We learn in the next few verses of chapter 1 that Lehi was not accustomed to Spiritually intense manifestations. He came home exhausted and fell to his bed. Here is the next truth we learn…often the initial revelation is only the tip of the iceberg.
There is another beautiful truth we gain here - God is aware of our human bodies and the limitations they have when we are beginning our interactions with the Spirit in very powerful ways. Again and again the doctrines, instructions, truths, and mysteries are revealed in dreams. This is incredibly efficient as the body can rest and the conscious mind doesn’t fight the message that is coming. God is able to do things like that and He does them for us often.
But the big takeaway for me in verses 6-14 is that there was SO much more the Lord desired to reveal to Lehi than what was revealed in the very beginning. Lehi could have panicked after that first pillar revelation and fought through his exhaustion to talk with his family about it all. But he was wise enough to listen to his body and the needs his body had. As a result, there was much more given to him.
As I have pondered on this sequence of events over the years, I’ve discovered that the body is the perfect augmenter of the spirit. Listening to my body and learning to interpret the messages it is giving me aids my ability to receive revelation and understanding. Especially when I feel unsure of the next decision I’m trying to make.
Lehi slept. While he slept he dreamt. His dream told him not only more details about what he had already seen, but it also gave him his mission concerning that information. More importantly, it gave him his official call from God to testify to those around him of the things which he had both seen and heard.
He had seen and heard. Here we have the first glimmer of some of the spiritual gifts required for the experiences Lehi had. We need to be able to gain the ability to see with our eyes and hear with our ears…not the sounds made of the natural world or the scenes but those of the spiritual realm.
Don’t worry. Nephi walks us through it all. It’s just a hint of what is to come.
Nearing the end of the chapter, just in case verse one hadn’t made it clear for us, Nephi again informs us that he is at the end of his life and looking back and writing these things.
He is also including his father’s account in an abridged format. What this does for us is show us the model Nephi had before him to watch and learn and observe in order to see what things were needed and useful to attain a prophetic relationship with deity.
The last thing I want to comment on in this chapter is that Prophets are always scorned and mocked by those who are hard in heart. It does not stop them from testifying. Why? Are they so sure of themselves and their worth that they don’t care what other people think? I’m sure that’s part of it, because you cannot truly know yourself without knowing Christ and you cannot know Him without coming to know yourself. So certainly that is part of it.
I think the big thing is that Lehi’s view of life was altered so drastically by what he saw that he experienced what he begs his sons to do; Lehi experienced an “awake and arise” moment in his life that changed him. This moment was something that was clearly not out of the blue. Lehi was older, old enough to have grown children who were of marrying age. We have no idea the many pivotal moments he had leading up to this moment. But we do know that once this happened, he was never the same. The world-view around him was seen as the completely fake and unimportant facade that it was and more than worry about his own life, he was desperate for those around him to wake up before destruction came to them.
This has been the dilemma of prophets for ages - no matter what their stewardship size. Big “P” Prophets are calling out to us, generation after generation, to awake and arise, to let the scales of darkness fall from our eyes, to no longer see through a glass darkly, to learn to hear the voice of the Spirit. Every generation has the voice of warning from God and they will either heed it or ignore it.
Recap thus far:
1. When big “P” Prophets speak, little “p” prophets get on their knees. Prayer is essential and the large foundation stone upon which all other things are built. Without prayer, there can be no obtaining of knowledge, gifts, or guidance. (I’ll not split hairs - there have been times of revelation…Alma the younger, but there was prayer even if it wasn’t his own. There is always prayer as the beginning point of every revelation or instruction or guidance of any kind.)
2. The initial revelation usually has much more to it. Pray afterward and ask for more. Ask for interpretations. Ask for greater light.
3. Listen to the messages of your body. It is often telling us things that are for our eternal welfare. I’m not talking about cravings and those types of things. But the times when it feels like you truly need something like sleep or movement or interaction with a particular friend. These are often the spaces where greater revelation will come.
4. There are specific gifts outlined in these chapters which, if you will do the work to obtain the gifts and to refine them in their use, you will have the same blessings bestowed upon you as is bestowed upon every person who seeks, obtains, and refines these gifts.
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