Category Archives: Book of Mormon Insights

Day 8: Happiness, Peace, Eternal Life

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1 Nephi 20:17-19, 21-22

I love when Nephi recounts the miracles God performed for the children of Israel in the past and for Nephi’s family in the present. They were an essential reminder of several things, including evidence of God’s existence, proof of God’s goodness, and of how God always fulfills His promises to His covenant people. In chapter 20, Nephi records the words of Isaiah which follow this pattern.

As I read the concluding verses of 1 Nephi 20, a sort of parallel construction struck me. First, Isaiah testifies of the existence of the “Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” and some of His roles such as teacher and leader (v. 17). Then the Lord provides information about potential blessings that could have been available if the audience had been covenant keepers: peace and strength in righteousness, numberless posterity (v. 18-19). The turning point comes in verse 20 where “The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob” provides a sort of hinge. Verse 21 provides the evidence that the Lord has the power to fulfill the promises of verses 18-19: He led the children of Israel “through the deserts” and kept them alive in miraculous ways, like providing water from rocks. This miracle and others demonstrate God’s power and reliability. He always fulfills His promises, therefore we can believe His promises of peace and eternal life.

This setup is why verse 22 struck me so forcefully this time: “And notwithstanding he hath done all this, and greater also, there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” There is an irreducible truth to be gleaned here. Not even God, who has all power, goodness, truth, mercy, and knowledge can grant peace to the wicked. It is an eternal truth that happiness, peace, and eternal life can ONLY be granted on the conditions of repentance and obedience. ONLY covenant, commandment-keeping, righteous people fulfill the qualifications for these blessings. “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). God wants us to achieve lasting happiness, peace, and eternal life so He has instructed His prophets from the beginning of time to teach this eternal truth: happiness, peace, and eternal life ONLY result from keeping the commandments, making and keeping covenants with God, repenting, exercising faith in Jesus Christ, and following God.

 

Day 7: Patience and Timing

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1 Nephi 18:8-23

Nephi, ever stalwart, records in 1 Nephi 18:23 that “after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land.” The preceding verses tell of the family’s embarkation and the beginning of their journey to the promised land. The Liahona shows Nephi where to steer, they have plenty of provisions, and everything is going well, fair weather and all. But then Laman and Lemuel stir things up, eventually getting mad enough at Nephi that they tie him up. Bad weather engulfs the ship and the Liahona stops working. After four days of tempest tossed seas, Laman and Lemuel finally release Nephi.

In the midst of this family drama at sea, and even while tied up in a lot of pain, Nephi maintains his faith and trust in God: “I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions” (v. 16). I remember years ago when God made me a promise at the outset of my mission that everything in my life would work out afterwards. Everything working out was my promised land. And even though I could literally count the days until then, I couldn’t have fathomed what lay between the delivery of the promise and its fulfillment. I in no way anticipated the challenges of those months, thinking and then wishing that I had already finished and reached my promised land.

Nephi’s perspective is so much healthier (temporally and spiritually) than mine was. Where I felt a tremendous amount of bitterness and impatience, Nephi felt gratitude and trust. Where I asked “why me?”, Nephi prayed for his oppressors and for the power of God to be made manifest. It will always be true that when the Lord makes a promise, He will fulfill it in His time. It is up to us to live worthy of the fulfillment no matter what challenges or length of time lies between.

Day 6: The Nature of Happiness

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1 Nephi 17:21

The other day as we were planning our Book of Mormon-themed costumes for the ward Halloween party, I started throwing out suggestions; we could all be Book of Mormon missionaries, we could each be a member of Lehi’s family. My oldest daughter piped up and suggested she be Laman. My husband and I both gently shook our heads with  knowing smiles and said, “No, you don’t want to be Laman.”

Nobody really likes Laman and Lemuel but, in reality, we each have some Laman and Lemuel in us. Whether we sometimes feel like God’s requests are too much, too heavy, or too difficult, we humans are prone to murmuring and disobedience. Laman and Lemuel are like a type for humankind. So when I read 1 Nephi 17:21 this time around I immediately recognized myself in this typically Laman and Lemuel moment.

Nephi has been commanded to build a ship, everybody needs to help, and the now contented Laman and Lemuel who are enjoying Bountiful by the sea suddenly revert to their old schtick. “We have suffered in the wilderness” all these years, so many afflictions, everything was better in Jerusalem, “we might have been happy.” Laman and Lemuel insist on believing that happiness is something external to them and that only certain conditions will CAUSE them to be happy. “We might have been happy” if we had stayed in Jerusalem, kept our gold and silver, not been uncomfortable, had enough to eat, been with our righteous friends back home, and on and on. “We might have been happy” felt eerily familiar.

How many times in the midst of a difficult or stressful time in my life have I thought, “I could be happy right now if only: my husband had a job, we didn’t have to live with family, my children were more obedient, there were more time in a day, my infant had teeth, we had more money….” The trouble with this “grass is greener” mentality is that this line of thinking goes really far south really fast. The other problem is that it’s fallacious. Satan wants us to believe that THINGS and external conditions make us happy when in reality, true happiness comes from personal righteousness (i.e. obedience to God) and an internal choice to be happy.

