Pull Up Your Pants and Get to Work

                                                       Pull Up Your Pants and Get to Work

      What you say? What is that all about? As I was studying my assignment in my Book of Mormon class 1 Nephi 15-22 this week I read about the prophet Nephi when his bow broke in 1 Nephi 16. To give you a bit of a back history of that I will explain some things.  As you recall in my previous post Lehi and his family was commanded by God to leave Jerusalem because it was going to be destroyed and Nephi and his brothers was sent back to get the plates. A round trip journey of about 14 days. After they got back and rejoiced and thanked God for their safety a while later they were to go back to ask another family to come with them on their journey. The reason they were asked to go back and get this other family was that it had girls for Lehi’s sons to marry. Laman and Lemuel (Nephi’s rebellious brothers) didn’t do any complaining about that I’m sure.

     Lehi kept all the commandments of God. In 1 Nephi 16:8 “And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And I also, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.” They have the brass plates which is history and scripture. They have wives now. All this was accomplished as they dwelt in the valley that Lehi call Lemuel. After the commandments were filled the voice of the Lord spoke to Lehi telling him that the next day they were to pack up and head into the wilderness. A cool thing was found outside Lehi’s tent the next morning. “A ball of curious workmanship” (1 Nephi 16:10). This ball is called the Liahona and it was a compass of sorts for their travel into the wilderness. It pointed the way they should travel and messages from God were also written on it from time to time. Lehi’s own personal compass/text message device between him and Our Father in Heaven.  A point to know is that this ball only worked when the people were being obedient to the commandments of God. 1 Nephi 16:28 “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we gave unto them.”

     The families all packed up and headed in the direction the Liahona pointed. After traveling and setting up camp again and then again for several days Nephi and his brothers took their bows and went to find food in the direction the ball pointed.  This time Nephi’s bow broke and his brother’s bows were unusable. They returned without food. Everyone was discouraged. Traveling for days, tired, getting hungry, and wanting sustenance.  What would you feel like at this point? Would you start murmuring, complaining for want of food? That is what Laman, Lemuel, the sons of Ishmael and even Lehi started doing. 1 Nephi 16:20 “…and they were exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.”

     Who do you think they blamed for no food? Nephi that’s who. Nephi was being afflicted as he put it by his brethren because of the loss of his bow. This is what stuck out to me at this time. Nephi did not complain. He made a bow out of some wood. He made an arrow out of a straight stick and he armed himself with a sling and some rocks. He went to his father Lehi and asked him where he should go to find food. Lehi repented and humbled himself and asked God then the Liahona told him to tell Nephi which way to go. Nephi did not sit around and complain or murmur because things weren’t going along smoothly. He basically told his family to quit the murmuring.  While he was doing that he was taking action. Using his faith in Christ that if he did his part God would provide. He got the bow, the arrow and other means for obtaining food and went to his father for direction. He pulled up his pants and went to work.  Complaining doesn’t get you anywhere. Murmuring doesn’t get you anywhere. Only faith in Christ guiding you where to go and the action on your part will help you get the food you need for your eternal joy.

     Sure there has been times in my life when I’ve complained and murmured. Let’s face it life isn’t easy. Life isn’t perfect. There isn’t enough money, children are being difficult, your spouse snapped at you, your sick, you’ve lost a love one, you’re divorced and the list goes on.  Are we going to pull up our pants and get to work like Nephi or are we going to complain and not do anything about it? Nephi said in 1 Nephi 16:29 “…And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.” Nephi took action and Nephi found food to feed his family. We too can take action and trust in the Lord that he will be there for us as we stop feeling sorry for ourselves murmuring and “pull up our pants and get to work.”