Hear Him 20: Hear Him in Adversity: Nephi & Laman

So let's pick up where we left off Monday. We were talking about the phenomenon of the Book of Mormon beginning with this really interesting lesson. I don't know if that really struck you, but boy, when that dawned on me, it really hit me hard to say of all the ways to begin the Book of Mormon. We don't jump right into a sermon. We don't jump into our, Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Him and I and their mission to the Lamanites. We don't jump in with Jesus coming to the Americas. All of that's coming. The deep richness of the doctrine is coming. Well, it's hard to say that Nephi doesn't do that and even in second Nephi. But think about how that very first chapter, very first book opens. Outside of the Tree of Life, which is a phenomenal doctrinal contribution. The story of first Nephi is the story really of boys. I want to include Lemuel and Sam, but I'm mainly going to focus on Nephi and Laman. It's the story of those two going through a period of trials and one of them will end first Nephi, a completely different man spiritually. The other one will fall to a depth like we haven't seen in scriptures. I mean, I would imagine that at some point they were together that Nephi and Laman were, maybe when they were boys at the same place, but they don't end that way at the end of first Nephi. And it can't be that, well, Nephi had easy trials and Laman had hard trials. The answer has to be in this idea of how do you respond to trial? What is your attitude? What do you do when the trial hits? And so we took a look at Laman's tradition was to feel wronged. And when you feel wronged, the focus is on you, the focus is on why is this happening to me? I deserve to be treated better than this and the focus is on me. And you'll never learn to see when you're focusing on you. I learned a powerful lesson in the temple one time. I don't know if you've ever stood between those parallel mirrors or any type of parallel mirrors, but I'm fascinated by that idea of you can just see forever. The problem is, one thing always gets in your way. If you've ever tried to be between two parallel mirrors, why can't you see forever? What is it that gets in the way and prevents you from seeing? It's you. When you see you, when you're focused on you, it's very difficult to see and learn from eternity. And so I think that's the idea of Laman is he felt wrong. He was focused on him. He felt wronged. He got wrath and he turns away from God and is trying to fight God. He's trying to hurt God versus Nephi. We saw his, we summarized his response when the saints were in winter quarters. In doctrine covenant section 136 where the Lord says, my people must be tried in all things in order for them to receive the glory that I have for them. And he that won't bear chastisement isn't worthy of the kingdom. And then he spells out what that means. And he basically says, if you respond to trial and chastisement and mortality and the challenges of life by humbling ourselves. Now again, what would the definition of humbling ourselves be? I'm not focused on me. I'm focused on things greater than me or outside of me. If you humble yourself and call upon God. So if trial pushed you towards him like a little child who gets hurt, does what? Tell me what a little child who falls and cuts their knee, where do they run? Where do they instinctively run? And so this Nephi-like response is, do you turn to God in your pain, in your darkness, in adversity? Do you humble yourself and call upon God? If you do, he sends his spirit into the world to enlighten those that do that. And then the promise in that verse, a beautiful promise, is, exam our topic, revelation from heaven. Revelation that flows from heaven because of my attitude towards my trials. The verse says that you will see. You will see. And part of that means light is coming into my life and confidence is growing and strength is coming. So what I want to do today is I want to just simply spend the rest of today illustrating that point. Illustrate, I just want to walk through first Nephi. It's absolutely brilliant how the Book of Mormon begins with this simple lesson. Look at these two boys in each of their trials and watch how they respond and whether light is flowing or darkness is increasing. Lehman is always going to respond by feeling wronged and getting Roth and turning angry. And so he's decreasing in light. Nephi is always going to be responding by turning to the Lord, even in the very first one that where he doesn't want to. And turning to the Lord is going to increase his eyes and now light is flowing and he's increasing in confidence and strength and we're going to measure that. So as I look at first Nephi, I want to talk about seven trials that they go through. You might find others, but I want to focus on seven. Number one, leave Jerusalem. They've got to leave their home, leave their possessions and we know when they take their possessions and offer them to Lehman to get the plates that he coveted to them. So they were a wealthy family and they left a lot of possessions. So they leave and go into the wilderness. Number two, they return for the plates. Number three, they return for Ishmael and his daughters. Number