The Commandments of God Must Be Fulfilled

 1 Nephi 17:1 - 6, NC 1 Nephi 5 pars. 11 - 14

And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness, and our women bare children in the wilderness. And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God, he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide ways and means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them. Wherefore, he did provide ways and means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

And we did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness. And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea, which we called Irreantum, which (being interpreted) is many waters.

And it came to pass that we did pitch our tents by the seashore. And notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful because of its much fruit.

The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim 1 Nefi 5 pars. 11 - 14

And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth.  And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness,
and our women bore children in the wilderness. And so great were the blessings of yhwh upon us that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of milk for their children
and were strong, yes, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings. 

And thus we see that the mitzvot of Elohim must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the mitzvot of Elohim, he does nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide ways and means by which they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them. Wherefore, he did provide ways and means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. 

And we did sojourn for the space of many years, yes, even eight years in the wilderness. And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of yhwh that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea, which we called Irreantum, which (being interpreted) is many waters.

And it came to pass that we did pitch our tents by the seashore. And even though we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yes, even so much that we cannot write them all, we rejoiced exceedingly when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful because of its much fruit.

I would like to consider these paragraphs from Nephi's record together in this post.  With them together, for me personally, they form an important context.

I would also like to add in for consideration, either in this post or the next, the last part of the preceding paragraph from 1 Nephi 5 par. 10

...the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them and did chasten them exceedingly. And after they were chastened by the voice of the Lord, they did turn away their anger and did repent of their sins, insomuch that the Lord did bless us again with food, that we did not perish.

Is it possible that this statement from Nephi, And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled, is in any way related to The works, and designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught, for God does not walk in crooked paths, neither does he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither does vary from that which he has said; therefore, his paths are straight and his course is one eternal round. (D&C 3:1 - 2, T&C 2 par. 1) ?

Given the Lord's statement "the purposes of God cannot be frustrated neither can they come to naught",

or Nephi's statement "thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled", if it is related to the Lord's statement, how can we declare that there is always agency at play in the lives of those who are involved in the day to day living of bringing about the "purposes" or "commandments" of God?

Do we see such a possible paradox in action in the times and travels of Lehi and his family?

If so, is there anything further that ought to be considered in relation to such a paradox?

What about the additional statement Nephi made concerning the matter?

 And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God, he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide ways and means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them.

This is why I wanted to include a portion of the previous paragraph from the Book of Mormon.

I wanted to consider if what Nephi said about Laman and Lemuel's repentance related to what Nephi declared concerning God nourishing Lehi's group on their journey and that God's commandments must be fulfilled.

Nephi declared that it was only after Laman and Lemuel's repentance following the Lord speaking many words to chasten them that the Lord saw fit to provide food for them again so that they did not perish.

This brings up some questions for me because if I understand the record correctly this is the second mentioned time when repentance was required in order to obtain food.

1) Did Laman and Lemuel hear the actual voice of the Lord speaking to them and chastening them?

If so is this an escalation, not in a good way, of what the Lord decides He must condescend to do in order to drive the point home that they need to repent?

Is this one of the times Nephi is referring to when he speaks the following to Laman and Lemuel?

...Yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time, and he hath spoken unto you in a still, small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words. Wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder... (1 Nephi 17:43 - 47, NC 1 Nephi 5 par. 21)

Should I consider that Nephi shared this as a warning for me?

I believe that the answer to this is yes.

Should I look inside and consider the times the Lord has spoken to me in a still, small voice?

I believe the answer is yes to this as well.

What does it mean to "feel" the Lord's words?

This is a hard one for me.

Does everyone "feel" the Lord's words in the same way?

I don't know.

How would I come to know how to "feel" the Lord's words?

I am still working on this one.

When something, a teaching or a command, comes across as delicious to me is that similar to what Nephi declared about "feeling" the Lord's words?

On what occasions in scripture has the Lord determined it was necessary to speak with a voice of thunder?

Why not do it all the time; why only in specific circumstances?

If the Lord is unable to reach me with a still, small voice and so He then determines to condescend to speak with the voice of thunder does that create more of a situation where condemnation rests on me?

2) How does such an event relate to still allowing Laman and Lemuel to exercise their agency?

If this happens to be one of the times when the Lord spoke to them with the voice of thunder, how is it to be determined that Laman and Lemuel had a choice in the matter?

This is a serious question for me.

I have sometimes wondered how anyone in a culture, where I can see from the scriptural record of Laman and Lemuel, that they believed in the scriptures and were a couple of times persuaded by the scriptural narrative to move forward to accomplish the commandments of God how they would have had the ability to choose a different course after hearing God with a voice of thunder.

I believe it to be so; that they always were allowed to act with agency.  I trust it to be so.  I just don't understand it how that works.

I have wondered the same thing about Alma the younger; having the angel appear to him along the way which astounded him, if I understand it correctly, to the point of him remaining unconscious so to speak.

