1 nephi 4:1 - 19
what is important about the phrase "nevertheless i went forth"?
--> i have always loved verse 6 in this chapter: "and i was led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which i should do." the very next phrase is "nevertheless, i went forth". in common english this translates to me as "hey, we've been asked to go to this crazy man who wants to kill us and get this record that god says is important. we tried before and almost lost our lives. we tried again and almost lost our lives again. now, we've promised god that we will do this, so we better do it. i have no idea what's going to happen, and i have no action plan, but i'm going to do it anyway." i think this further proves his testimony that what the Lord asks and requires, he WILL provide a way. nephi never lost faith in that, even when it was hard and when his brothers weren't so sure the Lord was going to pull through. it wasn't until after nephi went forth that he found out what the plan was - when he found laban on the ground drunk as a skunk. the Lord of course pulled through on his end of the bargain, but nephi didn't receive the confirmation of his faith until he took a step into the dark.
it's like elder bednar always talks about - faith is assurance that leads to action which leads to evidence. we know enough of the will of god to act on something he's asked us to do, then we take a step into the dark and do it, THEN (and usually only then) we see the evidence, which builds our assurance, and the process continues.
i always love the story of joshua and his people as they are carrying the arc of the covenant and have to cross a river. they had the faith that the Lord would fulfill His promises that they would escape safely, but didn't know how. before the Lord could provide them the miracle though, they had to step into the river. they were nearly ankle deep before the water split and they crossed on dry ground. so often in life we have to "get our feet wet" by "nevertheless going forth" before the answers are revealed. and hey, i'm grateful for that principle, it makes the assurance that much sweeter!
if you want to read a brilliant talk about the process of assurance-action-evidence to build your faith, click here.
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