I skipped verse fifteen which perhaps I shouldn’t – it’s one that the youth love to say they’ve memorized. Okay, here it is:
And my father dwelleth in a tent.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way . . .
When we left off last time, we were discussing Laman and Lemuel, and how they had a hard time accepting the words of their father. They’d had every opportunity to learn the gospel the same as Nephi had, but because their hearts were not in the right place, they could not hearken to the Spirit. This caused much grief for both Lehi and Nephi.
Heading into verse sixteen:
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.
I believe it’s been theorized that Nephi was around sixteen at the time they left Jerusalem, but he was full-grown and muscular. He also had a burning desire to know more about the words his father had spoken, and so he did the very best thing he could have done – he took his concerns to the Lord and prayed about the truthfulness of the revelations. The scripture says that his heart was softened, but I doubt it had to be softened very much – he was willing to pray and to ask, and that signifies that he was already prepared to receive.
The scripture goes on to say that he didn’t rebel against his father like his brothers had done, because his heart had been softened. Again, I don’t think he was even close to that kind of rebellion. Notice here that he says the Lord did visit him. The Lord cannot send His presence to be with just anyone – they have to be pure enough to receive Him. I take from this scripture that Nephi was already very righteous, and I doubt he would have rebelled like his brothers. It just wasn’t in him.
Moving on to verse seventeen:
And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.
Sam was just older than Nephi but younger than Laman and Lemuel. We don’t hear much about Sam in the Book of Mormon, but I get the feeling he played Hyrum to Nephi’s Joseph. He was always there when Nephi needed him and assisted him in whatever way was called for.
Verse eighteen:
But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them.
Laman and Lemuel had hardened their hearts long ago, otherwise Nephi would not have needed to pray for them. They had no interest in things of the spirit and, as we discussed earlier, they deeply resented leaving behind their wealth and belongings. Nephi shows himself to be a man of faith and compassion as he cries unto the Lord for the welfare of these brothers, even when they couldn’t care less that he was doing it.
From today’s reading – in what ways do we have hard hearts? Are we willing to hear the voice of truth when it is spoken to us? How can we prepare ourselves to receive the presence of the Lord into our own lives, and are we ready to do some missionary work to those around us like Nephi did for Sam?
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