Redefining Joy in the Last Days by Chris Stewart

Author:Chris Stewart [Stewart, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Inspiration
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2000-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Our Journey through the Wilderness

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There’s a great parallel in the Book of Mormon to our journey through life. I’m talking about Lehi’s journey into the wilderness. I mean, look at these guys. It’s pretty clear from the record that, in some ways, they were making it up as they went along.

Sometimes God will allow us to do that, you know. Even when we’re on His errand, He’ll make us figure it out.

It would have been so easy for Heavenly Father to send an angel down to talk to Lehi and explain it all to him. “Okay, you’re heading out to a new land. You’re going to be the father of an entire nation. Pretty heady stuff here, you know, so grab a pencil and take some notes on this. First, you’ll need the Brass Plates. Really important. Put a star by that one. Got to get the plates before you head off into the wilderness. Laban is going to fight you on this one, but don’t worry about that, I’ll tell you what to do about him later on. Next, you need wives for your sons. Ishmael’s family will do. And lots of metal bows, okay? That’s a big one. Take extra metal bows. Don’t worry about the reason, you’ll find out later on . . .”

Wouldn’t it have been nice (and so much easier) if God had sat down with Lehi and Nephi and told them everything they needed to make their journey into the wilderness a complete success?

But He didn’t. Even though Lehi was His prophet, He made him figure some of these things out. We see the same thing with other prophets. The more I understand the challenges faced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, the more I see the same pattern in his life. He was a young man, barely more than a child, and yet Heavenly Father respected him enough to honor his intelligence and agency, allowing him to learn the lessons from figuring it out as he went along, allowing him the experience of making mistakes. To me, it’s almost like God says, “Don’t worry too much about how you’re going to do it or about making mistakes along the way. I am God. I control the very heavens. I can help you. Do the best you can, seek my counsel, but don’t be too afraid. Remember, you can’t make a mistake that I can’t fix.”

So out into the wilderness Lehi and his family go. It’s a long trip. They’re hot and tired, maybe a little hungry. They camp for a couple of days. “Hey, we need the plates!” Okay, head on back to Jerusalem. Ask Laban for the plates. He laughs and then gets angry. They try to buy them. He steals their gold and sends his men to kill them. Finally they get the plates. Head on back into the wilderness. Camp a couple of days. “Hey, we need some wives!” (Notice Laman and Lemuel were finally given a commandment they didn’t murmur about.

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