"Do not murmur, my son, for it is wisdom in me that I have dealt with you after this manner.
Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me."
Doctrine and Covenants 9:6-7
This is a lesson that we can probably all learn. God asks Oliver to be patient in a previous verse, and then here cautions him not to murmur, because he is clearly not happy about the whole thing... and then he explains that he needed him to jump in and work on figuring it out rather than just passively waiting.
I think that is what the prophets do... God asks them to accomplish some goal, and they jump right in, trying to figure it out. They don't always get it right at first, but they keep trying, and God helps them as they try.
The Brother of Jared, for instance, worked hard on the barges that God taught him to build, but there were problems, so he asked God for more... air and light. God gave him and idea for the air, and then he gave him a hint for the light, explaining some things that wouldn't work, and left the Brother of Jared to figure it out.
Nephi and his brothers tried several things to get the plates of brass as they had been commanded, but it was only through continued and persistent effort that they eventually accomplished their goal.
God will bless us just as he blessed the prophets... we will be able to do as he asks and to find our way in life, and become closer to our ideal selves, but the choices are ours, and we make them in large part by what we choose to focus and work on.
Today, let's recognize this pattern so that we can work with God on the things that truly matter to us. Let's spend time on the things that will make the world and ourselves and the people around us better, and dump things that are making things worse in the dust.
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