"Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions."
1 Nephi 18:16
This is actually pretty remarkable under the circumstances. Nephi had been tied up for four days at this point and was in a lot of pain, and it would have been easy to wonder why God was allowing him to suffer... or why he allowed them to suffer the whole time, really. They had been in the wilderness for eight years before they got to the seashore and the Lord commanded Nephi to build a ship. They had been a wealthy family, and left that all behind. The complaining, bitterness, and/or resentment of all of them at one time or another seems understandable... even Sariah, even Lehi.
Nephi had a lot of faith in the Lord, and even though it didn't always save him from pain, God did watch over him, and delivered him, while still allowing Laman and Lemuel their free agency.
I guess in some ways it comes down to that in life. Life is going to be hard at times--maybe a lot of the time, for years. It's part of life. And we can look at our lives and murmur and wonder why God is afflicting us or allowing bad things to happen to us, or we can trust him that it will work out okay in the end, and keep the faith, and keep trying. It's those down times where our faith is tested, and how we react determines whether we are going to be a Nephi on one end of the spectrum, or a Laman on the other end (or maybe Christ versus a Gadianton Robber). There are a lot of in-between positions of course, but today, let's work on moving towards the complete trust end of the spectrum. God will come through for us if we keep the faith. :)
1 Nephi 18:16
This is actually pretty remarkable under the circumstances. Nephi had been tied up for four days at this point and was in a lot of pain, and it would have been easy to wonder why God was allowing him to suffer... or why he allowed them to suffer the whole time, really. They had been in the wilderness for eight years before they got to the seashore and the Lord commanded Nephi to build a ship. They had been a wealthy family, and left that all behind. The complaining, bitterness, and/or resentment of all of them at one time or another seems understandable... even Sariah, even Lehi.
Nephi had a lot of faith in the Lord, and even though it didn't always save him from pain, God did watch over him, and delivered him, while still allowing Laman and Lemuel their free agency.
I guess in some ways it comes down to that in life. Life is going to be hard at times--maybe a lot of the time, for years. It's part of life. And we can look at our lives and murmur and wonder why God is afflicting us or allowing bad things to happen to us, or we can trust him that it will work out okay in the end, and keep the faith, and keep trying. It's those down times where our faith is tested, and how we react determines whether we are going to be a Nephi on one end of the spectrum, or a Laman on the other end (or maybe Christ versus a Gadianton Robber). There are a lot of in-between positions of course, but today, let's work on moving towards the complete trust end of the spectrum. God will come through for us if we keep the faith. :)
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