By Laura R.
If there was a theme for the first little section of “The Book of Mormon” (one of the many holy scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the Mormons; this book is about God’s children on the American continent and how they got there), I would say it would be pretty well summarized up by when Nephi (the first scribe of the Book of Mormon) said “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do” (1 Nephi 4:6; pg. 8). I have read The Book of Mormon multiple times, but this time through as a BYU student, taking a class on The Book of Mormon from BYU, I feel like I am getting more out of it than before. Nephi was a young man who lived in Jerusalem, in the year 600 B.C., which is 13 years before the Babylonians destroyed the city Jerusalem. Nephi lived there with his family, which consisted of his father Lehi, his mother Sariah, his brothers, and his sisters. His father, Lehi, was a prophet called of God to tell the people of Jerusalem to repent or the city would be destroyed. Of course the people didn’t like that, so they wanted to murder Lehi. God warned Lehi of this in a dream, and told Lehi to leave Jerusalem, and get to safety. Lehi with his family left Jerusalem in haste, leaving behind their riches, and their property. They traveled to the borders of the Red Sea, which was around 200 miles away from Jerusalem. They pitched their tents, and were in the wilderness for about eight years. When they got there, they must have wondered why had they left Jerusalem, where they had their gold, silver, and property. I mean they could have just hid out for a year, and then returned, and everyone might have forgotten Lehi. Now that connects to the quote “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do”. Lehi was led to leave Jerusalem, he didn’t know what he was going to do once he got away or what his life would be like; he trusted in the Lord that the Lord would lead them to where they needed to go.
In my life, being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I have been blessed by listening and obeying God, even when I don’t know what the outcome would be. There was one time when my family decided to move away from our home that we had lived in for about 10 years, because my dad was offered a new job in a different town. Not all of us were enthusiastic about it, but we all felt like it was what God wanted us to do. The move wasn’t easy, but it was one of the biggest blessings in our lives. The year we moved was 2007, and in 2008, the recession hit; and my Dad’s old work was affected by it terribly. They had to lay off a lot of their workers, the owners had to sell the plant my Dad used to work at, and my Dad’s old job was eliminated. If we had stayed, instead of moving, my Dad might not have had any work, and we would have no idea what to do. It was thanks to a Heavenly Father that this did not happen. It was because we were “…led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [we should do]”.
Lehi was blessed too. After being in the wilderness for eight years, they came to the seashore, where they built a ship, and they then sailed across the ocean to the American continent. They had gold and silver there, and a land of their own where raised their children and built many nations. If they had stayed behind, and had not listened to the Lord, they would have been there when Jerusalem was destroyed, and some of them might have died. The point is, we don’t know all the details, but God does, so we should put our trust in him, and exercise our “blind” faith, because in the end, everything we lost will be made up. I know that The Book of Mormon is a true work of God, just like the Bible, it is another set of scriptures for us in our day. I bear witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church of God upon the earth today. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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