four, Nephi breaks his bow and they get hungry. They go without food. Number five, Ishmael, the father of the people, the girls they go back for, dies. Number six, they build a boat and that's a major challenge 'cause they don't want to help Nephi, but he needs their help, so there's a lot of tension and number seven, crossing the sea. They get all married and they start rejoicing and they forget God. So in each one of those, we're gonna take a look at how did Nephi respond? What was his response to the trial? And then we're gonna measure his growth by what's happening to him. We're specifically gonna point out that light and confidence and strength are flowing into him. That he is hearing God because of his attitude. And then we're gonna look at layman. What was his response? How did he respond to the trial? And then what is evidence that he's growing in darkness that he's losing light? And one of the ways we're gonna measure that is what does it take to get him on the road? What does it take to get him going? Remember, if they stay in Jerusalem, the Book of Mormon story is very different because they're gonna die. The Babylonians are gonna come in and destroy that city. If they stay in Jerusalem, they die. But what does it take to get them going? You're gonna notice that it's gonna get harder and harder and harder to get layman and Lemuel on the path, which is evidence that they are becoming colder and colder. Okay, any thoughts, any observations, anything on your mind as we jump into this and take a look at first Nephi? All right, let's do the first one. First Nephi chapter two, the command to leave. Now, I wanna focus on Nephi first and then we'll do it. Should we do negative first or do we positive first? Normally, we would do negative first and then end with positive. But I wanna make a bigger point with layman and I'm gonna show three things with layman. What was his reaction? What is he doing that's evidence that he's losing light and what does it take to get him on the path? So let's start with Nephi. How about we start with Nephi? Now, the command to leave your home. And this is a young man. Nephi is a young man at this point. I want to hold this one up. I wanna hold up. I wish I had a picture of Nephi in first Nephi chapter two. I wish we could actually say that's take a picture of him and we're gonna compare that Nephi to all of the other Nephi throughout the book. Because this Nephi does not want to go. This is not exciting for Nephi and I don't think we need to necessarily rejoice when a trial comes. We don't need to be cheering that a trial has come. but we do need to react by turning to God. So we're gonna start in 1st Nephi chapter 2 verse 16. 1st Nephi chapter 2 verse 16. Now, because this world of Zoom just seems to be a little alone and isolated, can I get you guys to share? Would you guys mind reading? That way we're kind of hearing other voices. Dion, would you start by reading verse 16? Watch for Nephi's response. Tell me what you see here that is significant to you. Dion, would you mind reading verse 16? - And it came to pass that I and Nephi being exceedingly young, ever the last being large in stature and also have been great desires to know of the mysteries of God. Wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord and behold he did visit me and it softened my heart that I did believe all the words which have been spoken by my father. Wherefore, I do not rebel against him like unto my brothers. - Okay, do you, anything jump out at you guys? Does his heart need to be softened? I think he's trying to say yes. His heart needs to be softened. He didn't want to do this. I think that's an understandable response to trial. But notice the direction he's facing and I think that's the key. Nephi sets a tone for his whole life, the whole rest of the book here. I did cry unto the Lord. That's almost the exact verbiage in doctrine of covenants 136. If we call upon the Lord and humble ourselves, he visits Nephi just like he promised. He softened his heart. I did believe and I didn't rebel. Could he very much have included the word I saw? It sure seems to fit, doesn't it? I was visited by the Lord and I saw. He opened my eyes and I saw and that's why his heart was softened and he didn't rebel. Do you see that very first step? Now watch what happens to Nephi. We're going to watch a man growing in light and spiritual power. Just even the very next verse, the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. He's starting to recognize revelation and receive it verse 18. He was grieved because of the hardness of his brothers. That's interesting. Verse 22, the Lord says, you are going to be my leader. So already Nephi is stepping out. Now this is going to cause problems for laymen, but Nephi is going to be called upon to lead. Nephi is stepping out. The Lord says in 22, thou shalt be a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren. The younger brother, the youngest brother is leading out. Because of that light that's coming. Do you see Nephi just took a notch forward? The Lord selected him to be the leader of this group. Now let's take a look at laymen. Starting in 8 and 9, Lihai says, oh, I wish you laymen in Lemio or like this valley or like this rock and steady