Have you ever become burned out in your efforts to help
someone or do good in some way? Have you ever worked your guts out to make a
difference for someone or something—even just to change yourself—and been
utterly discouraged at the lack of results or the endlessness of the effort
required? I have been (being in the middle of launching/growing a new
business, I’ll admit I am currently feeling that way). During multiple such
occasions in my life, Nephi has been a hero I have looked to with admiration
and respect.
He has spent years
preaching to the Nephites, only to watch them drift further and further from
faith in God. He has just had a particularly baffling experience where he
prophesied a remarkable event that was fulfilled in front of hundreds if not
thousands of people. And still the people just departed from him, returning to
their old lives and their old ways. He seems to be devoting every hour of his
life to bringing people to God, and yet the people only get worse. Talk about
discouraging.
I feel a little hope in the fact that Nephi—a great and
faithful prophet—felt discouraged. It says he was walking home and “much cast
down because of the wickedness of the people (v. 3)” when a voice spoke to him
saying:
4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
Unwearyingness—what a cool word! Nephi spent all of his
time doing what God wanted him to do, and he never gave up, even when he wasn’t
seeing results. He cared much more what God thought about him than what other
people thought about him. I wish I could be more like that.
And because Nephi had turned his life over to God, he was
basically granted ultimate power from God. Whatever he says will happen. God
gives him this power because he can trust him. This is a very meaningful lesson
to me; I can’t always control what other people do, and whether or not others
will change or do what is best for them, but I can control myself and find happiness and blessings, including
power & strength from God, as a reward.
Nephi in his remarkable faith and obedience turns on his
heels immediately after talking with God and returns to preaching, despite the
incredibly discouraging experience he had just had with preaching to the
Nephites. I am in awe of Nephi.
12 And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent.
The people have rejected Nephi’s preaching and a great war
breaks out among them. Nephi exercises his new powers from the Lord, and
requests the Lord to smite the earth with famine instead of with war. The Lord
grants the request, and before long the people stop their fighting because the
famine has become so severe that people are dying in large numbers all across
the land. The famine serves its purpose, and causes the people to be humble and
finally start thinking about repenting. The people repent and beg Nephi to ask God to
take away the famine. The famine is removed, and the people begin to prosper
again.
But the peace doesn’t last long, as a group dissents into
the “mountains and the wilderness” and begins to build up a secret band of
Gadianton Robbers again. No!! The Gadianton Robbers are always big trouble in
the Book of Mormon. More and more people dissent and join the secret group, and
even though the Nephites and Lamanites both send armies into the mountains to
try to destroy the robbers, they are unsuccessful, and the robber group grows
steadily while the Nephites and Lamanites fall back into wickedness and pride
themselves.
Mormon, who has been summarizing these swings between
wickedness and righteousness, laments over the unstable nature of men. It seems
that in some cases it is man’s own fault for the misfortune that comes upon
him, because his pride and forgetfulness has caused God to shake him to
remembrance.
1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.4 O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.
