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Dear Gramps,
Is there ANY way to reconcile 1 Nephi 3:7 in the Book of Mormon with D&C 124:49? Wouldn’t this last scripture have given Nephi and his brothers an excuse NOT to keep trying to obtain the Brass Plates from Laban? At what point in our own lives do we throw up our hands and assume the last scripture applies?
Robert, from Merlin, Oregon

Dear Robert,

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them (1 Ne 3:7)

As long as you have any options open you never give up. Further, it is appropriate to fervently pray for new options to be opened up, then to proceed with full confidence that you will be successful, even if you cannot see the end from the beginning. The soliloquy of Nephi in 2 Ne 25:23 has general application here—

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Ne 25:23).

The key here is that we must do all that we can do to bring to pass that which we are commanded to do. That command, in our day, comes almost always from the Lord’s servants rather than from the Lord Himself. All those with priesthood keys speak authoritatively for the Lord. And any commandment from the Lord or from his representatives should take the very top priority in our lives! Thus, assignments in the kingdom should be at the very top of the priority list–and among those assignments home teaching and visiting teaching. Nothing less than 100% home teaching and visiting teaching is acceptable to the Lord.
There is no conflict between the two referenced scriptures. A careful reading of D&C 124:49 will point that out—

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings (D&C 124:49).

If, after the sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, then and only then can they be excused from their obligation to the Lord.
Gramps

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