Helaman 10 – 11
Nephi was pondering the things the Lord had shown him. I wonder if he was pondering on the murder of the chief judge and the confession of his brother, or if there were other things the Lord had shown him which he was pondering on which are not recorded clearly here. I think that when the Lord commends Nephi for his unwearyingness it is a result of the fact that Nephi never sought to take a break from working for the Lord – it’s not that he was never tired, but that he did not seek to disengage and work for himself (like taking a break after a mission and desiring to no have a calling). I notice that Nephi’s power has specific bounds – he has power over the people of the Nephites (I’m sure that included the Lamanites, but it did not mean every people on earth), just like a bishop is only Bishop over his assigned ward.
I wonder how frustrating it was for Nephi that the people became more hardened after his preaching such that they began to engage in open warfare among themselves. I guess that after four years of that frustration he was finally willing to use his power to smite the earth for the people.
This description of the Gadiantons defying the whole army of the Nephites and Lamanites sounds like the drug cartels in Central America. I wonder if our path to defeating them will be the same – uniting against them and engaging in direct conflict rather than sending in the armies and condemning their tactics. We need to openly reject the drugs they are distributing rather than calling for their legalization as if that would stop them in their wickedness.
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