Eric Poulin

Posts Tagged ‘nephi makes tools’

1 Nephi 17:9-10

...whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten...

“And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?
And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.”

Joseph Fielding McConkie said about this and the surrounding verses, “It is a law of heaven that its powers are extended in behalf of man only in those instances and on those matters where the powers and mind of man are insufficient. God will bless the harvest, but man must clear the land, plow the ground, plant the seed, and tend the crop. God will not do for us that which we can do for ourselves. Nephi could molten ore, but only when God has helped him find it; he could build a ship to cross the ocean, but only when God has provided the blueprint. Such is the relationship between men and God.”

With some insight into Nephi’s history, I believe he probably made some attempts to find ore before asking the Lord for help. Finally, after exhausting his own efforts, he went to the Lord. Interestingly, he didn’t ask the Lord for the tools, only the raw materials so he could make what he needed himself.

Perhaps a modern likeness of this scripture would be some of the following: Read the rest of this entry »