and constant. Now we hear why, verse 11. This, now this he spake because of the stiff nakedness. You see that? Stiff naked means I don't look down and I humble myself. The stiff nakedness of laymen in Lemio, for behold, they did murmur in many things against their father. There's their reaction. How dare you put us through this? This isn't fair. We don't deserve this. We should be treated better than this. And they're picking on their dad. They're calling him a visionary man. And then the end of verse 11, they call their father a fool. Now that is plank number one. We're going to get a lot worse. But now we begin to see a level of disrespect brewing up. There are father is a fool. Verse 12, they murmur. Verse 13. They didn't believe that Jerusalem would be destroyed. And they were like the Jews who were in Jerusalem, who wanted to take away Lehigh's life. So, Nephi responds by turning to the Lord and he softens his heart and he begins to see and he's chosen as leader, laymen starts by murmuring, our dad's a fool. We're not going to do this. Jerusalem won't be destroyed. I don't believe it. So now what does it take to get Lehmann and Lemuel on the path? What if they don't leave? We have a very different book of Mormon and they get destroyed in Jerusalem. So how do we get them going? Verse 14, Sabrina, would you mind? What's, I'm going to call these kind of like motivator number one or stick number one. How does he kind of prod them to move forward? This is the smallest of all of his kind of prompts. So what works this time? It won't work later, but what works this time to get them going. Sabrina, would you read 14? - And they came to pass that my father did speak unto them in the valley of Lehmann with power being filled with the spirit until their friends did shake before him and he did convound them that they don't utter against him wherefore they did as he commanded them. - So a gentle rebuke from their dad. A gentle rebuke from their dad will work. It gets them going. They leave because dad kind of spoke sternly at them. Now, just jump forward to chapter 18 when they're on the boat. Now, this is a much colder, much darker Lehmann that Sabrina, would you read verse 17 of chapter 18? Much, now we're at the end of first Nephi where I just want to foreshadow. I just want to show you that the rebuke of Lehmann works now, but watch when they're on the boat. Verse 17, Sabrina, if you don't mind. - Okay. Now my father, Lehmann, had said many things into them and also into the sons of Ishma, but behold, they did breathe out much threatening against anyone that should speak for me. And my parents being stricken in years and having suffered much grief because of their children, they were brought down. Yeah, even upon their sick bed. So does that little prompting, does that little stick where he kind of knocks them? Does it work on the boat? No, not even close, right? Because they're so much colder by that. But that's how we're gonna measure. That's our first kind of bonk on the head to say, guys, you've gotta leave Jerusalem, a stern rebuke from Lehmann works now, but it won't work on the boat. So, trial number one. You see that Nephi has taken a notch forward and Lehmann seems to be headed the opposite direction. Our dad is a fool. We're not gonna do this. Jerusalem's not gonna be destroyed, but a rebuke from Lehmann gets them going. All right, now let's go to chapter three. Go back to chapter three. Now the command comes to leave and go back. Now we didn't get the place while we were there. The Lord does this on purpose. He waits 'til they come out and then sends them back. And Nephi responds, you know this, right? Verse six, Nephi says, "Go, my son, "for thou shalt be favored of the Lord "because thou hast not mourner." He already knows that this revelation and help from heaven, divine help from heaven, is coming to Nephi because of your response here. You haven't murmured. Now listen to what Nephi says. And boy, already this is a very different Nephi than we saw in chapter two. The one who cried unto the Lord and had his heart soften. Now Nephi proclaims, "I will go and do the things "which the Lord hath commanded, "for I know that the Lord give us no commandments "until the children of men, "safe he shall prepare away for them, "that they may accomplish the thing which he commanded them." Do you sense growth in that first Nephi? Do you see where he is? Do you see what's come from heaven? Do you see confidence and light and strength? I'll go because the Lord will make it possible. That's confidence. You know what happens here. Verse 15, I love the position that he's in when the first attempt fails. When they go in and the answer is no and you can't have them and Laban gets angry and kicks them out, listen to Nephi's response. Now again, this is a very different Nephi. It didn't work. Our plan didn't work. Lehman is ready to quit and go home and Nephi says in verse 15, "As the Lord liveeth "and as we live." We will not go down into our father and the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us. Now did anyone catch the subtlety of what he was saying? As we live, we won't go down until we've done this. Nephi basically put his life on the line. We're either going to die doing this. We're