In the first five pages of the Book of Mormon, we learn a lot about God and His plan, Prophets, Revelation, and the difference between a Saint, which I would define as a believer and follow of Christ, and the non believer.
The story is about a family that has been commanded to leave Jerusalem and take their journey into the wilderness.
There are four sons in this family, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi.
Laman and Lemuel are the rebel children, only going along with the exodus because they had to.
Nephi is much younger and very obedient. He is determined to do what is right! However there is one fascinating thing about Nephi’s faith, it isn’t dependent upon his father Lehi’s word. Nephi seeks answers and confirmation from The Lord.
If we do nothing more than take the word of our leaders as the sure thing, we miss out on the opportunity to gain our own testimony and build a solid relationship with God.
When we seek to become Saints, believers and followers of God, we must have a desire to know the mysteries of God as did Nephi.
On page four, Nephi writes, “…having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.” (1 Nephi 2:16)
If you think about your childhood and your relationship with you father, do you recall times when you hung on every word he said? Or times when you sought advice from him on numerous subjects because you saw him as a wise man. In how many of those situations did you confirm the answers, or did you just take his word as truth and move forward?
I’m not suggesting that our fathers would lead us astray on purpose. Rather I’m trying to point out the fact that Nephi, although his father was a righteous man and a man of God, still sought confirmation and validation from the source.
His desire to have the truth spoken to his heart, to have the truths taught by his father confirmed by the Spirit of God was an indication of his desire to become a true Saint and Disciple of God.
Laman and Lemual never sought for that confirmation. They never desired to truly understand the dealings of God and therefore never developed a testimony of God’s Word.
They were lazy, content, and not interested doing difficult things that didn’t make any sense to them or that seemed to complicated a task to complete.
We need to find in us the desire to understand the mysteries of God and apply that knowledge in our lives so that we can be built on the foundation of our Savior Jesus Christ.