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

Learning in groups vs. individually.....

So my friend Dale asked in the comments a question about whether or not the Spirit can come in the same way when trying to learn on your own. So, here's a few thoughts (not comprehensive as I haven't thought of enough scenarios, but a few thoughts).

Learning from the Spirit in a group situation (2 or more people) is different than learning from the Spirit when studying by yourself.

First, a little more on the group setting. Teaching and learning in a group is so powerful for likely many reasons; I'll just mention two.

1) A group will have people with many different ideas and ways of looking at things which definitely helps learning go on. There's just a lot of power in groups (which is why D.C. 88 talks about the need to have every person speak so that "all may be edified of all") - 122Appoint among yourselves a teacher, and let ^anot all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time and let all listen unto his sayings, that when all have spoken that all may be ^bedifiedof all, and that every man may have an equal privilege.

2) Teaching can be an unselfish thing and can involve lifting others. God's work and glory is accomplished when more of his children come to Him. This happens as one of his children influences other children to choose righteousness. This occurs most often in teaching. This is because words are used to connect ideas and principles that are otherwise shown through example. Teaching is how the gospel is spread. Therefore, the Lord has a lot of incentive to help the teaching process. This is what he promises in D.C. 50:22 as discussed earlier.

But what about the individual learning? This is also very important and can involve the Spirit but this occurs through a different process. The process of learning as on our own includes the Spirit when we try to build our faith and trust in the Lord, which is done through action and thought (when ideas are formed and connected).

Here's a couple brief thoughts on how faith is built: we'll use the example of my previous job (or my current job - really any job where you have a boss with more answers and experience than you that wants you to think, not just follow orders).

1) In my last job, there were a lot of possible answers to the problems we were asked to solve, such as "what should this medical device company's strategy be?" My manager was supposed to come up with the answer, but we were all supposed to contribute analysis to help address smaller questions that could help answer the big question.

2) A lot of times I wouldn't know what to do next or how to approach the answer to a smaller question, such as "which of the main competitors could impact our company the most?"

3) I could go ask my manager how to answer the question and what tasks to do to have good information to answer the question. And, she might even give me the answer. But.... she would prefer that I study out the question in my mind, think about what the answers and tasks might be and then either a) do the ones that make the most sense, or b) ask her what to do after presenting what makes the most sense (or what are good possibilities) and explaining why that's true.

In other words, that process would show that I was learning and exercising effort and then asking my manager to either a) validate my thinking or b) answer the questions I definitely couldn't answer alone. This process helps me grow a lot, but at the same time it shows faith in my manager and respects her time.

As individuals that hope for the Spirit, God wants us to go through new processes and show faith in him. This faith is shown by thinking and giving effort and then asking him to help on the few things we really can't answer alone. This really does show a more active faith than simply saying, "God - how about you just give me the answers." Going through this process and recognizing there are certain answers that just can't be known without God's help shows much more faith than asking for help on every question because this might just be done out of laziness or routine or without recognizing how great a Being it would take to find the answer.

Also, I must note that this process is different for people at different stages in life. For instance, when I was a kid, my dad told me I could read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and then I'd know the Book of Mormon was true. In this case he gave me the process, but it still worked. Now I need to follow different processes though.

Scriptural example: Even in Oliver Cowdery's case of translating the Book of Mormon (which God clearly had an interest in having Oliver do well at), Oliver still had to "study it out in his mind." Isn't that amazing? I think it means that he was supposed to come up with some translation (or have one come to his mind) and then think about it and consider if that made sense. Or perhaps, he had to consider the process by which the translation came and see if that made sense. Then, once he concluded something he had to ask God if it was right. If the translation was right, he'd get an immediate confirmation or he would forget the translation that he had thought of. (This is a potentially poor scripture to bring up because few instances require immediate feedback on whether or not something is correct. When you're translating scripture, it's important to immediately know if what you thought was the correct translation actually is. I personally have never had a "stupor of thought" and forgot what I was previously thinking.)

Oliver's experience shows that going through a process is vital and shows the right way to show trust in the Lord and then receive the Spirit in your learning/action process.

It's also interesting how often that people acknowledge the Lord and his mercy or their weakness or their inadequacy before getting answers or spiritual experiences. See Mosiah 4 and 5 (the first couple of verses of each chapter) and Alma 22 (pasted below)

15And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: ^aWhat shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be ^bborn of God, having this wicked spirit ^crooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up^dall that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.

16But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt^abow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the ^bhope which thou desirest.

17And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did ^abow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried ^bmightily, saying:

18O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck ^aas if he were dead.

Paradoxically, it is when we are more thoughtful and trying harder and going through a process and then ask the Lord for help that he teaches us and blesses us with his Spirit. It's because when we're more aware and asking Him it shows more trust and faith than when we're less aware and thoughtful.

I must also say that interestingly, as we experience this more and more often, we trust more and more just like a little child trusts. We become smarter and more humble, all at the same time.

So, can we feel the Spirit on our own? Yes, but it's a different process and just as God blesses teachers and students with the Spirit because it furthers his plan as the student learns more about coming to Christ, he's only interested in blessing someone studying on their own with the Spirit if they're learning and growing by showing faith and trust in him.

Hopefully this was somewhat clear.

Have a great night.

LaDon