either going to die trying or we're going to, we're going to accomplish this. That confidence came from somewhere. We're going to do this. It's going to happen or we're going to die trying. That confidence is not the first Nephi we met. Something's happening. So they try a grand, they get the riches, they try and buy the plates, it doesn't work. And then layman's going to step in, we're going to catch this in just a minute. He's going to beat Nephi. An angel comes and then they start to murmur immediately and notice Nephi's response chapter 4 verse 1. Again, this is a man who is stepping forward. He just was beaten by his brother and he says in verse 4 or chapter 4 verse 1, or Alicia, would you read this one? Nephi 5, 4 verse 1, if you don't mind Alicia. And it came to pass that I spoke to my brother and saying, "What a, what began to jubil the commandments of the Lord, behold his mightier than all the earth than what I veer than what I've been and his 50 yay or even and his ends of thousand." That is a man of faith, that is a confident man. We can do this. The Lord can help us, he's mightier than all the earth, he's mightier than labor and any force of army, any size of army he can throw against us. That is a man of faith. Where is that faith coming from? That doesn't seem to be the Nephi that left Jerusalem, that needed his heart soften. No, I'm going to go do this because the Lord will make it happen. And then in a very dark moment where they've tried twice and it doesn't happen, he still is holding on to his confidence that the Lord is going to help them. Do you see where this Nephi is coming from? Verse 6, probably one of the great description of what Nephi is becoming, "I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Verse 10, "I was constrained by the Spirit." Verse 11, "The Spirit said unto me," verse 12, "The Spirit said unto me, do you see who he's becoming? Because every single time back to what Lehigh said, thou hast not murmured." And he's kind of had that, "Okay, we can do this." He turns to the Lord. Even though he has no idea what to do, he turns to the Lord with confidence. And he says, "We're going to move forward." Now, let's contrast that with Laman. Go back to chapter 3. As soon as the command to go get the plates, Lehigh says to Nephi, verse 5, "Thy brothers murmur," saying, "Here's the H word, ready? They're going to use the H word. Thy brothers murmurs," saying, "It's too hard." It's too hard. Now, look at that. Nephi's response was, "I'll go and do because the Lord's going to provide away." And Laman's response was, "We can't do that. That's too hard. It won't happen." He's looking at himself, always at himself, saying, "I can't do that." You're right. You're right. Right, Laman, Nephi's looking at God, saying, "I can't, but he can." Do you sense that response in trial, both times? Laman says, "I can't. It's too hard." Nephi says, "I can't, but God can." And then he turns towards him. Now, watch what happens. After they fail the second time, verse 28 of chapter 3, Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers and did smite us even with a rod. He's gone from our dad as a fool to physically harming a younger brother. They are beating Nephi. You see what's happening? Nephi's being led by the Spirit, and Laman is beating his younger brother. Now, what is the stick? What is the poke? What is the prod? What is the tap on the head? What is the pad on the back to get him going? Verse 29, "An angel appears and stops them. An angel came and stood before them and spank." See that? If Lehigh had shown up to chew them out, do you think it would work this time? I don't think so. So the stick has to get bigger and an angel comes. And notice how they respond even to the angel. Verse 31, "As soon as the angel says, 'Hey, don't beat Nephi, the Lord has chosen him as your leader,' and then as soon as he leads, Laman and Lemuel began to murmur, saying, how is it possible? How is it possible?" Now two trials, where's Nephi? Where's Laman? Same trial, two different responses. Do you see the message? Well, the Book of Mormon is waving its arms. All right, let's jump to chapter 7. Chapter 5 and 6, they examine the plates. Nephi talks about the set of plates. Let's go to chapter 7. The trial number three, they return for the women. Now this time, Laman doesn't murmur at the idea of going back for Ishmael's daughters. The trial comes when the daughters are asked to come into the wilderness with them. Now that Laman has women involved, he doesn't want to go back to the wilderness. And that's where the rebellion occurs. Let's start with Nephi, starting in verse 6, you just want to show you that Laman rebels against Nephi and Sam and their father Ishmael and his wife and his three other daughters. Nephi obviously doesn't rebel. But now starting in verse 8, notice that Nephi starts taking that role of leader. He really is stepping into that role. So he says, "I spake unto them," and he's going to chew them out. Verse 12, "Where is his faith?" The Lord is able to do all things according to His will for the children of men if it so be that they exercise faith in Him. Why have you forgotten that? Nephi is chewing them out. He's lecturing them kind of as the leader, the prophet role. He's