Not Dependent on Outcomes

I dreamed last night that I was on a stage in some kind of church meeting and believed that I was supposed to speak soon.  In the dream as I sat there I was trying to figure out what I was going to say, and I determined I would talk about 1 Nephi 18:16.  My turn never came, though, and I woke up.  So I thought I would instead write about this passage instead.  As I ponder what Nephi told us, it seems to me really a remarkable witness of his faith.  Nephi was tied up around the ankles and wrists for four days, presumably with little or nothing to eat or drink, and by the end he was “swollen exceedingly” and “great was the soreness thereof” (1 Nephi 18:5).  It must have reminded him of the time when they were coming back from Jerusalem and his brothers “did bind [him] with cords, for they sought to take away [his] life, that they might leave [him] in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts” (1 Nephi 7:16).  In that experience, though, it doesn’t appear that he was bound up for long.  He prayed to God: “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me astrength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet” (1 Nephi 7:17-18).  He prayed for deliverance from the bands on his hands and feet, and the Lord miraculously set him free.  But now in this experience on the ship, the Lord did not give him the power to break out of his bonds.  Perhaps he wondered where the Lord was and why He didn’t help him as he had in almost the exact same situation as before—surely his faith and righteousness were just as strong.  And yet, despite the fact that the Lord did not grant him power as he had previously, Nephi still praised the Lord and did not murmur: “Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.”  What incredible trust and patience and faith it must have taken to be tormented with pain, hungry, wet, cold, and watching the suffering of your parents and family—which was so bad that his parents were on their death bed—and yet still he could praise the Lord and refuse to murmur!

            I think we see the same kind of ability to praise and stay true to the Lord despite significant challenges in the life of other prophets as well.  For example, we read this description about the brother of Jared and his people when they were couped up in a barge on the storm-tossed ocean for almost a year in close quarters with other people and dirty animals: “They did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord” (Ether 6:9).  I think I would have had a hard time singing praises to the Lord all the day long in those difficult physical circumstances.  And perhaps Job gives us the most incredible example.  After he had lost his property and his children, he still declared, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).  With the loss of just about everything, including his health, Job made this incredible statement: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).  For these prophets, their faith and trust in the Lord was stronger than the temporary trials they faced in mortality.  They could have said the same words as a family Elder Oaks spoke about who lost a daughter to cancer in her teenage years: “Our family’s faith is in Jesus Christ and is not dependent on outcomes.”  That is surely the kind of faith that we should strive to develop in our own lives as seek help in our own challenges.