BOM and Faith - 1 Nephi 17

After spending quite some time in the valley of Lemuel, Lehi’s party packed up and continued their journey. Nephi tells us they received “the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings” (1 Nephi 17:2).

Nephi shared his observation with us. “[T]hus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness” (1 Nephi 17:3).

Faith was an essential part of their journey. We learned the Liahona worked only through their faith. While Nephi did not mention this, we can assume they were using the Liahona and were following its directions.

Nephi sums up an eight-year period by simply stating they traveled through the wilderness for eight years. He states, “we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all” (1 Nephi 17:6). We can assume they travelled through the Rub’ Al Khali desert, which has been described as the biggest mass of sand on the planet.

They arrived at the land they called Bountiful. There was fruit and honey. It provided a much- needed respite from their journeys through the desert. Nephi explains, “we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its much fruit” (1 Nephi 17:6).

After a time, Nephi was told to go to a mountain, which he did. After much prayer, the Lord told him to “construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee” (1 Nephi 17:8). Knowing what he needed, he did not know where to find the supplies.

Through Nephi’s faith, he knew the Lord would provide a way for him to find the necessary material to construct the boat. He asked the Lord where he could go to find ore and the Lord guided him.

Nephi began building the boat, having faith the Lord would guide him in his efforts. Laman and Lemuel, being Laman and Lemuel, mocked him and his efforts. Once again, we see their total lack of faith.

Earlier, Nephi told us that, through their faith, they were able to bear the burdens of their time in the wilderness. Laman and Lemuel saw things differently.  “We have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions” (1 Nephi 17:20). Nephi responded to them by reminding them of how the Lord dealt with their people in the past.

He used Moses as an example. The people were led from their bondage because the Lord commanded him to led them out of bondage. They were able to escape when Moses parted the Red Sea. They were fed mana in the wilderness.

Like Laman and Lemuel, the children of Israel “hardened their hearts and blinded their minds, and reviled against Moses and against the true and living God” (1 Nephi 17:30).

Nephi reminded them of the fiery serpents, which bit the people. Moses was commanded to make “a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:9). Many lacked the faith to look at the serpent and perished because of the hardness of their hearts.

Nephi chastised them, reminding them they were “swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder”. (1 Nephi 17:45).

Nephi was commanded to “[s]tretch forth thine hand again unto thy brethren, and they shall not wither before thee, but I will shock them, saith the Lord, and this will I do, that they may know that I am the Lord their God” (1 Nephi 17:53).

Having faith in the Lord’s commands, he stretched his hand towards them and they were shocked by the power of the Lord.

For a time, Laman and Lemuel changed their ways.