I Will Prepare the Way Before You

When Lehi and his family arrived at the seashore after many years in the desert of southern Arabia, Nephi recorded this: “And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish.”  His testimony was that the Lord had miraculously prepared a land with all that they needed to survive, for the Lord had told them: “I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you” (1 Nephi 17:5, 13).  Nephi could see that the hand of the Lord had prepared for them in advance everything that was needful for their survival on this difficult journey.  When Lehi and his family arrived in the promised land Nephi helped us see again that the Lord had prepared it for them.  He recorded that they planted their seeds and “they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance.”  He continued by describing what they found in the promised land: “And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper” (1 Nephi 18:25).  I believe that he was here again bearing testimony to how the Lord had prepared the way for them.  The land of promise had been preserved for them with fertile soil to grow their crops and all manner of animals “for the use of man,” and it had all manner of ore for them to use as well.  They had kept the difficult commandments of the Lord in leaving Jerusalem and wading through the wilderness, and the Lord had indeed prepared for them great blessings because of their faithfulness.  As he had testified in the beginning, the Lord did indeed “prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). 

               Other scriptures similarly testify of how the Lord prepares the way before us.  Alma testified to his son Helaman, “O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever” (Alma 37:46).  The Lord has prepared the way for us to successfully traverse this mortal journey and live forever in his presence.  In particular, the Savior declared to the Nephites that the Father has prepared the way for salvation for the children of men in the last days: “Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name. Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance” (3 Nephi 21:27-28).  The Father has prepared the way for us to be gathered home.  In our dispensation the Lord also declared, “I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you” (Doctrine and Covenants 95:1). There is no temptation that he has not prepared a way for us that we can escape.  Perhaps my favorite verse about the Lord preparing the way for us is this promise He gave to His servants: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).  He has gone before us, prepared the way, made everything ready for us to successfully accomplish whatever He requires.  Nephi’s account reminds us that no matter what our road ahead requires of us, He has figuratively put fruit and wild honey right where we need it most; He has placed fertile soil and animals in abundance for our survival; He has prepared ore for us to build boats and keep records.  When we are trying to move forward into the dark and wondering how we are going to do it, we would do well to remember Nephi’s testimony: “And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people” (1 Nephi 22:20).