Obedience 1 Nephi 16-18 Building One's Own Boat

If the sun were me or I were the sun.
I would shine my light for everyone.

I would not let the cold of storm
keep the earth from knowing warm.

I would not let the dark of night
make me want to hide my light.

I would not let the thick of cloud
keep me from shining- shining - out loud

I would shine on field and flower
and help them know of God's power.

I would not miss one single day
to share my light - to brighten another's way.

I would set my course..
I would set my mind.
I would set my path.
I would shine. I would shine. I would shine.


The sun comes up. The sun goes down. The world spins round. And, the sun shines. It lifts my soul, it brightens my way. It is one of God's creations that knows obedience. It is one of God's creations that displays it's purpose and power daily. It's sureness of path inspires and calms me.

With God's help, Nephi knew he could build a boat.

Like the sun that obeys God's design, Nephi knew the power that comes from obedience. He understood that God gives us commandments and sets us on a path because He loves us! God wants us to know who we are. He wants us to know our potential. But, unlike the sunshine, a knowledge of who we are is something that can't be given; It must be uncovered through our willingness to obey. The power of self is something that we have to discover.

The only way we can actually discover who we are and the power of God that lies within us is to follow God's commandments. So I ask the question, "Why does God not politely ask us to obey his commandments?"He could ask, "Would you please keep the commandments?"

The reason. God is Great. God is the creator of all things both in heaven and in earth.(17:36-39) He knows what is best for us. To ask is to suggest. Keeping the commandments is not a suggestion. It's a sure way. Like the sun, it's a path that is meant to teach us how to shine, how to give warmth, how to love, how to help all around us grow, how to learn consistency, how to stay the course and be still in an eternal realm where agency holds the key to eternal joy.

Nephi was able to build a ship and he knew it. Not because of his own power but because of the power that comes from obedience to God's commandments. (1N17:49-51)" He understood that, "When we obey God - we follow the influence of the Spirit and choose to conform to His will." (PmGpg.72)

Lehi discovers the Liahona at his tent door

But we are human. We are not the sun. We have weaknesses. When Nephi's bow breaks, Lehi and his family succumb to their hunger and begin to murmur. They had only just begun their journey when they forgot God's goodness - how he  blesses us when we obey. God knows our weaknesses. He blesses us and teaches us line upon line.. precept on precept. (2 N28:30)

To Lehi he gave a Liahona: a ball of curious workmanship whereby he might learn how God blesses us through our obedience to faith, and diligence to duty, and willingness to heed to the God's spirit.

the Liahona 

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them.1 Nephi 16:28 

To Nephi he instructed through prayer.

 And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.1 Nephi 17:7

Nephi was instructed to build a ship. Though his brothers mocked him and complained, he held sure in his belief that if God had commanded it, it was possible. His brothers had forgotten those who wanted to take their lives and the promised destruction of Jerusalem.  Wanting to remember their ancestral heritage of God's hand in their lives, Nephi spoke to them of Moses. He asked:

Do ye believe that our fathers, who were the children of Israel, would have been led away out of the hands of the Egyptians if they had not hearkened unto the words of the Lord? 

Yea, do ye suppose that they would have been led out of bondage, if the Lord had not commanded Moses that he should lead them out of bondage?1 Nephi 17:23-24

Lehi's travels led them through dangerous dessert

Keeping the commandments of God protects us. It was pointed out in last nights class that while traveling in the dessert the Lord commanded the family troop to not build fire. That seems like an odd thing - when fire is needed for warmth and the preparation of food. But by not building fire, the family was protected from marauding bands that would have robbed and carried them away. The light from a dessert fire carries long and far and offers no protections from the evil heart of man.

The only protection against man's choice for evil is man's choice for good. When we choose to live God's commandments we choose protection, power, love, light and eternal life.  Alma taught about the commandments when he said,

 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men,...., knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—Alma 12:31

But Keeping the commandments does more than protect us. It helps us discover our eternal spirit. It helps us discover and remember a purpose greater than survival. It helps us give light and warmth and become a source for good. It helps us learn to love as God loves and see the world as He intended it to be: a place for us to grow and learn - a place for us to share his love and bask in the warmth of his word.

I can't be the sun. But I can be like Nephi. I can say..

Wherefore, I Linda, did strive to keep the commandments of the Lord, and I did exhort my brethren to faithfulness and diligence.1 Nephi 17:15

And like Nephi I can build my own ship of sure faith that will carry me.  I am sure there will be times when God will ask things of me that others will mock. And I myself may question, but it is my prayer that the experiences I have will help prepare my heart so that it will not be hard, but willing - and that it will not murmur - but be filled with gratitude. And that it too - like the sun - will learn to shine, shine, shine and spread God's glorious love to all who will not only embrace it, but use it as a source of strength as they too learn the power that comes from keeping God's commandments.

