Which purpose I know not

Throughout the Book of Mormon we get wonderful “one liners” regarding the faith of various disciples. The brevity of these ancient succinct sermons should not result in our minimizing their applicability to us as latter-day disciples. One of these one-liners is at the end of 1 Nephi 9. Earlier in the chapter Nephi states the purpose of his record and explains that he was actually keeping two records - one record was for the political history of his people and the other to record the ministry of his people. The Book of Mormon we read today is this ministerial record Nephi began over 2,500 years ago. After noting the two records and their purposes, Nephi writes, “the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not. But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning” (1 Nephi 9:5-6.)

It is worthwhile to ponder the implications of this command for Nephi. Creating this record required the creation of metallic, gold in this case, plates on which to write. They had to be both durable and mobile - remember, he was on a journey of unknown distance and duration and these plates were to last for thousands of years. Obeying the Lord required Nephi mine gold ore, refine the gold, and then fashion thin plates on which a record could be engraven. Lastly, Nephi had to actually write on the plates. This was a tedious and painstaking process.

Nephi had no mobile computer by which he could quickly create a “My Ministry” folder, create new files in which he could quickly type out his thoughts, correcting typos or rewriting with ease - thank goodness for backspace and delete keys! There was no convenient blog site to which he could post his files that would be automatically backed up and made available to anyone who could access his blog. Furthermore, there was no network or cloud backup storage, no mobile device or wifi. No, Nephi would have had to spend literally months and maybe years of his life creating, recording, and preserving his record to be passed on to, and amended by, future generations. We should all be particularly grateful for such sacrifice and determined obedience that required so much persistence and sacrifice throughout his life.

Back to Nephi’s brief description of, and reaction to, the Lord’s command - “the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not. But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning” (1 Nephi 9:5-6.) There are at least two powerful precepts packed into this brief description by Nephi.

First, Nephi notes that the Lord commanded him to make the plates to record the ministry of the people and he was being obedient to that command. Nephi’s obedience was manifest many times in the Book of Mormon. Nothing new to this point. Nephi then shares that he did not know why he was making the record, but he knew God had a wise purpose in the command to make the record. Nephi had learned to recognize God’s command and to obey, even though he did not understand why. Remember, he entered Jerusalem, “not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do” (1 Nephi 4:6.) Some may call this blind obedience - acting like a robot instead of an intelligent being with agency instead of insisting on knowing exactly why something is being asked. That might be a defensible position were it not for the second precept in Nephi’s explanation.

Second, Nephi provided the reason for such explicit faith, “But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning.” Nephi’s obedience was born of confidence in the Lord’s omniscience. God knew, and Nephi knew that God knew, and that was good enough for Nephi. This same faith was manifest years later in the Book of Mormon when Alma was explaining the doctrine of resurrection to his wayward son Corianton. He taught, “whether there shall be one time, or a second time, or a third time, that men shall come forth from the dead, it mattereth not; for God knoweth all these things; and it sufficeth me to know that this is the case” (Alma 40:5.) Inspired obedience is born of confidence in God’s omniscience.

Our disobedience is typically a manifestation of not knowing this fundamental characteristic of God’s omniscience. It is born of confidence that he knows what he is doing and is not on some post graduate fellowship still figuring out how everything works. Knowing of, and having confidence in, God’s omniscience and active engagement in our lives is fundamental to discipleship in every age. This is the opposite of Laman’s and Lemuel’s not knowing the dealings of that God who had created them, which fueled their murmuring and disobedience (1 Nephi 2:11.) In contrast, Nephi demonstrated confidence that God knows what he is doing, and being content that His knowing is good enough. This precept is illustrated throughout the Book of Mormon as faithful disciples allow the Lord to guide them throughout their lives, not knowing both what was going to be expected of them or why they were doing it.

It is worth noting that Christ himself was surprised and confused by what was expected of him. As He approached the apex of his atoning life in the garden and on the cross there are two moments of surprise and confusion amidst his suffering and perfect obedience. In Mark we read, “he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy” (Mark 14:33.) The Greek for the expression “sore amazed” is amazed, awestruck, astonished. With his unexcelled brilliance, Christ himself was surprised, even astonished, by what was being asked of him. No doubt he was fully aware cognitively when he agreed to be the Savior, but the arrival of what accompanied the actual experience astonished him. Additionally, as he hung on the cross we read his soul cry to the Father, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46.) Why, in this moment of supreme suffering, when he was doing exactly what the Father asked of him, would the Father withdraw his presence?  As Elder Maxwell taught, “As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham ‘staggered not … through unbelief’ (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that ‘nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and … sustained him under these peculiar circumstances’ (in Journal of Discourses,14:361). Will we too trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed? The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus’ perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of ‘Why?’ cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word ‘nevertheless…’ (Matt. 26:39).” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/10/swallowed-up-in-the-will-of-the-father?lang=eng ).

When I abide by there these two precepts, obeying even when I don’t completely understand the why, and having confidence that God knows what he is doing and asking of me, I draw closer to God. I have never experienced an exception to this experience. Unfortunately, I have also experienced not obeying because of my questioning what God was asking or whether he knew what he was doing. These experiences have distanced me from God.