I Must Obey (2 Nephi 33:15)

Nephi’s father Lehi had many visions and dreams (1 Ne 1:16, 18). He preached and prophesied to the people, exhorting them to follow the Lord, in spite of mockery and threats on his life. Nephi certainly learned to be obedient from his father’s powerful example, and he set out from the first chapter he recorded on the small plates to show us that the tender mercies of the Lord bless those who obey faithfully.

In 1 Ne 2:1-3, we learn that Lehi will be blessed for his faithfulness, and a pattern soon develops: Interestingly, the way the Lord blesses Lehi is by giving him more commandments. Nephi learns from a young age that the Lord blesses the faithful with further direction. His father taught him that true faithfulness is doing, and being obedient (1 Ne 2:3). Leaving Jerusalem, and his land of inheritance with his estate and possessions resulted in the survival of Lehi and his seed, and provided marvelous, sanctifying, faith promoting experiences.

When Lehi had traveled for many days in the wilderness, he was rewarded for his obedience with a commandment to go back for the brass plates. When this mission was complete, they were blessed with the charge to return for Ishmael and his family. Once they had wandered for a sufficiently long time, they were blessed with the commandment to build a ship, and so forth. A study of the Book of Mormon shows the many, many times the family built altars, gave thanks, seemingly ‘gave up’ all, and were blessed in even greater magnitude, with further commandment, direction, and refinement.

We soon learn that Nephi’s brothers do not share his faith, and that they murmur in the face of commandment and adversity. They “knew not the dealings of that God who created them” (see 1 Ne. 2:11-12). Nephi later explains a probable cause for their condition—they did not enquire of the Lord. Conversely, Nephi had great desires to know the mysteries of God, and cried unto the Lord from an exceedingly young age. The Lord softened his heart, and Nephi believed the words of his father.

Nephi certainly was obedient and faithful of his own freewill and accord. However, the Book of Mormon also teaches us that increased faithfulness and obedience are also actually blessings from God. When Lehi tells Nephi of the Lord’s commandment to go back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates, Nephi states he will do as the Lord commanded. Lehi is of course ‘exceedingly glad,’ and Nephi affirms that his attitude and resolve indicated he had been ‘blessed of the Lord.’ Obeying the Lord’s word (or the promptings of the Holy Ghost) results in further capacity and desire to be faithful and obedient.

With thirty years of experience following the Lord; being blessed, challenged, commanded, humbled, and sanctified by Him, Nephi’s perspective and testimony had certainly grown, and his writings and ‘framing up’ of the Book of Mormon are important, if not essential components of the Book of Mormon. Nephi’s diligence, his mindset that he ‘must obey,’ certainly set the stage for the subsequent authors and stories in the Book of Mormon. His faithfulness contributed mightily to the Lord’s ‘wise purpose’ indeed. And the predictable pattern—obedience resulting in further commandment—is one we can emulate today in striving to obtain a faith and perspective similar to those of Nephi.