quoting scripture to them. Laman's going to be angry. So verse 17, "How does Nephi respond?" I prayed unto the Lord, saying, "O Lord, no, this is where He's bound." Sorry, this is where He gets bound with cords. Laman ties Him up. We'll get to that in a minute. But Laman ties Him up. How does he respond to being tied up? Notice even then, he doesn't whine and say, "God, get me out of this. Listen to His prayer, listen to the spiritual prayer of someone who is taking several notch forward. He doesn't pray, strike my brother and down, get me out of this, woe is me." Listen to His prayer. I prayed unto the Lord, saying, "O Lord, according to my faith, which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brother." Yay, notice this, give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. You see that? That's a very different prayer. Give me strength that I can do this. Now verse 18, when I came to pass it when I said these words, "Behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet," now as a tribute of who this man is, look at verse 21. I just think this phrase just speaks volumes of who this man is becoming. Twenty says, "We'll get to why," they say this, "but they come unto Him, they're very sorrowful and they repent." Verse 21, "I did, frankly, forgive them all that they have." They tied Him up and were going to leave Him to die in the wilderness. I did, frankly, forgive them. all that they had done. Now you tell me where's Nephi? If I could hold up that very first Nephi and then look at this one. Where is Nephi? And I ask you the question. Yeah. Why? Why? What has he done? If that isn't the Book of Mormon just screaming out saying are you paying attention people? He is a lot higher than he's ever been. That very reason he keeps turning to God. He partners with God. So again this is affecting this. Now let's watch Layman. Ready? What's his response? First of all when his little brother well we got to get to six. First they rebel. They rebel. We're not going into the wilderness. They rebel. And then when his little brother choose him out. Verse 16. Deon would you mind? Watch where Layman is now. 16 if you don't mind Deon. It became to pass that when I Nephi had spoken these words unto my brother and they were angry with me. And it came to pass that they did lay their hands upon me. For behold they were exceedingly wrought and they did bind me with cord. But they sought to take away my life that they might lead me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts. Now notice they're not going to kill him. They're not there yet. They will be shortly. But they're not going to kill him. They're just going to leave him for animals to kill him. But they're thinking about ending his life. They've gone from our dad as a fool to beating their younger brother to wanting him dead even though they don't want to do it themselves. They want him dead. Do you see where these two boys are? This is astounding. What's happening? And if you pay attention I think it's astounding that the Book of Mormon is beginning with this message. They're trying to kill their brother. Now what is the stick? We've got to get them in the wilderness. If they don't, they all die. Nephi dies, Laman dies, Ishmael dies. They all die because Babylonians are coming. The Babylonians are going to slaughter Jerusalem. We've got to get them into the wilderness. We've got to get them across the sea. So what's the stick that kind of, you know, pokes them and gets them going? Verse 19. I'll read it. They were again angry with me and sought to lay hands upon me. But one of the daughters of Ishmael, yay, and also her mother and one of the sons did plead with my brother in so much that they did soften their hearts and they did cease driving to take away my life. The tears of a woman. Now that is a very powerful influence for man. Think about it. My teenage daughter got pulled over a couple times and not once did she ever get a ticket. She just would start to cry and she'd be weeping and the cop could never give her a ticket. Ended up always giving her a warning and I wondered if it was just maybe the hurt here. I don't know. But think about, you know, tears of a woman. Now here's interesting. Let me jump you forward to chapter 18. Will the tears of Nephi's wife and will the tears of children soften their hearts on the boat? I'm going to reach chapter 18 verse 19. Ready? And Jacob and Joseph also being young, having need of much nourishment, were grieved because of their afflictions, the afflictions of their mother and also my wife with her tears and prayers. And also my children did not soften the hearts of my brother and that they would lose me. Now tears of a woman for trial number three work. Tears of a woman on the boat do not. Do you see how cold they are by the time we get to the boat? But it works for number three. One of the daughters of Ishmael, I am assuming that's going to be Nephi's wife. Don't you think that's the one that connects with Nephi? One of the daughters of Ishmael cries and it softens their heart. And they go into the wilderness. Okay, three trials. Do you see where Nephi and Laman are? Three trials. Worlds apart. All right, now we get Lehigh's dream. So with a big chunk, now we've got to jump all the