“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!
