1 Nephi 1
1:1 - Nephi states that he has seen many afflictions in his short life, but that he has also been highly favored of the Lord. Handling affliction well, allows us to be blessed. Many times we must suffer through affliction as children to learn lessons and gained character that we will need as adults. Nephi isn't a prophet yet, he's not even sure that his father is a prophet yet, but he still handles his trials with a leaning toward the Lord. While conflicting the "afflictions" with being highly favored Nephi shows us that all are afflicted, even children, but to endure trials while being faithful and grateful to the Lord. I consider myself highly favored of the Lord as well because my life is amazing, comparatively speaking. But what do I consider my favored blessings? My awesome job, my good kids, my health, my abundance. Nephi considers himself favored because he has "a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God." When he's writing this, his family has no wealth, no abundance to speak of, sometimes starving. He has no kids and his brothers hate him. Really if you look at his situation, there's no outward sign that he is favored of God. His most prized treasure is his knowledge of God, his goodness and mercy. I honestly don't know if I was destitute, in a dysfunctional family, as a nomad, if I could look at my relationship with God and say "yeah I'm definitely one of his favorites!" Reading the Institute manual on this verse was kind of an eye opener for me to stop and think "you know, you are very blessed but not because of the reasons that you think." At this point I switch places with Nephi and still consider myself ridiculously blessed. This was definitely an invitation for me to reflect on what really matters, what deep down is the only thing in life that counts.
1:3 - "I know that the record which I make is true;" what an interesting statement to make. As I'm writing this blog, I never considered saying "I know that what I say is true, I'm writing it with my own hands." I wonder why this statement is necessary and how it made sense in the context at the time.
1:5 - Lehi goes to pray for his people because they are so wicked. Maybe I just don't know how to do it right, but when people are bad, I don't pray for them to be spared, I just resign myself to the fact that. hey, you make your bed, now you lie in it. But I guess it doesn't say that he prayed for them to be spared, it says he prayed "even with all his heart, in behalf of his people." Does that mean he prayed for their hearts to be softened and receptive to the spirit? What could you pray for in behalf of a wicked people that would unbalance the scales of mercy and justice?
1:8-15 - The pillar of fire comes, then he has a vision when he goes home. I've always wondered why he saw the pillar of fire first and then has a vision later on at home. But when he sees the pillar of fire he "saw and heard much" and this cause him to "quake and tremble exceedingly." It is probably safe to assume that he was quaking and trembling because what he saw was terrifying, scary, gloom and doom type stuff. So he gets home, is totally overwhelmed by what he has seen, collapses on his bed and sees God and angels and reads from a book and sees and reads "many great and marvelous things" and starts praising God. This sequence of events would lead me to believe that he prayed, saw death and destruction, was totally overwhelmed then God showed him how in the end it would all work out. Very interesting.
1:14 - "And, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish." One of my favorite lines! What an amazing way to say that God protects those who follow him and keep his commandments! But if you think about it, everyone in this life perishes, we all die, so there must be more to not perishing than just what we can see in this life. If we come unto Him and don't perish, but in this life we do, there must be so much more to this existence than just this life.
1:17 - Lehi has his own record that he's keeping, and in the total abridgment that Mormon makes, he includes Lehi's own account. But Nephi makes an abridgment of his father's records, AND Mormon includes that abridgment in the final version. Why? That means Lehi's record makes the cut 3 times to get into the final version. When the original Book of Lehi was lost as the 116 pages of lost manuscript, we were still able to get amazing valuable insights from Lehi. This is a very compelling argument that the Lord knew that the pages would be lost and prepared the book for that anyway.
1:20 - Tender Mercies - very personal and individualized blessings that the Lord gives to show us that he loves us. I'm going to have to do more research on this, I don't really understand what tender mercies are.
That's all I have energy for today. I'm exhausted. There's so much more that I want to say, but I will have to cover it later.
1:3 - "I know that the record which I make is true;" what an interesting statement to make. As I'm writing this blog, I never considered saying "I know that what I say is true, I'm writing it with my own hands." I wonder why this statement is necessary and how it made sense in the context at the time.
1:5 - Lehi goes to pray for his people because they are so wicked. Maybe I just don't know how to do it right, but when people are bad, I don't pray for them to be spared, I just resign myself to the fact that. hey, you make your bed, now you lie in it. But I guess it doesn't say that he prayed for them to be spared, it says he prayed "even with all his heart, in behalf of his people." Does that mean he prayed for their hearts to be softened and receptive to the spirit? What could you pray for in behalf of a wicked people that would unbalance the scales of mercy and justice?
1:8-15 - The pillar of fire comes, then he has a vision when he goes home. I've always wondered why he saw the pillar of fire first and then has a vision later on at home. But when he sees the pillar of fire he "saw and heard much" and this cause him to "quake and tremble exceedingly." It is probably safe to assume that he was quaking and trembling because what he saw was terrifying, scary, gloom and doom type stuff. So he gets home, is totally overwhelmed by what he has seen, collapses on his bed and sees God and angels and reads from a book and sees and reads "many great and marvelous things" and starts praising God. This sequence of events would lead me to believe that he prayed, saw death and destruction, was totally overwhelmed then God showed him how in the end it would all work out. Very interesting.
1:14 - "And, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish." One of my favorite lines! What an amazing way to say that God protects those who follow him and keep his commandments! But if you think about it, everyone in this life perishes, we all die, so there must be more to not perishing than just what we can see in this life. If we come unto Him and don't perish, but in this life we do, there must be so much more to this existence than just this life.
1:17 - Lehi has his own record that he's keeping, and in the total abridgment that Mormon makes, he includes Lehi's own account. But Nephi makes an abridgment of his father's records, AND Mormon includes that abridgment in the final version. Why? That means Lehi's record makes the cut 3 times to get into the final version. When the original Book of Lehi was lost as the 116 pages of lost manuscript, we were still able to get amazing valuable insights from Lehi. This is a very compelling argument that the Lord knew that the pages would be lost and prepared the book for that anyway.
1:20 - Tender Mercies - very personal and individualized blessings that the Lord gives to show us that he loves us. I'm going to have to do more research on this, I don't really understand what tender mercies are.
That's all I have energy for today. I'm exhausted. There's so much more that I want to say, but I will have to cover it later.
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