way to 16. So from what happens next, our Nephi's vision, Lehigh's vision and the Nephi's vision. So let's go to 16. The next one is that Nephi's bow breaks. Now we're gonna focus this time. Instead of focusing on Laman, we're gonna focus on the women, their wives. I want this chapter is phenomenal. If you will just see, sometimes we get distracted in this chapter. The Leahona, the Lehigh murmuring, we get distracted in chapter 16 and we forget to see the simplicity of what I think it's trying to teach. I just want to focus on Nephi's reaction to breaking his bow and the daughters of Ishmael's reaction to their dad dying. Let's just look at that. We'll use the daughters of Ishmael as a symbol of Laman, even though we don't really get Laman's story here. He is mentioned and he does murmur. So I think it's a pretty safe connection, but we're gonna focus on the daughters of Ishmael. Now tell me if this isn't every day life, if this isn't the book of Mormon teaching us how to live every single day, we are 16 chapters into the book of Mormon and a very, very powerful lesson. Nephi breaks his bow and because of it they starve. Everyone's hungry. It's so bad that even Lehigh complains. That tells you how bad it is. But tell me what Nephi does. Verse 23, "See the simplicity and the beauty of this. How does Nephi respond to a trial? How does Nephi respond to a broken bow?" Anyone want to throw it out there? Tell me what he does. He just made a new one. Oh my goodness, if that isn't a commentary for life, he just made a new one. No whining, no complaining, no woe is me. He went about and did what he could to solve the problem. I have learned so much from this chapter on how to live my daily life. Just do what you can to solve it. There's a solution. I know it's hard, but there's a solution. Let's find it. Instead of, oh, instead of the pity party that I am tempted to have, I remember Nephi and say to myself, "Okay, how do I solve this? What do I do to solve this?" Flat tire in the middle of sardine canyon. No spare. We had a car with no spare. Van full of family. Kids. Flat tire in sardine canyon. No one's around. Hmm. What do we do? And I just learned a lesson from Nephi. Just make another bow. There's almost always something to solve the problem or someone who can help me solve the problem. No need to get lost in your emotions. Now, maybe we ought to compare Nephi to the daughters of Vishmalmak so that we can kind of see that. Let's jump. Now, I don't fully understand why Ishmael Dying was such a challenge, but let's jump to verse 34. Ishmael Dying came to pass that Ishmael Dying. And that was very hard for his daughters. I don't know if it was him dying or them leaving him in thick. They're going to cross the ocean. They will never visit their dad's grave again. I don't know what it was, but they buried him in Neham and they're going to leave Neham. Not in Jerusalem where he deserves to be buried. Not in America where they're going. They buried him in Neham. I don't know if it was his death or his burial that was upsetting to them, but they are upset. But watch what they do. Watch how a challenge even a painful one like a death. Watch how they respond. Ready? Verse 35. I'm going to read this, I'm going to break it down a little. bit. It came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did morning exceedingly because of the loss of their father. That's today's trial. Today's trial. Now, let me use an example. I had a sweet daughter who failed her driver test. That was today's problem. She was a little upset and depressed because today she failed her driver's test. But notice what it says. The daughters of Ishmael did morning exceedingly because of the loss of their father and because of the afflictions in the wilderness. What do we often add to today's trial? She, what they just did. I'm having a bad day yesterday. We dig up yesterday's trials. The pain we felt then we add to the pain we feel today. So tell me what my daughter did. I use her as an illustration because we've done. We've all done this. This is so human in our response. She failed her driver's test today. Now what does she do? She looks back and remembers every failure she's ever had. I have failed so many things in my life and all the pain of past failures and all the embarrassment of past failures is added to today's pain. Now guess what they're going to do next? Today, yesterday, you can see where I'm going. So let's read it. They did murmur against my father because he had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem saying our father is dead. That's today. And we have wandered much in the wilderness and have suffered much affliction, hunger, thirst and fatigue. That's yesterday. Now watch what they do. And after all these sufferings, we must perish in the wilderness with hunger. You see what they just did? They added tomorrow's pain. So that day, my daughter was a little upset and depressed because she failed the driver's test. And then she remembered every failure she'd ever had in her whole life. I'm so dumb. I'm so horrible. I have failed so many things in my life. Now tell me what she's going to do. What is my daughter going to say to herself? I'm going to fail everything else I try. The pain of anticipating