Scripture reading — 1 Nephi 4

A significant realization that I have reached over the past year (at least for me personally) is that one cannot be academically successful with a mentally sound mind without the influence of the Lord in one's life. This realization has helped me tremendously in my school year. The times when I have invested myself into the Lord have been the best times in my school career. I would recommend all those to try a step forward to get closer. If you don't have any relationship with God, make an extra effort to be more kind and forgiving. In this, you will grow closer to Him without even realizing.

Long story short, this has fostered desire in me to write on my blog about promptings I have had as I have read my scriptures. In doing this, I also hope to encourage myself to read my scriptures more regularly.

Last night, I read 1 Nephi 4 and loved it! I created questions as I read that spurred me to understand the gospel in a different light.

1. How am I like Nephi's brothers in the following quote?

"Now behold ye know that this is true and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt?

I can definitely relate to situations like these. There have been many times in my life where I have known for sure about the Spirit telling me things with a surety. However, I discounted them in doubt. There have been many times when I have felt strongly impressed to address situations and topics with my mom, for example, that I did not follow through. Sometimes, they have been for my own benefit. Luckily, the Lord is able to work through others to reach His intended goal, and my mom has almost always known or figured out what I had held back on. I have also had experiences where I have had strong experiences that were given to me to build my testimony. However, in retrospect, I have found myself more than once doubting these experiences. When I am in tune with the Spirit and looking back in retrospect, I am able to receive the testimony from the Spirit that these experiences are indeed true and testify of the greatness of the Lord.

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2. How can I be as trustworthy as Nephi and go into spiritual promptings "not knowing beforehand the things which I should do"?

Okay. First off, I can totally relate. Have you ever been in situations when you felt like you were being directed to follow a path by the Lord without knowing why you are doing so or what will come next? That has been me before. I have been in situations where I had been compelled by the Spirit to volunteer to teach lessons or firesides at Girl's Camp or Church or Seminary. I am a procrastinator all the way. Couple that with anxiety, and I am a whole mess! I have often found myself in situations where I do the bare minimum of preparation right before, but I go in and say something relatively different or receive better ways of presenting my information or running my lesson. I know these were because of the Lord. Honestly, as long as we are doing something relative to the Lord's work, He will always provide a way for His message to come across through us as long as we are susceptible to be used as His instruments. I know this is true because I'm a jumbled mess of a talker, and somehow people always draw SOMETHING from my testimonies when I deliver them, and it can only be through the Lord.

To answer the question, just be susceptible to the Spirit and get to know the ways of the Lord. You can do this through reading examples of Him coming through for other biblical people in the scriptures. You can also put yourself in positions to observe His miraculous interventions by following the promptings of the Spirit when you receive them. In short, like many things in life, you may end up just having to go for it! That is what faith is after all. I should be among the last telling you how to do this, but I'm writing this for me too! As an anxious person, it can be hard for me to rely on the unexpected. However, what is so unexpected about Heavenly Father's will? You know for sure there is always a good outcome, blessings, and overall good feelings at the end, Veronica. That's all you need to know, girl!

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3. Where is the theme in the following quote being repeated in other scriptures?

Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.

In the scriptures, the first thought that I had was of Korihor in the Book of Alma. His doubt led to an unrepentant state and seek of proof through a sign, thereby antagonizing the Lord (for lack of a better term — or is this good?). He led many from the gospel. With his death, an example was able to be made of how the Devil "will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell. (Alma 30:60)." The Lord allowed him to die because of his unrepentant state because the Lord could have intervened — He has all power. However, Korihor's wickedness could have further corrupted His flock. I'm sure there are more examples, but I cannot think of any off the top of my head.

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4. Nephi spent 10 verses (9 to 19) deliberating the promptings of the Spirit to kill Laban because it made no sense to him — it was contrary to Moses' law. Sometimes the Lord requires of His people to do things we don't understand. Where else do you see this in the scriptures? Have you seen this in your own life?

Two examples come to mind...Both are from the Old Testament. The first I thought of was when “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people” (Num. 21:6) so that they would repent for their doubts and discouragement. All the Israelites had to do was look and live! However, they complicated things. They probably thought, Oh, why such an easy requirement? There should be more! Or maybe they just flat-out doubted the power of just looking at a staff. When I was younger, I used to marvel at this story. These stupid people, I would think. Honestly, I really thought that! Luckily, as I have grown, I have been humbled enough to realize that I have found myself in similar situations on a much minor scale than physical life or death. Repenting is very simple in concept, but how many times do we find ourselves hesitating to do so rather than just doing the darn thing? How many times do we prioritize worldly sorrow over godly sorrow? I regrettably have practiced that many times. There is nothing more relieving (like literally weight flying off your chest — I'm not kidding) than repenting of your sins. From the recent General Conference, I loved how one of the talks given stated that guilt can be left as a warning sign to avoid sin, not as punishment that you are not forgiven. This was one of the most relieving aspects for me, especially because I am really good at beating myself up for past mistakes. This was a personal revelation to remind me that our Heavenly Father is a loving father — He wouldn't leave us in pain for no reason if we have remorse.

I also answered some of this in Question 2. My second story is how Naaman was told by Elijah to wash in the River Jordan 7 times to be healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5). His first response? Basically... "What? You want me to wash in the River Jordan? The rivers in my country are way better — this is insulting!" And his servant is like... "If you were asked a much more extravagant request to heal yourself, you would have done it. Just stop complaining and thank God for the simple requirement you have been given." And I'm here like, Yeah Naaman! Look and Live!

Not to make the story sacrilegious, but I feel like that is such a good point! I think we often expect extravagant things from the Lord — a "Show me a sign" if you will. However... we can't forget that Christ our Savior Himself was demoted to be a baby and tarry on our sinful earth to build the Church and sacrifice Himself on the cross of Calvary. We cannot forget that! How then can we expect any extravagance? The Spirit Himself speaks in a small voice, not in a booming voice. The members of the Godhead only go the 'outlandish (lack of a better term)' route when we ourselves are outlandishly stubborn and have clouded our eyes to be susceptible to their influence. That or the Lord just has grand blessings left in store for us that He just wants to shower in a grand way to let us know that He is God.

I hope you guys can draw something from my analysis! Please make a free account on my website to comment on my posts and share with me what you think! I also would love to hear your feedback on any scriptural analysis that you think would beneficially add for the benefit of others! (Sorry for that run-on sentence; you know what I mean!)

Love you guys, even though I don't know who is possibly reading this!