1 Nephi 17:1-7 (02/14/15)

Scripture study participants:  Dad, mom, Brandon, Kenyon, Shaylee, Jaron & Maycee 
Hymn:  Love One Another
Prayer:  Shaylee


CLICK TO READ  1 Nephi 17:1-7

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1 Nephi 17:1

Q:   What happened when they traveled in the wilderness? (Dad)
A:   "The women did bear children." (Shaylee)  "They had to travel through a lot of affliction and trials." (Kenyon)  "So they were obeying the Lord yet they still had trials and afflictions. This is how it is in real life. Even though the Lord blesses the righteous He also allows them to have struggles and difficulties. Some people mistakenly think that if they are righteous that everything will be easy for them or bad things won't happen to them. For those people who think that they struggle when things are bad and often harden their hearts against the Lord or lose their faith because they don't understand how the Lord works and that we are meant to go through struggles. We learn a lot, grow and become stronger as we go through trials and rely on the Lord to help us through them. The other thing to learn from this scripture is that they didn't wait to get to the promised land to have children. They had them in the wilderness even though it would be more difficult than if they waited until they made it to the promised land. The world today will tell you that you should put off getting married and having children until after you finish college, get a good job and a house and have a lot of money saved up. But as we know from the prophets the world's advice is contrary to the Lord's will. The Lord has revealed through the prophets that we should not put off marriage and children for worldly pursuits or until we have everything we need so that we won't have to sacrifice or struggle as much. Just like Lehi's family the Lord will help us to find a way to make things work out when we keep His commandments, and we will be much more blessed for it and in more ways than we will know in this life."  (Dad)  

1 Nephi 17:2

Q:   What did they eat as they traveled in the wilderness? (Dad)
A:   "Raw meat." (Shaylee)  "Why didn't they cook it?" (Kenyon)  "There are very few trees on most of the Arabian peninsula so they didn't have wood to burn a fire to cook their food."  (Dad)

Q:   How did the Lord bless the women who had babies? (Dad)
A:   "He made it so that the women and children were strong even though they only ate raw meat." (Kenyon)  "If you look at what doctors and scientists say that pregnant and nursing women should eat to be healthy for themselves and their babies I can tell you it's not a diet of only raw meat!  It is a blessing, really a miracle, from the Lord to make it so that they were all healthy despite their diet. "  (Dad)

1 Nephi 17:3

Q:   How does the Lord bless those who keep His commandments? (Dad)
A:   "He nourishes and strengthen them and provide means for them." (Brandon)  "He blesses them." (Shaylee)  "He provides a way to get through our trials." (Kenyon)  "Exactly. The Lord isn't going to take away all trials from the righteous but He will help them to accomplish the things He asks them to do. Just like Nephi said that he would go and do what the Lord commands for he knew that the Lord gives no commandments save He prepare a way for the righteous to accomplish them."  (Dad)

1 Nephi 17:4

Q:   How long did they continue to travel in the wilderness? (Dad)
A:   "Eight years." (Maycee)   "Wow, that's about as old as Jaron is! Can you imagine what it must have been like to have to travel in the wilderness for the first eight years of your life?"  (Dad)

1 Nephi 17:5

Q:   What did they find when they finally reached the sea? (Dad)
A:   "They named it bountiful because of all the fruit and honey it had." (Kenyon)  "Yeah, I bet they were really excited to not only finally reach the sea but also that they had other food to eat than raw meat."  (Dad)

1 Nephi 17:7

Q:   What did the Lord tell Nephi to do? Where did He tell Nephi to go? (Dad)
A:   "The mountain." (Jaron)  

Q:   Where did Moses go to talk to the Lord and receive the ten commandments? (Dad)
A:   "The mountains." (Kenyon)

Q:   So the Lord back then would often tell the prophets to go up into the mountains when He wanted to communicate to them. What did the mountains represent? Where today do we go to be close to the Lord and receive revelation? (Dad)
A:   "The temple." (Kenyon)  "Exactly. We can receive guidance in our lives by saying our prayers at home but there are sometimes in our lives, usually major decisions, when we need to be closer to the Lord to receive revelation from Him so we need to go to the temple."  (Dad)