"For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord..."
In my Book of Mormon class, we talked about the difference between acting and being acted upon. In this verse, we have Nephi asking the Lord to understand what his father knew. In class we talked about how he sat down and pondered, and sought to understand, and believed that the Lord would make those things known unto him. He made a physical effort to understand, and had faith that, through the Lord, he would understand.
Laman and Lemuel didn't. They just kinda expected the answers to come to them or not. At least from what we understand, they made NO effort to understand what their father was talking about, and resented their father.
It really made me consider--do I act, or am I acted upon? There are so many questions at this time of life that I do pray about, but do I really search and ponder in my desperate need for answers? What's funny is when a friend started bringing this up as well. I started evaluating different situations I have been in, and in what ways I could have looked at it in a better light and realized what I could have changed instead of what I wished would change. I realized that I simply could not be content just allowing things to happen around me.
Also, it has ALWAYS astounded me how sensitive Nephi is to the spirit. He knows that it feels like, and he knows that to do when he hears it! He doesn't sit there doubting whether he felt it or not, he acts on it with 100% faith! It stuns me. I realized that in my quest to learn how to feel the Spirit more keenly, I needed to act instead of assuming that such a gift will just come to me. I need to be firm in what I believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment