Post by Nephi –
Laman, Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael reached the level of complete absence of reason – again. I can’t blame any of our family for commenting on their total exhaustion. I too am pushed to my limits. But with all the Lord has done for us, how can we abandon our faith that the Lord will deliver us as He has done time and again. Yet, my brothers were determined to kill my father and me.
What is incredible is how short their memory is. Just a few short days ago the Lord Himself delivered us from starvation, and so soon they forget.
We’ve survived on our ability to slay food along the way. Keep in mind that I believe its the Lord who has made survival possible at all. Yet at our previous camp we suffered a major setback when my bow, which was made of fine steel, broke. We couldn’t hunt. My brothers were so angry. We returned to our families empty handed. Having traveled so much we were all fatigued and the lack of food magnified our suffering.
Needless to say, the murmuring reached record levels because of our hunger and our sufferings and our afflictions out here in the wilderness. Even my father began to murmur against the Lord his God.
As hard as I tried, it became exceedingly difficult to obtain food. My brother’s bows had lost their springs and with mine broken, sorrowful would be an understatement.
Speaking with my brothers did some good however. I had to again say many things to them in the energy of my soul. I made a bow out of wood and took a straight stick to make an arrow. Along with a sling and some stones, I went to my father and asked him where I go hunting.
They had humbled themselves and my father went to the Lord to ask where I should find beasts to kill. The voice of the Lord came to my father and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring and he was brought down to the depths of sorrow. I had never seen my father so low.
The voice of the Lord told him to look upon the ball and see the things written on it. When he did, he read things written there that frightened not only him but also my brothers, the sons of Ishmael and our wives.
I saw the pointers on the ball worked according to the faith and diligence and heed which we gave them. There was new writing on the ball, very easy to read which gave us new understanding concerning the ways of the Lord. The writing changed from time to time according to our faith and diligence. It is amazing that by small things the Lord can bring about great things.
Following the directions on the ball, I went up into the top of the mountain and there found plenty of game, in that I was able to obtain food for our families. I returned to our tents carrying the beasts which I’d killed. Great joy is now an understatement. Everyone humbled themselves and gave thanks to the Lord.
Now here is the bewildering part. That whole broken bow incident took place just a short time ago, and now with Ishmael’s death and the mourning, the Lord’s great mercy is totally forgotten. My brothers returned to a spirit of murder.
I guess I was out of words, gratefully the Lord never is. This time the voice of the Lord came and spoke to them and chastened them exceedingly; after they were chastened by the voice of the Lord they turned away their anger and actually repented of their sins – enough that the Lord blessed us again with food and obviously we are still alive.
If the Lord wanted us dead He sure could have let us die any number of times. Why is that so hard for my brothers to remember?
(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 16:39)
(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 16:18 – 32)
