From a story found in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi, Chapter 3, we read that Lehi’s family fled into the vast, scorching desert to escape the wrath of the Jews who sought their lives. Having reached safety, or so they thought, they then received staggering news. God had commanded the sons of Lehi to return to the danger of Jerusalem to obtain records which contained the history of their people written on brass plates.
Even worse, the plates were in the possession of a treacherous commander of a unit of the army of Israel. He could not be easily approached as there were many soldiers protecting him. The brothers were terrified. But then one of the brothers boldly stood and declared:
” I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1Nephi 3:7)
From this statement we learn two very important principles:
1/ God never commands us to do anything that is impossible to do. Without faith it may well appear to be impossible. But the fact remains: no matter what God commands us to do, there is a way and he has already provided it before he asked. Our job is to have faith that the statement is true and to act on that assumption until we discover what the solution is.
2/ God never issues a command that is for his benefit alone. In each case, in each commandment whatsoever he commanded us to do, it is always, always for the betterment, protection, edification or improvement of his Children.
We know the second principle to be correct because later, the portion of the people (the people of Zarahemla) who didn’t take written records of their history were unable to retain their language or maintain the memory of the basic purposes of moral, spiritual or intellectual principles. Those who did keep those and future records found them not only to be a stabilizing force for good, but were able to maintain their original language and core values which served as a reservoir of their collective wisdom and customs.
The records of their history were to disclose another equally important principle as well.
Knowing history is not enough by itself. For a society to remain intact, they must also be be willing to have the courage to apply and live what they know.
This is true and applies to every one of us. Most of us perform at a level below that which we know we should. The challenge is to bring our performance up to that higher level of understanding or as Nephi declared, “I know… [therefore] I will go and do.” This struggle determines who we are and what we will become as a people, and as a nation.
As we are always learning, we must therefore always be changing. We must realign our behaviour to match our understanding, knowledge and wisdom.
We are instructed to pray in the morning: “What would thou have me do today?”
Likewise in the evening, our prayer should be: “How well did I do with those assignments you gave me today?
The way to overcome our weaknesses is one step at a time, one weakness at a time. In other words: consistent practice until we are made perfect.
-Doug Garrett