Study of 1 Nephi 4: The Importance of Context

con·text

ˈkäntekst/ 

noun

1. the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed

When the Lord asks us to do something, He does so within a certain context, a reality that we can't undermine or change.  Because the world around us is so full of false ideas, we might not see that context as fully as we should: good appears to be evil, and evil appears to be good.  What is wisdom to God is foolishness to man.  

In multiple places, this chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding the context of our decisions.  In other words, we should make our decisions based on reality as the Lord has made it, and not on the unsustainable values of the world in which we live .

First, Nephi reminds his despairing brothers that although Laban is powerful among men, God is far more powerful.  He reminds them that they have seen an angel, and that they are in the Lord's service (by the way, since when do inherently wicked men see angels?).  In such a context, it's a no-brainer that they should continue to seek the plates.  The vampiric hold that the world has on Laman and Lemuel makes them murmur, but they comply (or, at least, they don't get in the way anymore).  

Second, Nephi is constrained by the Spirit to kill Laban.  What convinces him to do so was a full understanding of the context of that commandment.  Not only did the Lord give Nephi a very fortuitous opportunity and the very sword with which to kill Laban, but He explained in detail why Laban needed to die.  Laban was a danger to Nephi's family, as they could quite easily have made a stink about Laban's theft.  That's not the context the Lord explained to Nephi.  Instead, the Lord spoke of generations hundreds of years hence, a reality that Nephi could not know.  

Third, when Zoram learns that he actually been following around Nephi, he naturally starts to fear for his life and tries to flee.  In his mind, he's just been hoodwinked by an impostor who might not want him to live to tell the tale.  

Nephi didn't want Zoram running away to warn the others, but instead of disposing of Zoram (or even of telling Zoram to leave him after he collected the brass plates) Nephi explained to Zoram the full import of what was going on.  After hearing of the Lord's commandment, Zoram took courage and agreed to go with the brothers. 

What these examples prove is that the Lord's commandments should never be read in the context the world tries to sell us.  The world would have convinced Laman and Lemuel to give us seeking the plates (it nearly did).  The Lord reminded them that His power is above all, and they successfully sought the plates.  The world would have had Nephi refrain from killing Laban, or to have Nephi kill him the wrong way so that he couldn't get the plates.  The Lord informed Nephi of the need of generations to come, a reality the world cannot clearly anticipate.  The world would have told Zoram to be quiet, appear to acquiesce to the brothers' demands, then run away from them whenever he could.  The Lord prepared Zoram to believe them, and instructed Zoram through the Spirit to accompany them.  

Simply put, because the world is so concentrated on the constant flow of immediate events and sensations, the world is in a poor position to make any long-lasting or important decisions.  All such decisions need the perspective the gospel provides, and the context of God's moderate reality.  

Inexplicably clean

Have you ever had one of those moments that take your breath away?  One second, you're pacing in the foyer with a squirrelly infant who's doing his best to distract you.  You feel the impatience rise in your gullet, and you know, intimately, how imperfect you really are.  Then a fellow member testifies,  It strikes a chord in your soul, and something changes.  You find yourself, in your mind, looking down at your hands.  They are wonderfully, inexplicably clean.

You didn't do anything to deserve that cleanliness.  You've tried, and failed, to be clean by yourself.  You've tried to be perfectly patient, loving, charitable, and honest.  You've tried to follow the commandments.  You'll continue trying.  And you'll continue failing.

And yet you're clean.  You've been made clean by Another, and that gives you a freedom that you never had before.

Remember, the Atonement isn't a check to cash at Judgement Day.  It's not an event, but a process.  If we want to use the Atonement, we can.  Right now. We can be wonderfully, inexplicably clean, if we but accept the conditions that the Atoner requires.

Those conditions don't require us to be perfect, but to rely on Him.  So have faith, and turn to Him now.  For if we don't turn to Him now, how will we turn to Him then?

He makes us clean, here and now.