I wanted to share a thought I had about obedience. It begins with that well known verse by Nephi, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded," (1 Nephi 3:7) Nephi is committed to be obedient and voices his desire to be obedient. Even when it gets tough and his brothers want to turn back, he replies, "As the Lord liveth, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us."
So now we get the picture, Nephi is serious about this obedience thing. But so far, it is all talk. He has not actually obtained the plates yet. Now the Lord tells us he will prove us and try us in all things, and we see that in the next chapter. In chapter 4 verse 10 Nephi is constrained, or commanded, by the Spirit to kill Laban. This is obviously NOT what Nephi had in mind when he covenanted with the Lord to be obedient and not return without the plates. The Lord is testing him. The covenant came first, now the test. Will he obey?
He does, but listen to his words, "I shrunk and would that I might not". This was a real test to see if he would obey. Now go to D&C 19:16-18, another example of Someone that had covenanted to be obedient in all things. The Savior had a similar experience to Nephi. He had covenanted and promised to be obedient to the end, and the Father wanted to let Him show that. When the Savior realized what it was going to require, He, like Nephi, comments that He "would that [He] might not . . . and shrink".
But, of course, he obeyed. And the first thing he tells the people in ancient America about Himself is that he "suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." He wanted them to know he was obedient.
I learned that Obedience is not about me. It is not about what I want.
Now, think about this and watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz1mK5mLxu0
2 comments:
Well done David. And the video was great. I've seen stuff like that before. For the dog, obedience (in other words, pleasing the owner) is everything
David,
I really liked the connections you made regarding Nephi and obedience. I hadn't spent a lot of time pondering Nephi's faith to be obedient before.
I have also been thinking a lot about obedience lately. Today I was trying to explain to someone the Code of Honor at BYU-Idaho. Really, it comes down to obedience. Sometimes, it starts out as blind obedience, faith, that what you are doing is right. (Maybe kind of like Nephi's faith in being obedient in killing Laban.) But then, as you follow through and be obedient, the Lord often shows you why and your testimony is strengthened.
Anyhow, my thoughts are kind of muddled, but I really appreciate what you said.
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