In His Time

*This is just an excerpt out of my scripture journal so the formatting/tone is a little different than a usual post.*

I've been studying a bit about Nephi's faith and his willingness to follow the commandments of God.  Nephi’s response was the famous, “I will go, I will do…”  (I think a big difference here is that Nephi took this request to be a commandment of God while Laman and Lemuel seemed to think of it as a "chore" assigned to them from their dad.)  When looking at these scriptures, I wondered where his faith stemmed from.  (Probably good that I investigated a little bit because shortly thereafter, LJ wanted to know what made Nephi have faith while Laman and Lemuel did not.)  In 1 Nephi 2:19-22, Nephi receives an answer to his prayers that I feel really prepared him for what was to come.  It includes a promise that he shall prosper and be made a “ruler and a teacher over” his brothers.  

At this point in the story line, there is no record that Laman and Lemuel had been particularly aggressive towards Nephi.  They had murmured and such but had not plotted to kill their brother.  If I were Nephi, when receiving that revelation, I may have had the thought of, “Sheesh…thank you but my brothers aren’t all that bad.”  (Do you get what I am saying - like it was kindof an above and beyond revelation and I would wonder why it was so specific.)  And then, later, as they were beating me with a stick, that revelation would have provided some much needed comfort.  

I’ve had that happen to me where I’ve prayed about something and gotten a bit of revelation that didn’t seem to totally make sense and seemed more than what I had requested.  However, oftentimes those bits of revelation would come to my mind at a later date and make so much more sense or give much needed comfort.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember a specific instance and so I'll just leave this at that until I remember and can come back to it.

I think that brings another dimension to the idea that he answers our prayers in "his own time".  Sometimes he gives an answer right away but we are unable to interpret it or apply it until it becomes "expedient".  I guess herein lies the importance of documenting our answers so that we can review them when we have that inkling of a remembrance (something I am not-so-great at as evidenced by the fact that I can't look back to help me remember an example of this).