"And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.
Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
1 Nephi 3:5-7
I think that we often get into the same attitude as Nephi's brothers about the gospel. It reminds me of work. If you ask people to do certain tasks that they enjoy, they might jump into them and get the project done really quickly... but if they are different tasks that they don't enjoy, even though it is the same amount of work, they do the project really slowly, wander off task a lot, and require a lot more encouragement. And we all have things in the gospel that we like or don't like. Some people get really into the Word of Wisdom or Tithing, watching their diet or their income scrupulously and doing as much as they can. Others are into Missionary Work or Genealogy. Hopefully we all have areas where we shine. But other things are hard. Maybe we don't have a testimony of that aspect of the gospel... or maybe we do, but it remains hard for us, or we don't enjoy it as much. At work, I still have to get the parts of my job that I don't really enjoy done, so that they don't hang over my head and last for months. And as we grow in the gospel, sometimes God is going to ask us to do the things that are hard for us as well. Either because they need to get done, or because we need to learn it, or both, or more.
Nephi's brothers knew that the task would be difficult, and they weren't sure that it could even be done. Lehi knew it would be hard as well... but God was the one asking. That's a good thing to remember in our lives as well. God is the one asking. Yes, it might be a hard thing to face, but God always makes it possible for us to accomplish what he asks. Today, instead of murmuring, let's jump in and get the hard parts done, so we can move on to something else. :)
Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
1 Nephi 3:5-7
I think that we often get into the same attitude as Nephi's brothers about the gospel. It reminds me of work. If you ask people to do certain tasks that they enjoy, they might jump into them and get the project done really quickly... but if they are different tasks that they don't enjoy, even though it is the same amount of work, they do the project really slowly, wander off task a lot, and require a lot more encouragement. And we all have things in the gospel that we like or don't like. Some people get really into the Word of Wisdom or Tithing, watching their diet or their income scrupulously and doing as much as they can. Others are into Missionary Work or Genealogy. Hopefully we all have areas where we shine. But other things are hard. Maybe we don't have a testimony of that aspect of the gospel... or maybe we do, but it remains hard for us, or we don't enjoy it as much. At work, I still have to get the parts of my job that I don't really enjoy done, so that they don't hang over my head and last for months. And as we grow in the gospel, sometimes God is going to ask us to do the things that are hard for us as well. Either because they need to get done, or because we need to learn it, or both, or more.
Nephi's brothers knew that the task would be difficult, and they weren't sure that it could even be done. Lehi knew it would be hard as well... but God was the one asking. That's a good thing to remember in our lives as well. God is the one asking. Yes, it might be a hard thing to face, but God always makes it possible for us to accomplish what he asks. Today, instead of murmuring, let's jump in and get the hard parts done, so we can move on to something else. :)
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