failure in the future. The pain of the. The pain of the current, the past and the future. Therefore look at verse 36. Tell me what we all do when we carry the weight of yesterday's pain, today's pain and tomorrow's pain. What do we all do? Verse 36. Give up. We want to give up. My daughter wanted to just give up trying to get her license. I'm done. I'm done. I'm not even going to. I'm not even training anymore. What would have been Nephi's approach? Ask God for help. And turn to God and find a solution. Study and take the test again. You know what? I'm going to study and I'm going to take the test again. I'm going to build another bow. That's my solution. I'm just going to build another bow. Do you see that choice? Boy, I have learned so much from chapter 16 about everyday life when tires blow or when vacations get ruined or something. You can either just. Oh, this always happens. Every time we try to travel, something goes wrong. Here we are stocked. This is ruined our vacation. How in the world are we ever going to solve this problem? We're sitting here in Sardine Canyon and we anticipate all the past challenges and all the future challenges. You know what? Let's just go home. Let's just go home and be done with this vacation, right? Or, no. Let's build another bow. We can do this. We can solve this. This isn't going to ruin our vacation. Let's solve this. Do you see that contrast? Nephi layman. I know it's Daughter's of Ishmael, but we're going to group them together. Nephi layman. Now, what is it? What's the poke? What's the tap on the head? What's the nudge? Look at verse. We had two here. We've done two trials, death of Ishmael, or the breaking of the bow and then the death of Ishmael. Let's do the breaking of the bow, verse 17. God wrote something on the side of the liahona that shook them. He just wrote something on the side of the liahona, some miraculous event that shook them. And then, verse 39, the voice of the Lord did come. They heard a voice, not the sweet spirit whispering. They heard a voice that shook them and they trembled. And that's what got them going. Now, I'll let you study the last two, the building of the bow. Watch what Nephi becomes. Maybe just one scripture from chapter 17. No, we got it. I got to quickly do one thing. Let me do quickly. Let me contrast when Nephi looked back on his trials. Look what he saw. Verse 2, chapter 17, verse 2, this astounds me. Looking back on his trials, Nephi saw so great with the blessings of the Lord, so great with the blessings of the Lord that while we did live on raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children and were strong like unto the men. And they began to bear their journeys without murmuring. Nephi looking back saw incredible blessings and all that God had done to preserve them and how strong they were. Now, same chapter, same trials, different person looking back, verse 20 and 21. No, I'm just going to read verse 20. Thou art like our Father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart. And he let us have the land of Jerusalem and we have wandered in the wilderness these many years. And our women have toiled, being big with child, and they have born children in the wilderness and suffered all things save it with death. And it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these things. In other words, one of them looks back and says, "It was so bad it would have been better to die beforehand." The other brother looks back on the very same things and says, "It was so good, we were so blessed. Look what the Lord was able to help us do. How do two people go through the same trials and see them that differently?" One says, "It was so good. Look at what the Lord did." And one says, "It was so bad, we should have died before we went." And look how far. Yeah, perspective and attitude, beautiful description. So I'll let you finish chapter 17, chapter 18, Nephi grabs the Leahona as soon as they free him and he calms the storm. Nephi calms the storm. By the end of first Nephi, what kind of man has Nephi become? And what kind of man has laymen become? And ponder this. Go ahead, Alicia. One is righteous and ready for the temple. The other is more towards satan than God. He's an attempted murderer. He wants to kill his dad and his brother. He's an attempted murder. You got it. And one is receiving visions of the tree of life. Now, did one go through easy trials and one go through hard trials? Nope. Did they start off at the same place? Pretty much. Now would you ponder this for the next few days? We're going to, we'll meet on Monday. But until we meet, would you ponder this question? Why does the book of Mormon begin with this lesson. Why does the book of Mormon begin with this message? Isn't that fascinating? That this is how the book of Mormon, the scriptures of our dispensation begin with this story. That's Heavenly Father wave in his arms. May we hear that message. May we understand that our families, our trials, and God are the greatest influences in our life. And may we learn in trial to hear Him and receive Him and be enlightened by Him and see because of our attitude, our perspective. I pray that we will hear Him in our trials like Nephi did. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.