During their journey across the sea, Nephi's brothers began to make themselves merry and to speak with much rudeness. They forgot The Lord. Nephi attempted to correct them, which led to much contention and to Nephi being bound with cords. After Nephi was bound, he notes that "the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work". They had lost their ability to receive spiritual direction from the Lord. I have noticed this holds true in my life. When I have a spirit of contention in my heart, I lose the spirit. When we have contention in our family, we drive away the Spirit. When we invite contention, we diminish the opportunities for spiritual guidance in our lives.
In this example, Nephi again illustrates how to handle contention and difficult family relations. Four principles impressed me in this account. First, never give up on our loved ones. When his brothers were forgetting the Lord, he tried to help them remember. Their hearts were hard, so they responded in a prideful manner. It appears to me that Laman and Lemuel are gradually getting harder in their hearts as the years go by. But Nephi loved them enough to try. He didn't give up on them.
Second, trust in the Lord's power and His love for His children. Although Nephi did not give up on trying to help his brothers, in this case, he could not soften their hearts. Only the Lord could help them. Only the fear of destruction was enough to get them to 'see things as they really are'. Sometimes family members, or loved ones, must endure the storm until they see that only the Lord can deliver them from destruction. The Lord is sufficiently powerful to deliver us from destruction when we turn to Him.
Third, avoid contention and murmuring, even (or especially) if others are struggling with these things. Nephi did not murmur because of his afflictions, but did praise the Lord. What would have happened had he succumbed to the temptation to murmur? He also would have lost the Spirit and would not likely have been able to take over and lead them safely to the promised land, once the opportunity arrived. It is critical to be able to remain calm and not succumb to the temptations of the devil, when another family member is having a hard time.
Fourth, my wickedness impacts my loved ones. Laman and Lemuel's wickedness brought their parents to their sickbed. Even near to death. Perhaps my wickedness does not have this dramatic of a physical effect, but my behavior always impacts my family.
I hope that I can apply these principles to better avoid contention and to deal with difficult family situations or interactions. I believe proper application of these principles helps lead to the spiritual guidance and deliverance my family and I need to live happily and to reach our promised land.
This week when I read 1 Ne 16
ReplyDelete19:And it came to pass that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food.
20 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.
I got to thinking how connected our body and spirit are. In these verses even the great Lehi murmurs because he is hungry and tired - basically his body was not being taken care of, tired and hungry. I have noticed too many times in my life when I don't take care of my physical body that I am more suceptable to falling into spiritual tempation. I think satan has more influence on us when we are physically week. I guess I should take good care of my self and family so we don't get caught murmuring.