An Instrument in the Hands of God

A phrase that we commonly use in the Church is being “an instrument in the hands of God” to do His work.  Surprisingly, in the scriptures this phrase is found only in the Book of Mormon.  It is first used by Lehi in describing Nephi.  He said that Nephi was “an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us forth into the land of promise” (2 Nephi 1:24).  It’s possible that Lehi was quoting somewhere from the plates of brass, but I’d like to think that it’s his own phrase.

The reason that it makes sense for Lehi to have coined this phrase to describe Nephi is that so much of Nephi’s story has to do with metals and instruments.  Nephi’s writings give an unusually high focus on ores and making tools and other things with them.  He wrote about his father’s “gold, and his silver, and his precious things” that he left behind and mentioned it several times (1 Nephi 2:4; see also 1 Nephi 2:11 and 1 Nephi 3:16, 22, 24).  After Laban was delivered into the hands of Nephi, he “beheld his sword… and the hilt thereof was exceedingly fine, and [he] saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious steel” (1 Nephi 4:9).  It seems rather unusual that Nephi would give that kind of focus to Laban’s sword in such a high stress situation—he appears to have really had a keen interest in metal work. When Nephi built his ship he was led to find “ore, that [he] might make tools” (1 Nephi 17:10).  It’s interesting that his question to the Lord was not how to make the instruments—he apparently already knew how to do that—he simply needed to know where to get the ore to start.  When they made it to the promised land Nephi wrote that they “did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper” (1 Nephi 18:25).  Nephi made “plates of ore” to engraven his record upon after their settlement in the Americas (1 Nephi 19:1).  After separating from Laman and Lemuel, he “did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords” (2 Nephi 5:14).  He taught his people “to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores” that they found in the promised land (2 Nephi 5:15).  Nephi was clearly an expert in using metals and he trained his people to build the buildings and tools that they needed to found their society.  With Nephi so skilled at making and using metal instruments, it’s no wonder that Lehi would use the analogy that Nephi was himself an “instrument in the hands of God”.  Nephi, the master craftsman, was also the master instrument in the hands of the ultimate Creator.