Nephi asks a faith-opening question:
for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands? 1 Nephi 4.1
As I wrote in An Unknown God, Nephi demonstrates the ability to find a way with his questioning. Instead of asking doubtfully, he asks faithfully.
It reminds me of Enoch:
31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant? 32 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Moses 6.31–32
The Lord didn’t tell him why he was chosen. He just said “go forth”.
The Lord’s thoughts are above our thoughts. Too often we put limiting beliefs on ourselves - I’m not good enough, why me? Or, why would God want to help me?
Why not instead ask, “why wouldn’t Heavenly Father want to help me? He loves me and has promised he would help me.”
I love this quote by Jared after just going through something really hard:
And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. Ether 1.38
Just lost your job? Who knoweth but the Lord will provide a better one? Just lost your house? Who knoweth but the Lord will give you a promised land? (They had lost their jobs and house and were wandering at this point.) I love the optimism here.
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Bryan lives somewhere at the intersection of faith, fatherhood, and futurism and writes about tech, books, Christianity, gratitude, and whatever’s on his mind. If you liked reading, perhaps you’ll also like subscribing: