1 Nephi 16

Lehi wakes up one morning in the wilderness and finds a gift from God sitting outside his tent! It is described as a “round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.” Basically it is a fancy brass compass. We will learn later that they called the compass the Liahona, but in this chapter they just call it “the ball.” The most important thing to remember about the ball is that this gift from God did only “work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto it.” (Kind-of like every gift that God gives.)

While Lehi’s family continues their journey deeper into the wilderness with the guidance of the Liahona, Nephi breaks his steel bow, which is the best bow the family has. They aren’t able to hunt/catch any food for days and everyone starts to panic. Nephi teaches everyone a strong lesson in how to best react to difficult and scary situations—I’ll let you read it yourself. How do you think the principles of this story apply to civilized life in 2013 when we aren’t out hunting our dinner or traveling in the wilderness? 

Nephi faces more trouble when Ishmael dies, and a large portion of his party (you guessed it—Laman and Lemuel included) get very upset and want to return to Jerusalem. They even start talking about killing Nephi and their father, Lehi. The voice of the Lord interjects and “chastens” them, and they calm down for the time being.