1 Nephi 21

I love scripture passages that are tender.  These are some of them:

14  But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

I know of a mother's love and it seems so hard to think that it could fail--but the Savior's love is so much much more filled with compassion, tenderness, and certainty than even the most dedicated mother's love. The price He paid for us literally did put our mark on the palms of His hands.

Next are some scriptures that tell of the redemption of the House of Israel, but I interpreted these scriptures in a different way. After all, scriptures can have parallel meanings--and considering what is on my mind--a new way of looking at these scriptures jumped out at me.

20 The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall again in thine ears say: The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell.

(I'm not sure about the "first," part--but we have children and they shall struggle with the strait path.  I will never forget the shock of hearing from a few of my children that they were leaving our way of life and our God--a whisper that is so horrifying it will not yet even travel to the brain (often it is unspoken signs that quietly creep into one's interactions with their children that tell us something has changed).  They want another place to dwell (Their way of living is completely different now--whether they are physically gone or not.)

21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been? 

We grieve when our children leave the path.  We feel lost, confused, and abandoned, depressed, and unanchored.  We ask ourselves, didn't I teach them and show them away? (Who hath brought up these?--wasn't it me?)  What happened?  Where did these other influences come in?)

 

 22 Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

Our children can go out into the world and can be successful and loved there. But one cannot get far enough away to escape the standard the Lord establishes.  He will make Himself apparent.

 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Perhaps the world sees our wayward children differently and treats them differently because they cannot quite shake off their heritage. Perhaps, our inactive children will attain the very best life the world has to offer--even wealth and power--far better than what the kings of old possessed--but eventually, it becomes apparent that even that is nothing compared to what the Gospel ultimately offers--the place of true royalty is in the eternal family.

These children in the world may bring the Gentiles to the Gospel, reaching them in ways that we cannot--much like the scattered (because of wickedness) Jews, under Paul's influence, were the means of spreading Christianity throughout the old world.  I know my children have made so many good friends that they likely never would have made while in the Gospel community.

And because we have waited for the Lord (and the "wait" is literal, and often long), He blesses us.  He accomplishes the work of salvation. He lifts us from the shame of having lost our children--our greatest stewardship and our most precious hope. Our children return.

 24 For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives delivered?

 25 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 I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

Some of our children may go to the godless side of the world.  They may be subject to drugs, sexual impurity, or other serious mistakes. They may be prey inside the mouths of powerful and evil forces that seem certain to consume them--but the Lord can deliver them out of certain destruction.  As we remain faithful and do our part in trying to restore our children to the truth and build Zion, the Lord will take up the battle--and He will save our children!!)

And He knows how we feel throughout this ordeal!!!!!

1 Nephi 19

This is a powerful chapter.  It begins with Nephi talking about his record keeping.  He then talks about us not giving heed to Christ and not letting Him be our God.  It talks about what Christ went through at the hands of wicked men--the Atonement.  After His death He visited the House of Israel--either with His voice to their comfort and with destruction (for their eventual repentance, I think).  Then it talks about the Jews rejecting Him and how when they, and the House of Israel, finally accept Christ, He will give them the blessings of His covenants--which they have lacked for generations.  Then Nephi talks about likening the scriptures to us--and that doing this gives us hope.  The Atonement gives us hope.  Being of the House of Israel gives us hope--we are not forgotten, whether we are good or evil.  And if evil, we are accepted again when we repent.

Our Sunday School teacher said that when he has journaled about scriptures, he ends up just writing it again.  And someone is class said that she was underlining a new copy of the Book of Mormon, and her husband pointed out that she was underlining everything.  The two comments say something about how succinct the message is when one is open to it.

2 Nephi 2

Righteousness cannot exist without the choice of sin also--opposition in all things.  Yet, we look to a time and a world without sin.  Does that mean that when one triumphs over sin and becomes consistently righteous (and the Millenium comes) that then opposition is no longer needed?  There was a war in Heaven ... perhaps one never gets very far from opposition.

1 Nephi 17

The Lord accompanies hard journeys.  He makes people strong and gives them means to accomplish righteous things.  We have to look to God and keep a good attitude. 

1 Nephi 15

20 "And I did rehearse unto them the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the Jews, or of the house of Israel; and after they were restored they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again. And it came to pass that I did speak many words unto my brethren, that they were pacified and did humble themselves before the Lord."

I am so focused on the present that I think the prophecies of the future don't touch me like they were meant to.  This verse implies that Nephi's hardened brothers may have been humbled and pacified because of prophecies of the future.  What am I missing?

1 Nephi 14:14

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory."

This is the scripture for troubling times.  It speaks of covenant people accomplishing good works (righteousness) while having the (protection?) and efficacy of Christ's power, with the end result being glorious.  This is not defeat, nor captivity.  It is the opposite, and it is well worth pursuing.

In verse 17, it says that when there are wars and rumors of wars throughout the world, then will "the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel."  

1 Nephi 13

My conjectures:

It says the Spirit of God wrought upon the man (Columbus) and he crossed the waters to this land. Now history says that Christopher Columbus was cruel to the natives. This makes me think that one, God works in degrees—Columbus was more righteous than many—a great man with a great mind obviously—but he had serious flaws. The Lord chose him in his time and with those flaws. (Or he was incredibly more righteous inside than his time gave provision for.)

Heavenly Father can chose us within our times and with our flaws also—for whatever mission, be in tiny, yet still ours and significant for some reason.

Secondly, the seed of Lehi was scattered by the gentiles. That was a cruel thing. First, hopefully, the Saints of God did not participate despite it having the Lord's permission. Second, I don't know why the Lord gave His permission—they had fallen away, but it was cruel … The Lord let's life be cruel so that the march of humanity continues according to the principles of agency. The agency of another is only preempted on the basis of the righteous prayers of another. And, I think, many righteous have to submit to their times. Their tragic end would not be a tragedy in the next life—hence, Mormon's fall because of his people—and his obvious triumph, both in this life in that he found peace and love amidst genocide and depravity and his lifting up to everlasting life by His God after his tragic death.