3) What would have happened if Laman and Lemuel had not responded?

Isn't it curious that the entire group of Lehi, during this event, is affected by the actions of Laman and Lemuel?

The Lord does not seem to be providing a way for Nephi and others to leave the rebellious and continue on without them, if I understand the record correctly.

Am I to assume that the entire group would have perished and the world-altering migration of Lehi's group would have ended right there at that point?

I believe so, if I understand the record correctly.

Wasn't the same principle at play on the ship?

Is it possible to determine from the record that the entire group of Lehi would have been lost at sea if Laman and Lemuel had not repented there for what they had done at that time?

I remember during the events of the recovery of the brass plates Nephi and his brothers were "required", so to speak, to stick together through the entire exercise to be able to return together to their father with the brass plates.

Was that following the same principle?

Was there a covenant extended by God to the entire group that obligated them to succeed together or fail together?

Has God ever done something, such as extending a covenant, that obligates a group in that way?

Salvation is individual. There is only individual salvation and no such thing as collective salvation. While I accept this as true, there is something else that is equally true: God wants “people” to collectively be His. In the revelations of July 14, 2017 and October 4, 2018 received from God (those are in the Teachings and Commandments as sections 157 and 176), the emphasis has been on “people.” Both responses by the Lord have gone beyond individual salvation to focus on people, Zion, and the New Jerusalem... People claim they have kept the covenant, but such claims cannot possibly be true. God’s covenant is for and about “people”—His people. It is not possible for an individual to keep the covenant. Everybody rises together, or everybody falls together. The covenant can only be kept as a community. Individuals acting alone can never accomplish what is required of the group... I cannot keep the covenant. You cannot keep the covenant. Only we can keep the covenant... Only we can keep the covenant. Only those who keep the covenant together can establish a new civilization with God’s holy House at its center ("Civilization", Denver Snuffer, 21/Apr./2019, pg. 1, 4, 31, 32)

How would the commandments of God have been fulfilled if Laman and Lemuel had not responded and repented?

What if the entire company of Lehi had perished, what then?

Is it possible that the Lord might have led Mulek and those who were with him to discover the brass plates, buried in the desert, as they fled to the promised land in a similar fashion that the people of Limhi found the gold Jaredite record among the deceased Jaredite people?

Would such preparation of having a second group fleeing Jerusalem at a proximate time as Lehi's group be similar to having Nephi prepare two records in anticipation of a person, Martin Harris, using his agency later in the future to lose the first record?

If the above is not the case, but agency is always in play, even though the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, how did God know that Laman and Lemuel would respond sufficiently for the migration to continue?

I believe the following statement.

Patience is very hard to summon when you're stirred up to anxiety—“Oh, my God, my God, my God!!”—over something that your God has control over. He defeated an invading Assyrian army using fleas. He fed the Israelites who were tired of manna with quail that flew in to be feasted upon. The God of Nature is not troubled by what troubles you. And the God of Nature is probably nothing more than bemused at how you're acting in this moment of confusion and dread. Our Lord is unflappable and affable. And He's not dancing around, doing a pee-pee dance because He's afraid of what's happening today. He has absolute confidence in the ultimate outcome, and it's going to be exactly as He said it would be. (Equality Living Waters Ranch Retreat Denver C. Snuffer, Jr. Challis, ID 5 September 2021, pg. 4)

 

I also believe the following.

"Being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God," Why does God have foreknowledge of these things? Why does God know that, if He gives His trust to such persons they will be true to it? Why does God know these are the very people who will not break His trust in them? Why does God have such foreknowledge? His foreknowledge is not based upon conjecture but proof. It is not based upon merely hope, it is based upon God’s knowledge of them. He will never ask soft lead to do what He knows will require iron to endure. Therefore He chooses a suitable instrument based upon His foreknowledge that has been "prepared from the foundation of the world." 

And what does God foreknow about them? He knows this: "On account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place." That is, He knows they exercised exceeding faith and based on that performed good works before the foundation of this world. This was in the first place. This was long ago on some other rung of the ladder of progression. It was long ago, a great while in the past, when they were previously “proven.”
"In the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such." Did you get that? They have already been the beneficiaries of a “preparatory redemption” given to them before. They were redeemed before this, so they could be reclaimed for this ministry. They had chosen good rather than evil, and exercised great faith. They qualified to become something greater and minister to others so they, too, could look forward to their redemption by the “Son of God.” But now we find ourselves here, in this cycle of creation, and once again the game’s afoot.  Once again we are left to choose between good and evil. Once again we are asked to exercise great faith and to rise up. We are once again in a position in which it is possible to qualify here and now for what will come after. You have the opportunity before you today. Choose good. 

