Responding to Difficulty

            After Lehi and his family left Jerusalem after being commanded by the Lord, the Lord commanded Lehi to go back and get the plates of brass. Lehi sends his sons back to Jerusalem to get the plates of brass from the wicked Laban. Since Lehi and his family had already been traveling in the wilderness for about three days, that meant it was a three-day journey back to Jerusalem. What I want to focus on is what happened between Lehi and Sariah while their sons were gone getting the plates. We do not have a very detailed record of this but we are given a small record given in 1 Nephi 5. Nephi says that Sariah was so glad when they came back. He explains that she thought they had died in the wilderness and they she had complained against Lehi but we can read how Lehi reacted in verse 4-6.

4 And it had come to pass that my father spake unto her, saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren.

5 But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness.

6 And after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, comfort my mother, Sariah, concerning us, while we journeyed in the wilderness up to the land of Jerusalem, to obtain the record of the Jews.

We all have moments in our life where we feel like Sariah. We feel like we have lost everything and we don’t know why because we have given our best effort to obey the commandments of the Lord. Sariah had been faithful to both the Lord and her husband and now her sons are gone because of it and they are out in the wilderness with all their riches left behind.

            Lehi responds to Sariah by reassuring her that their decisions were guided by the Lord and that the Lord will take care of their sons. When we have similar experiences in our own lives, where things are falling apart, it is important for us to comfort each other and seek comfort and guidance from the Holy Ghost.