Directions

1 Nephi 16

Directions

I recently gave to my husband “a ball of curious workmanship” to help him find his way while he drives in our new city. We call the ball a Garmin. Supposedly it will tell me (speak) where I should go, and prevent me from getting lost. It works on “faith” in that I have to believe that it knows what it is doing. But as we found out, like all things that work on the faith of man’s intellect it has its limitations.

Following directions is not always easy. I am not programmed like a robot, or like a homing pigeon to follow directions explicitly or to return home regardless of the circumstances. God programmed me with the power of choice. The spiritual gift of choice helps me navigate with a greater gift of “faith” and learn to rely on this many other gifts. The key is learning to understand the power of the choice within me.

Traveling with a Garmin can make my trip less stressful. All I need to do is plug in where I want to go and it will direct me there. A few key things to recognize:

a. I have to know where I want to go b. It does not know all things. It will not steer me clear of danger or remind me of when I need gas etc.. C. It relies on me to make the decisions; it is only as useful as I am able to follow the directions.

The Lord gave Lehi a “ball of curious workmanship”, called the Liahona. Because it came as a gift from God (it was not engineered by man) it had a few different characteristics: a. You didn’t have to know explicitly where you needed to go you only had to want to go where the Lord led you b. It was programmed to respond to faith and obedience. C. It did know all things and would answer based on your faith steering you clear of danger or refusing to work during periods of no faith. D. Like the Garmin it relied on you to decide (as to weather to be obedient and faithful but unlike the Garmin it worked not on scientific coordination but rather on faith in a higher power. So that when you learn to ask the right questions, it will steer you in the right direction.

Life is a bit like this chapter in Nephi. I can’t always predict the difficulties that I will encounter. Nephi broke his bow. Everyone was hungry. Everyone was tired. Everyone was lonely for Jerusalem. This led to everyone being angry. Nephi surveyed his situation and decided to improvise with what he had and rely on God to direct him to the food. (I don’t think a Garmin would do that).

God knows that I will have difficulties. He knows that life will not always turn out the way I plan or hope for. The joy is not in receiving what I want, but in learning what I have within me to give. The journey through the wilderness helps me discover this. The journey that is led (not by a Garmin) but by faith in God’s power to lead me where I need to be is the journey that will bless me with growth and joy.

Words and Phrases

(Vs. 2) according to the truth – Directions tell the truth of how to fix things, how to play a game, how to install something, how to put something together. The creator writes them.

(Vs 3) hard things – Once when after our family had purchased a new wash machine, we tried to put it together. After (not following directions) it didn’t work, those of us who were putting it together were frustrated and said a few hard things. The truth was we had not read the directions. One of us found the directions and discovered we had not removed a critical packaging piece. Sometimes hard things are necessary to get us to listen and follow directions.

(Vs. 8) blessed of the Lord exceedingly – I think if we all consider our circumstances. If we all realize where we live, how we live and what we get to do on a daily basis we might begin to believe we are “blessed in many ways”.

(Vs. 11) Whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness – What would I take? I think I would take the directions on how to live so that I could receive instruction. Nephi did this when they went back for the brass plates. I think I would also take something to eat, sleep, and find food with. As well as being able to grow food. Mostly I would not want to be alone (with my own intelligence) but would want to have God’s wisdom at my disposal.

(Vs. 16) we did follow the directions – a reminder of the need for all of us to look to the plan… to follow the directions. To take a daily, a weekly, a monthly reminder to check back and see if we are indeed following the directions with faith.

(Vs. 18) break my bow – a reminder that even when we do all that is right, sometimes life happens. We might break our bow, our hammer, our stove, our washing machine, but we learn to use our intelligence and our faith together. We learn what we are capable of doing and we learn that together with God we can stop complaining and perish not.

(Vs. 24) he did ⁱnquire of the Lord, - it takes humility to inquire of the Lord. It often takes words to humble us. We go to church to hear the words that we need to learn to ask God.

(Vs. 28) work according to the ^faith and diligence and heed - the Liahona worked not just by faith, but also by diligence and heed. To heed something is to pay attention to it. To listen to it. To focus on it. To be diligent is to follow through and continue forward no matter how many distractions might plague you.

The interesting thing about a Garmin is that if I am too diligent in listening to it, I might run out of gas. (This almost happened to me on a recent trip). If I heed it too much I might find myself on a closed street, a blocked road, or in a lake( in a land where there is changed landscape). No amount of faith in this “curious ball” will save me from destruction. It can also become annoying when you make a “right” choice and turn your car around. It will continually talk to you and tell you to turn left, turn right, etc. Eventually I turn its voice off.

I have a “curious ball” of faith within me. It is called the Holy Ghost. It works with faith and will direct me and lead me to where God will have me go. I need only learn to heed its voice. I need to learn how to follow directions and live by faith.