Skip to main content

9 - 15 Mar - Learn With Joy and Not With Sorrow - Jacob 1 - 4

Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome.  Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4).   This priority was not only reflecte...
1 comment

2 Nephi 6 - They Shall Not Be Ashamed That Wait for Me


Nephi's brother Jacob recounts history and the words of Isaiah in his role as a spiritual leader of the people. Jacob's introduction offers a useful model to asses how conscientious I am in serving others: He says "...I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. Yea, mine anxiety is great for you; and ye yourselves know that it ever has been. For I have exhorted you with all diligence; and I have taught you the words of my father; and I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are written, from the creation of the world" (2 Nephi 3).


  • Do I hope for the well-being of others?
  • Am I consistently and urgently concerned about those around me?
  • Do  I invite others to make good choices/repent?
  • Do I regularly and sincerely share the scriptures and my testimony? 


While I may care about people in an abstract way, and do not actively harm others, rarely do I exhibit the kind of love that Jacob describes. I get distracted by my own wants and selfish pursuits, and am generally timid in inviting others to change or sharing my beliefs with those I fear would reject them. 

 Talking about those who will know Christ when he comes again Jacob teaches that "thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me" (2 Nephi 6:7). He further reiterates, "the people of the Lord shall not be ashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah" (2 Nephi 6:13). The Hebrew word translated as "wait" means to "look to," "hope for," "expect," or "anticipate" (Ogden, Skinner).

 Waiting for the Lord helps us be less ashamed of him.  Looking to, hoping for, expecting, and anticipating that God keeps his promises can motivate us to follow him and love and serve others. In Hebrews 11 we learn that the heroes of the Old Testament "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13). We may not see the rewards or outcomes of good choices in this life, but the more firmly we believe in the Lord and His promises, the more likely we are to follow Him. 

 Jacob's motive in sharing the words of Isaiah was to bless his people (and readers today). "And I speak unto you for your sakes, that ye may learn and glorify the name of your God" (2 Nephi 6:4). To me this passage could mean either 1.) learn and 2.) glorify the name of God or it could mean to 1.) learn the name of God and 2.) glorify the name of God. The idea of "learning the name of God" draws associations for me to knowing God.  In Christ's great intercessory prayer for the the world we learn that "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Not to know about God, but to know him. When we do what God asks us to do, we learn in a visceral, experiential way to know what He knows, feel what He feels, and do what He does. 

 When we come to know God, we can be freed from our mistakes and strengthened to meet the pain and challenges of this life. "For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee" (2 Nephi 6: 16-17, 1 Nephi 21:24-25, Isaiah 49:24)
Ogden, D.K. & Skinner, A.C., 2011. Verse by verse: the book of Mormon, Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book.

 Image Credit: Unknown

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 Nephi 17 - That I May Find Ore to Molten, That I May Make Tools

Nephi is given the daunting task of constructing a ship to carry his family across the ocean. Like Nephi, the Lord asks us to do things that are beyond our current knowledge and ability with a promise that he will help us: "And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them ( 1 Nephi 17:3 ) From the experience of Nephi and his family, we can also see that the Lord grants us joy in our trials and certainty in his direction when we follow his commandments. When Nephi and his family reached the seashore, a brief respite before crossing the ocean, they enjoyed the break and celebrated their progress: "Notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mosiah 16 - Speaking of Things to Come as Though They Had Already Come

Abinidi explains how Christ's atonement heals and redeems the righteous, while the wicked remain in their sins to be judged. The remarkable thing to me about Abinidi's teachings, and the teachings of all the Book of Mormon prophets who lived before Christ, is their level of conviction in what where, at the time, future events. Christ had not come yet. They looked forward to the ministry and atonement of Christ and were fully persuaded of its reality and the eternal impact it would have. It is hard enough to believe in Christ and follow His teachings after the fact, even with records of His life, and hundreds of millions of people who share a belief in Christ's divinity. But all that Abinidi and other prophets of his time had were their own revelations and inspiration from the Spirit.  Abinidi also alludes to Christ's own faith saying, "now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Matthew 3 - Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord Isaiah prophesied of the ministry of John the Baptism and described his role as "t he  voice  of him that crieth in the wilderness,  Prepare  ye the  way  of the  Lord , make straight in the desert a  highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). John fulfilled this prophesy and commanded the people to  “prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). The way that John prepared for the Savior was by preaching repentance and prophesying of the establishment of the church on the earth: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand“ (Matthew 3:2). In the same way that John helped prepare a people to receive Jesus Christ at his first coming, the preparatory work that we all must do to invite the Savior into our lives is to repent.  I may be taking the metaphor too far to note that our efforts to repent do not in themselves bring the Savior to us, or enac...
Post a Comment
Read more