1 Nephi 17-18

1 Nephi 17

I never noticed before that Nephi and his family spend eight years wandering around in the wilderness!—wow! Eight years of camping; eight years of eating raw meat; eight years of the women giving birth while camping. It’s almost like the people of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before they were ready for the Lord to  give them their promised land. I love Nephi’s cheerful and faithful attitude in the meantime—which can totally be applied to modern-day life (v 3):

And thus 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.

After 8 years of wandering, Nephi’s group arrives at the sea shore and he is commanded by the Lord to build a ship. Nephi has never built a ship in his life, but his attitude is “I will go and do what the Lord has commanded.” He has a difficult time enlisting the help of his brothers, though, and a big argument ensues. Laman and Lemuel get so riled up that they want to throw Nephi into the sea and drown him, and the Lord gives Nephi power to shock them by his touch.

1 Nephi 18

I am very fond of this chapter. There have been many times in my life where I have felt overwhelmed with responsibilities on my plate, or perhaps uncertain about big decisions I needed to make, and the first 5 verses of this chapter really spoke to me and gave me courage. Nephi is commanded to build a ship—just think what a daunting task that would be if you have no training or experience (and your whole family has to travel safely across the ocean in that thing!). We tend to think it’s no big deal for prophets to get instructions from the Lord because... well, they are prophets! God just gives prophets the answers, right? But if you read closely, that’s not how it happens. Notice in verse one, Nephi says that the Lord gives him instructions from “time to time” on how to build the ship. He must take one step at a time, and then the Lord will show him the next step. He is never given the grand vision or the master plan.

 1 ...we did work timerbs of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship. 

2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. 

 3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things. 

 4 And it came to pass that after I had finished the ship, according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did humble themselves again before the Lord.

I’ve found that is how the Lord works in my life. I can rarely see all the “steps” I should make or how everything is going to turn out. But as I move and take one step at a time, I am directed. And whenever I am directed by the Lord, it always turns out well—and even Lamans and Lemuels can “behold that is was good (v 4)” in the end.

And so the family embarks and shoves off into the Atlantic Ocean! Enroute, the most dramatic conflict between Laman/Lemuel and Nephi occurs, and they tie him up on the ship for days, despite the violent storms the Lord sends that threatens everyone’s lives and the pleadings of Nephi’s wife, children, and parents. I am baffled by Laman and Lemuel—they swing so dramatically from one spectrum to the other and their heads and hearts are as hard as rock. Think of all the miracles, signs, and lessons they have received.

In the end, the family arrives safely in the promised land! The promised land is the American continent—although we don’t know exactly where (not even sure if they originally landed on the South, Central, or North American continent, although eventually their posterity will spread out across all three). It is important to catch this geography shift! The rest of the Book of Mormon takes places in the American continent!