A God who placed a star in the heavens millennia before the birth of Jesus Christ also commanded Nephi to "to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.
But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen." (1 Nephi 9:5-6)
Nephi reiterates again in 1 Nephi 19:3, "I had made these plates by way of commandment . . . for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord."
So Nephi wrote a second set of smaller plates not knowing why he should.
This same God who placed a star and commanded Nephi to make another set of plates also whispered to Mormon, the compiler of the gold plates, to add Nephi's unedited small plates to his (Mormon's) abridgment of the time of Lehi down to King Benjamin. "I [Mormon] shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren.
And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." (Words of Mormon 1:6-7)
Mormon added Nephi's smaller plates to his abridgment, not knowing why he should.
Fast forward several thousand years to Martin Harris who lost 116 translated pages of Mormon's abridgment from Lehi down to King Benjamin. Satan assumed Joseph Smith would retranslate those 116 pages and he could bring forth the altered original to prove Joseph was a fraud. However, the Lord told Joseph to NOT retranslate. Instead He had made alternative plans for those lost pages -- not Mormon's point of view, but Nephi's according to his second set of smaller plates that covered the same time period of the lost pages.
The Lord knew Martin would lose those pages 2600 years before it happened, so he had Nephi make another set and then told Mormon to throw them on the gold plates.
That is a God we can trust.
This is a God of contingency plans.
This is a God of precision and details.
He has already placed "stars in a precise orbit" for my life making sure I'll have the blessings I need long before I even know of that need.
But most of all He is a God of love who wants to shower me with all the good things He has to offer.
May I be more like Nephi and Mormon in showing more obedience when I don't know or understand the whys.
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These are the days of
Hospital stays.
My niece Makayla has been at Primary Children's for over three weeks battling RSV. She spent a couple of days in the ICU, and just when it seems she's turned the corner and might be going home, something else comes up. We're praying she goes home before the 4 week mark.
And then my dad went in for a "routine" shoulder surgery (that's what my mom called it . . . so routine that none of us kids knew about it.) His heart rate dropped after being put under so the doctors backed off. They admitted him to ICU, waiting for his oxygen levels to stabilize. He's back home now but needs to see a cardiologist before attempting the shoulder surgery again. This is my dad who never gets sick, is the hardest worker I know, and who simply doesn't know how to be still. This photo was somewhat scary. He just looked so vulnerable. I'm not ready for him to get old. I can't imagine a world without a Sharman Seamons in it.
