Morning Insights from My Senior Son
We were reading the part after Nephi's family has returned to Jerusalem to retrieve Ishmael and his daughters. During the journey back to their camp, several of the party rebelled and wanted to go back to Jerusalem. Nephi testified against their wickedness and they became angry and bound him up. Nephi prayed to be delivered and prayed for the strength that he might BURST the bands.
I pointed out that Nephi prayed for deliverance and that is something that we can do, pray very specifically for help. Cooper pointed out that the Lord did answer his prayers but not in the specific way that Nephi had intended.
The next verse says that the Lord LOOSED the bands, not that Nephi was given strength to BURST them. Cooper pointed out that often the Lord answers our prayers in ways different than what we intend, but he answers in the best way for us. As I have pondered on this, I realize that the Lord's answer did not let Nephi succeed with his strength. That component was specifically removed (and we know that Nephi was strong and large in statue). There was no way for Nephi to claim that he had taken care of this problem independently. The Lord was showing him he needed to rely totally on Him.
There are always lessons in the ways that the Lord answers our prayers. If your prayers are answered in a different way than you expect, then it is time to analyze and search out the purpose for the difference. Ask "What did I need to learn from this specific lesson? Why were my prayers answered this particular way?"
This seems to be the way the Lord is working lately with me. In July I prayed so hard for a little resting place, my SANDBAR. I thought selling my house and moving to Omaha would be the best way to accomplish this. Instead the Lord kept us here, and now I can see how that has been so much better for us.
I thought these were particularly great insights from my 17-year-old. So glad that we are taking 10 minutes every morning to have little mini lessons like this.
I think coopers got a really good point there. I also think that its important to realize that what the lord did was loosen the bands until they were at the point that nephi could burst them himself. I would imagine (and this bit is from a talk by president bednar, so i´m not the only one who imagines this.) that nephi had to work his wrists raw on those bonds. The Lord usually answers our prayers differently than we ask, but he also expects us to trust his plan that he proposes and work our butts off to accomplish it. if we do that we wont fail.
ReplyDeleteIn Prince Caspian, Lucy, finding herself, her family, and her kingdom in a dire situation, talks with aslan. Overcome with joy, she rushes to him and asks, Why cant you come rushing in and save us like last time?
Things never happen the same way twice, little one
A different plan was created. It wasnt the same plan Lucy wanted, but it was one that still resulted in a happy ending. The plan was one that required work and required trust. The Lord always asks this of us.