer to the question (what great things has the Lord done for us?) is a valid measure of who we more resemble in our spiritual character.  How are we able to respond:  What are the great things the Lord hath done for us?  When we contemplate and examine our lives, do we see his hand or does it appear that we are the architects of our own situation?  Is there divine direction in the path our lives have pursued?  If there is not, or if we do not see it, we can be sure of one thing:  heaven is willing to be our guide through this wilderness of mortality but are we willing to follow?  The absence of God in our lives is entirely up to our disgression.  He will not intervene without our permission, that is one of the groundrules of mortality.

       “in delivering us out of the hands of Laban”

            -from Laman and Lemuel’s perspective, how was it that they obtained the brass plates and escaped unscathed from Laban’s fifty?  Did they attribute this unlikely achievement to the Lord?  What seemed impossible to them became reality….  How would they explain this?