Well, I managed to read a couple more chapters in the Book of Mormon this evening, and hopefully the wheels will keep turning.
It helps that I'm trying to really read the story this time. And it's
amazing how you learn something new from a story that you think you know
front and back, especially where Nephi's story is concerned.
We all know Nephi's famous saying, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Even now, that's a most remarkable expression of faith; even when Nephi must walk in complete darkness for a time, he trusts the Lord enough to put one foot in front of the other before the Lord turns on the light.
Sometimes that's all we can do: take one step, and then another, and another.
Nephi also said, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand
the things which I should do." Sometimes it's for our own good that we
don't know in advance what the Lord expects us to do; otherwise, we may
get cold feet altogether. This is why it's a good thing we don't have
the gift of foresight, that there's no "prophecy" about our lives like
the ones from fantasy stories; we can't look into the future and know
absolutely everything that will ultimately happen to us. We'd get so
caught up in the future that we'd fail to live in the present.
Like us, Nephi had to learn for himself that, while you can say you'll obey the Lord all you like, actual obedience is often easier said than done. Remember Nephi's reluctance to slay Laban at the Lord's command, since such a command appeared to contradict one of the great commandments, "Thou shalt not kill," and the whole business just seemed far too drastic and ghastly...and for perfectly good reason. How eager would you be to pull a knife or a gun on somebody else, even if it was necessary? If you were a soldier at war and you and your enemy stood face to face, how willing would you be to make the first move?
My dad once told me that there's a distinct difference between killing
and murdering, and according to the Jewish law, since Laban sought to
kill Nephi first, it was actually Nephi's legal right to kill him.
Self-defense, you might call it.
Furthermore, as the angel said, "The Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes," and also, "It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." If it comes down to saving one person at the expense of a huge group, or saving a huge group at the expense of one person, you can figure out which option is the most ideal.
In one of my own stories, a character makes the hardest decision of their lives by killing another person (and not just any person, but somebody they know and love), and in doing so, they save so many other innocent lives. The decision still hits them very hard, even though they know they've done the right thing in the long run. They tried to give the other person a chance and the other person rejected that opportunity.
Which brings us back to Laban. No one can say the Lord didn't give Laban a chance to repent, so Laban's death was ultimately his own doing. Perhaps the Lord was even saving Laban from becoming worse than he was already. After all, Laban showed how low he was willing to stoop by stealing Nephi's family's property when they had every intention of selling it to him fair and square; for greater irony, he had the gall to label Laman as a "robber."
Speaking of
Laman, I never really looked on him or Lemuel in a favorable light. I
always felt so bad for Nephi and Sam because Laman and Lemuel were
always so needlessly cruel to them, but then again, how many of us are
so different from Laman and Lemuel? How often do we whine, complain,
drag our feet, and complicate our situation all the more? No one can say
Laman or Lemuel's situations were a picnic; goodness knows Nephi had
plenty to grumble about if he'd had a different attitude.
Which
goes to show that the Lord must have sent Nephi and his brothers on this
seemingly impossible mission for more than just the plates of brass and
for the sake of their future posterity. The Lord must have done this to
personally test Nephi, Sam, Lemuel, and Laman; how much faith and
courage did each young man really have? What is this man like when push
comes to shove? If this man had every reason in the world to quit, would
he still press on?
The more I think about this story, the more my pity for Laman and Lemuel increases, as does my admiration and respect for Nephi and Sam. Sam may not get as much mention, but I think we can very well call him "the unsung hero." What these four went through is enough to make anybody snap. It's as if each of them were a big block of stone, and while the Lord was chiseling away at the stone, Laman and Lemuel only focused on the pain the chiseling was causing them while Sam and Nephi focused on the beautiful masterpiece that was steadily taking shape.
And as the end of the story of the brass plates reveals, no mission appointed by the Lord is ever wasted. It may not conclude in the way you expect, but every last bit of it is worthwhile.
We all know Nephi's famous saying, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Even now, that's a most remarkable expression of faith; even when Nephi must walk in complete darkness for a time, he trusts the Lord enough to put one foot in front of the other before the Lord turns on the light.
Sometimes that's all we can do: take one step, and then another, and another.
Like us, Nephi had to learn for himself that, while you can say you'll obey the Lord all you like, actual obedience is often easier said than done. Remember Nephi's reluctance to slay Laban at the Lord's command, since such a command appeared to contradict one of the great commandments, "Thou shalt not kill," and the whole business just seemed far too drastic and ghastly...and for perfectly good reason. How eager would you be to pull a knife or a gun on somebody else, even if it was necessary? If you were a soldier at war and you and your enemy stood face to face, how willing would you be to make the first move?
Furthermore, as the angel said, "The Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes," and also, "It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." If it comes down to saving one person at the expense of a huge group, or saving a huge group at the expense of one person, you can figure out which option is the most ideal.
In one of my own stories, a character makes the hardest decision of their lives by killing another person (and not just any person, but somebody they know and love), and in doing so, they save so many other innocent lives. The decision still hits them very hard, even though they know they've done the right thing in the long run. They tried to give the other person a chance and the other person rejected that opportunity.
Which brings us back to Laban. No one can say the Lord didn't give Laban a chance to repent, so Laban's death was ultimately his own doing. Perhaps the Lord was even saving Laban from becoming worse than he was already. After all, Laban showed how low he was willing to stoop by stealing Nephi's family's property when they had every intention of selling it to him fair and square; for greater irony, he had the gall to label Laman as a "robber."
The more I think about this story, the more my pity for Laman and Lemuel increases, as does my admiration and respect for Nephi and Sam. Sam may not get as much mention, but I think we can very well call him "the unsung hero." What these four went through is enough to make anybody snap. It's as if each of them were a big block of stone, and while the Lord was chiseling away at the stone, Laman and Lemuel only focused on the pain the chiseling was causing them while Sam and Nephi focused on the beautiful masterpiece that was steadily taking shape.
And as the end of the story of the brass plates reveals, no mission appointed by the Lord is ever wasted. It may not conclude in the way you expect, but every last bit of it is worthwhile.
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