Eric Poulin

1 Nephi 16:18-32

Nephi and his broken bow

“And it came to pass that as I, Nephi, went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow…we did return without food to our families… they did suffer much for the want of food.
And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?…And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord…I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our families…how great was their joy!”

I love this story. It makes me think of a group of fathers losing their jobs and coming home to tell their families that they don’t have the means to provide food for them. Some of them sit down and complain to their families, placing blame on others and cursing God for their misfortunes. “We deserve food!”, they may claim. “Haven’t we done what we were told?”

Then Nephi, in another great example of pure faith, does not complain – rather he speaks to the group, humbles them and goes and makes a new bow and goes to ask his father (the Prophet), “Where should I go to get food for us?”.At the end of the story, the Lord does bless Nephi’s according to his faith and he finds food.

Dealing with change, especially job loss and the subsequent loss of income, and the uncertainty that goes with it is a very challenging thing to go through. But complaining and cursing God is the wrong way to go about it. In the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” we see this scenario played out in a different circumstance, but the attitudes are all represented in a great short story that illustrates how we can have faith to deal with change. If you haven’t read this book, get a copy from your locla library and read it. It will chang your perspective on dealing with change and give you new insight into this Book of Mormon account.