Nathan Rex says...

1 Nephi Chapters 16-22

Two things strike me about this week’s chapters, two things that I think are intricately related. The first is Nephi’s faithfulness through all manner of afflictions. The second is Nephi’s testimony of Christ.

I marvel and Nephi’s faithfulness through the episodes of the broken bow, his brothers and the building of the boat, and his brothers while on the boat. Through all those experiences, Nephi was the only one who did not murmur or complain at the difficulties they were experiencing while trying to keep the commandments God had given them to guide them to the promised land.

In chapter 17, verse 3, we get Nephi’s perspective on why he tries so diligently to keep the commandments through those times of difficulty. “If it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them.” That is a lesson that I know I need to internalize. If I will keep the commandments, God will provide the means—God will open up the way—for me to get to my promised land.

But that begs the question of how can I develop the faith necessary to live that faithfully?

The answer, I believe, comes from Nephi’s testimony of Christ, which we get in subsequent chapters. In chapter 19, Nephi prophecies and testifies of what Christ will endure and why. “The world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”

This, I think, is helpful in developing faith in Christ, by understanding how willingly he suffered all manner of afflictions because of his loving kindness. Though Nephi’s own words are very faith inspiring, he tells us, “But that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah.”

I am grateful that he included these words of Isaiah. For me, these are some of the most beautiful words written about Christ.

Chapter 21, vs. 14-16:

“The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” (I have probably murmured those exact words more times than Laman and Lemuel!)

“But he will show that he hath not.

“For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?

“Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee…

“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands[!]”

During our darkest hours of affliction, during our most trying times of temptation, we can find the faith necessary to keep living the commandments because we can know Christ will never forsake us. Look what he has already endured for us. Is he going to forget us and give up on us now that we are graven upon the palms of his hands? Of course not. And that is why we can have the faith that he will send the help and hope we need to live faithfully to make it to our promised land, both here in this life and in the world to come.