You know, Lehi must have been perfect
in Nephi's eyes. I hope that I'd have the courage to get up in front of
Jerusalem and proclaim their wickedness and command them to repent. I
think often about how discouraging it must have been for Nephi to be
going through all that he was going through in the wilderness, getting
beaten by his brothers, breaking his bow... then what. He finds Lehi in a
tent murmuring to the Lord. Nephi might have wondered... "Uhm... Do you
not remember your vision about the iron rod? Hello? You're not clinging
to it when you murmur." But I don't think he did. He doesn't even write
about how discouraging that was. He could have broken down and said "Oh
my goodness. My dad isn't trusting in the Lord, how in the world am I
ever going to be able to understand if my inspiration is true." But he
didn't. In fact, he didn't even disreguard his leader and do it his own
way. He went to him and asked him for guidance on what to do about the
situation.
Later on, he'd go on to write some of the most inspiring words I have read. "I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support... and cursed his he that putteth his trust in the arm of the flesh and maketh flesh his arm..."
Keep in mind, Lehi didn't stop loving his dad after his dad made a mistake. Lehi's lament happens right after his dad dies.
I
have often stood in awe as I hear about people leaving the church over a
new Prophet. Yikes! That's the way it has worked all the time! Why
would you go? But how many times have we been insulted by the
imperfections of a bishop or stake president? Those can be faith
challenging times for many of us, and unfortunately they are just as
ridiculous. In fact, President Eaton was talking just the other day
about the #1 reason people leave the church. Can you guess? BOUNDRY
CHANGES! Can you believe that?
Imagine Nephi if Lehi said: "Well, we're going to
need to split up: I'll be in charge of group 1 and Ishmael you'll be in
charge of group two. Nephi, you go with group two."
Nephi: "Hmph! I'll show him! I'm going back to
Jerusalem! That can't be the Lord's will, he said I was supposed to be a
ruler over this people!"
I finished the Book of Mormon this passed week and now I am
restarting. Look at all that I've learned in just the first few
chapters! It's pretty neat!
May the Lord bless
us as we follow Nephi's example. Not only did he follow what he thought
the Lord wanted him to do, but he followed his representative on earth.
There's sure been a lot of people on the mission that have gotten
insulted about leadership in the church, and they're ripening for
apostasy. There's no other way around saying it. It's becoming such a
big problem, that even Elder Aidukitis from the seventy had to talk
about it when he came to visit our mission.
Paraphrased...
"Resolve
now," he said, "to never speak ill of anyone. Esspecially in leadership
at church. So often this is the case in latter-day saint homes. We come
home from an uplifting sunday service and instead of talking about what
we learned, we begin to critisize those we don't like. How sad."
I love you all so much! I hope all is well!
No comments:
Post a Comment