If you are having trouble begin happy, I invite you to reflect on this anecdote from the Book of Mormon and identify ways you can increase your happiness through personal righteousness and choose to be happy.

Day 5: Asking Good Questions

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1 Nephi 13

In 1 Nephi 13, Nephi continues to describe his visions. I feel awestruck every time I read these chapters given how Nephi came to have this experience. First, his father was granted a vision of the Tree of Life which he then related to his family. Then, Nephi asked God to let him see the same vision. Nephi’s faith is so inspiring! So many times in my life I have been given information––like Lehi gave his family information about his vision––and I accept it without any action. Nephi not only believed and accepted his father’s vision as truly from God and true, but he also asked to actively participate in that experience! And not only did he have the same vision as his father but he also got to converse with an angel and see/learn even more. Asking good questions strikes me as the take-away insight here. Choose to believe and ask God good questions.

Day 4: Thoughts on Authority

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1 Nephi 10:17, 22

I’m going to share a thought on authority since Nephi brings it up in 1 Nephi 10:22. While reading this verse I was struck by the thought that Nephi probably had the priesthood. Actually, he definitely had the priesthood or he wouldn’t have been a prophet. But when Nephi writes, “And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things,” it seems that Nephi is offering his conviction that what he has just recorded is important, NOT because he has the priesthood, but because the Holy Ghost has inspired his words and confirmed their truthfulness. Everyone who has been baptized and confirmed has the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone who has the gift of the Holy Ghost has access to the power of the Holy Ghost (see 1 Nephi 10:17). You don’t have to have the priesthood to speak with authority by the power of the Holy Ghost.

You can read more about my thoughts on women and the priesthood in my essay Honoring the Title of “Sister.”

Day 3: Redeemer of the World

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1 Nephi 10:17-19

While reading 1 Nephi 10:17-19 I was struck for the first time by how Nephi clarifies that the God He worships and to whom he makes reference in his writings IS the pre-mortal Jesus Christ. Prior to these verses he has used the titles “Lord” and “God” but in verse 17 he describes how he and his father have accessed and received power from God, specifically to have visions and speak as prophets. Nephi writes that this power is granted “by faith on the Son of God––and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come.” So the essential ingredient to their callings as prophets is faith on a divinity who is the Son of God, the Messiah to come.

Nephi then further describes the “power,” that it is the “power of the Holy Ghost.” This power is a “gift of God.” Note the use of “God” here and how Nephi continues to identify who this God is: the power of the Holy Ghost is a gift offered to mankind from the beginning of time through to the future when God will “manifest himself unto the children of men.” Nephi has already told the reader that the Son of God, the Messiah, will come to earth so I can only conclude that he is tying all our concepts of deity together. The Son of God and Messiah are also God.

Then in verse 18 Nephi Nephi further illuminates God’s character using the pronoun “he” to tie the description into the God of verse 17. God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” All people are invited to follow “the way” by repenting and coming unto him––God, Son of God, Messiah.

Finally, Nephi ties up the remaining loose end of God’s identity: Lord. Nephi has also used this title in the previous chapters to identify deity but here he seems to deliberately tie the title into our fuller conception of God. He does this by invoking the language of the previous two verses using the phrases “power of the Holy Ghost” and “as well in times of old as in times to come” which draw together “Son of God,” “Messiah,” and “God.” The closing phrase has a beautiful double significance: “the course of the Lord is one eternal round” both attaches the title “Lord” to the one deity Nephi has been describing AND definitively concludes that the God he worships is an eternal being with power, knowledge, foresight, and a plan.

Jesus Christ is the God of this world.

Day 2: Blessings of Being Stubborn

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1 Nephi 3:14-16, 28 and
1 Nephi 7:6-17

The dramatic account of Nephi standing up to his brothers never fails to awe me. He relentlessly testifies of truth and courageously withstands their mocking, doubting, mumbling, and beatings. I have reflected off and on the last few months that it takes a certain level of stubbornness for a person to remain active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There will always be nay-sayers and even active attempts by others to pull down one’s faith. Nephi stubbornly refuses to give in to his brothers’ pessimism or their encouragement to disobey. He stubbornly insists on the primacy of God’s commandments and the need for obedience. It takes a stubborn person to say, “Nothing is working out, this seems impossible, everything is pointing away from God, but I’m going to believe and press forward anyway.”

Day 1: God and His Prophets

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1 Nephi 1:8-9, 14, 19

I love these initial chapters of the Book of Mormon where we first learn about Lehi’s family and his calling as a prophet. Highlighting all mentions of God and Lord as suggested by President Nelson helped me identify the ways in which God reveals Himself and what He is like. Lehi identifies the “luster” of God’s appearance (v. 9) as well as His magnificence (see v. 8). I love that the attributes “power, and goodness, and mercy” are singled out in verse 14. God’s core characteristics, His unchanging perfection, are captured here: He is all-powerful, perfectly good, and merciful.

Lehi’s calling as a prophet couldn’t be more plainly identified than in verse 19. Lehi calls the people to repentance, prophesies of Jesus Christ, and testifies of “the redemption of the world.”