I don’t relate to Nephi in most ways. He and I are very different; our families, our circumstances, our life experience, our callings, and our personalities are some examples. I am similar to Nephi in one way though, we have an equal level of experience with ship building - none.
In 1 Nephi 17, God commands Nephi to build a ship to sail his family across the ocean. For all intents and purposes, this is an impossible task. However, Nephi, being ever faithful, chooses to obey. There are two replies Nephi did not give to this command that I certainly would have. Both are obvious. My first reply would have been, “I don’t know how to build a boat.” The second, “I don’t have any tools.” Nephi skips over both of these obvious points because they are essentially a waste of breath. The Lord knows the level of skill in ship building Nephi has, He is also aware that Nephi has nothing in that moment to build a ship.
Nephi wisely skips these complaints and begins where legitimate concerns commence. Nephi’s reply is to ask where he should go to find ore to make tools so he could build the ship. Why didn’t the Lord provide tools for Nephi? There are likely several answers, but for the sake of the article here, I’ll go with this reason: God wanted Nephi to work with the tools Nephi was comfortable with. If Nephi made his own tools, they would be familiar to him, they would fit his hands, he would be comfortable using them, they would be the right size and weight, he would be using the tools he developed and knew.
Like Nephi, the Lord asks us to build seemingly impossible ships. He asks us to forgive loved ones who hurt us, to minister to other members every month, to perform missionary work in our social circle, to spend time going after the one lost sheep, to build Zion, and so on and so forth. The Lord asks us to do things we are incapable of doing without His guidance. But just like Nephi, God promises to show us the way.
He also wants us to develop and use our own tools. He wants us to develop skills and traits, habits and qualities, that become our tools. He wants us to use our strengths to accomplish His designs. When we testify to others, He wants us to use the testimony we grew, not another’s. The more tools we develop, the more the Lord can build with us.
This story has always testified of God’s power to me. He can build great things with my simple tools. I am grateful that God doesn’t give us everything, but encourages us to use our agency to prepare ourselves for the callings he has in store. I am grateful that He asks us to use our own tools, the ones we know how to use, and are comfortable with to accomplish His seemingly impossible designs.
The Lord wanted Nephi to use his tools to build His ship, and the Lord wants you to use your tools to build His kingdom.
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