At this moment you have the opportunity to exercise exceeding faith. Choose faith.  You have the opportunity at this moment, in this dark place where we presently reside, to be identified by your good works, to become proven to God. Then, for the next cycle of creation, His foreknowledge of you will include the record of your exceeding faith and good works from here. (Forty Years in Mormonism, #7 - Christ: The Prototype of the Saved Man, Denver Snuffer, Denversnuffer.com, Downloads, pg. 200)

Is it possible that all those who were engaged in the migration as part of Lehi's group were selected from the foundation of the world, some to prove and others to be proven herewith, by the experience of the migration and the hearing of God's words through Lehi and Nephi?

Was God's foreknowledge involved in having Laman and Lemuel and others be a part of Lehi's group so that they (their hearts) could be proven by the experience?

Paul stated the following concerning the times and habitations of everyone in the human family in this creation cycle.

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious; for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: To the Unknown God. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God, who made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; and has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth; and has determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord if they are willing to find him. For he is not far from every one of us, for in him we live, and move, and have our being. As certain also of your own poets have said: For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by him whom he has ordained; and he has given assurance of this unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:22 - 31, NC Acts 10 par. 14)

Did God's foreknowledge of Laman and Lemuel from previous cycles of creation allow them sufficient observation to be 100% confident that even if Laman and Lemuel ultimately rejected what was being offered to them that at the very least they would respond sufficiently for the migration to be completed?

Was it God's foreknowledge that informed them to set the times and bounds of the habitation of Laman and Lemuel at this time as members of Lehi's family?

Were Laman and Lemuel added upon by this experience?

If any of what I understand is correct, what would that mean for me or for anyone else for that matter?

Are there things being offered to me now and to everyone in the world, as part of a work God is doing, that we have the agency to accept or reject?

Was God's foreknowledge of us from previous creation cycles involved in Them setting our times and the bounds of our habitation to have our hearts proven during this time in the history of the world?

Are we willing to seek the Lord and willing to find Him now?

Just like with Laman and Lemuel, is our agency to ultimately reject what God is doing right now preserved?

Is it just like Lehi's group that no matter who ultimately rejects what God is offering, God's work will not be frustrated or as Nephi declared God's commandments must be fulfilled?

Would such a proposition mean that God has always provided sufficient inhabitants, according to Their foreknowledge, who are both here to prove and to be proven in order that the work will be completed no matter how many of those who are here to have their hearts proven either accept or reject what God is offering? 

Now, another question.

Did God "nourish" Lehi and his group by providing food for their families?

What about this part of Nephi's account?

And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

Is it possible that God "nourishing" Their children is related to spiritual gifts?

Is the above event, recorded by Nephi, a description of a spiritual gift God bestowed upon Lehi and his group?

This type of event, if I understand it correctly, is reminiscent of another event in the Book of Mormon  record.

And now it came to pass that Amulon began to exercise authority over Alma and his brethren, and began to persecute him, and cause that his children should persecute their children. For Amulon knew Alma, that he had been one of the king’s priests, and that it was he that believed the words of Abinadi and was driven out before the king; and therefore he was wroth with him. For he was subject to king Laman, yet he exercised authority over them, and put tasks upon them, and put taskmasters over them. And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God. And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries, and put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death. And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.
And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying, Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me. And I will covenant with this my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage. And this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them, that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. (Mosiah 24:8 - 15, NC Mosiah 11 pars. 8 - 9)

Was the supplying food for Lehi and his group so that they could eat a spiritual gift from God to them?

These are asking questions because I really don't have an answer.

I see in the scriptures that healing, which affects the temporary mortal body, is a spiritual gift.

What about other miraculous events that affect the temporal mortal body?

What about this event?

And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land — the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old upon you and your shoe has not grown old upon your foot. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you might know that I am the Lord your God. And when you came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us unto battle, and we smote them. And we took their land and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. (Deuteronomy 29:2 - 9, OC Deuteronomy 9 par. 1)

If I understand this correctly, their clothes and their shoes did not wear out and they were supplied with food and drink for forty years?

Are these things that pertained to and affected their temporal mortal bodies?

The reason I ask this question is that I have always been very circumscribed in what things I have viewed as spiritual gifts and I am beginning to wonder if I have passed over noticing or even scoffed at people and events in people's lives that I ought to have stopped and thought about and asked God if They were extending a spiritual gift.

Would such an attitude of thinking about and asking God about people and events in people's lives be in line with the following teaching?

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit all; for to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these work that one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man separately as he desires. (1 Corinthians 12:4 - 11, NC 1 Corinthians 1 par. 48) 

Should I have always been more liberal than I have been, in considering the "differences of administrations" and "diversities of operations"?

The truth is that I have never understood what the phrases "differences of administrations" and "diversities of operations" meant.

Have I missed opportunities to praise God and to stand in awe of Their liberality and mercy and extension of gifts among the human family because I was putting Them in a box, so to speak, in the ways that They were allowed to work by faith in Christ among the children of men?

I have been a pharisee for so long in my thinking.  I hope that I am beginning to break free of such hellish restraints.