We don't see the end from the beginning; following commandments can be a hard path

A clear message from 1 Nephi 3 is that following the Lord's commandments does not mean that there's likely to be an immediately great outcome. The Lord knows the end from the beginning, and we don't. Therefore, if he's involved you can expect that he'll want the result to be good in the long run, but not necessarily in the short term. 1 Nephi 3 is such a great example of this.

Nephi gladly accepted the command to go get the plates from Laban. It is fairly logical to think that you'd have help in attaining the outcome along the way. In fact, that's exactly what Nephi said:

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

However, notice that it took several times for them to collect the plates.

Here's a few of the experiences:

1)

11 And we ^acast lots—who of us should go in unto the house of Laban. And it came to pass that the lot fell upon Laman; and Laman went in unto the house of Laban, and he talked with him as he sat in his house.

12 And he desired of Laban the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, which contained the ^agenealogy of my father.

13 And behold, it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him out from his presence; and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee.

2)

22 And it came to pass that we went down to the land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our ^agold, and our silver, and our precious things.

23 And after we had gathered these things together, we went up again unto the house of Laban.

24 And it came to pass that we went in unto Laban, and desired him that he would give unto us the records which were engraven upon the ^aplates of brass, for which we would give unto him our gold, and our silver, and all our precious things.

25 And it came to pass that when Laban saw our property, and that it was exceedingly great, he did ^alust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property.

26 And ^ait came to pass that we did flee before the servants of Laban, and we were obliged to leave behind our property, and it fell into the hands of Laban.

However, as we look back on these experiences with perspective we can see some potential benefit from these setbacks:

1) it was clear that the Lord was involved in the great outcome. Nephi and his brothers tried their 2 best ideas and it resulted in nothing positive. In fact, Laman and Lemuel mentioned how impossible it would be to get the plates from Laban because "he can have 50 men killed, then why not us?"

2) they gave away their money. This became important in 1 Nephi 7 when Laman and Lemuel threatened to go back to Jerusalem. However, they really had nothing to go back to. While this looked terrible, in the long run it removed temptation.

3) God intervened and said he would guarantee the outcome (similar to 2) -

29 And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an^aangel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ^bruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will ^cdeliver Laban into your hands.

I'm sure our lives are like this as well. Many times we won't have immediate success despite following the Lord's command. There's many examples of this: Elder Hugh Brown lost his chance to become a general in the Canadian army because he was a faithful member of the church. He ended up being a top leader in the church.

This is how it is for many of us. Remember, the Lord has the end in mind and will help us end up in the right place.

LaDon