1 Nephi 4:13–18

Here Nephi is reminded of the main purpose for this whole mission of getting the plates. He’s reminded that he has to think beyond himself (as we all do in fulfilling callings for the Lord). He has a whole nation of his seed to consider. The Lord promised him that his seed would prosper in a promised land if they would keep the commandments. He realizes that if he doesn’t get the plates, which have the Law of Moses engraved on them, his people will not learn it, and therefore won’t be able to keep those commandments. Nephi also realizes that this opportunity was provided by the Lord. So he obeyed the voice of the Spirit and killed Laban. It’s interesting to glimpse Nephi’s thought process as he struggles to keep this commandment. It tells me that even after we are converted, as Nephi most definitely was, we sometimes struggle with a commandment. There is no shame in the struggle, unless we decide to not keep the commandment. Even though this instruction or commandment from the Spirit went against everything that Nephi had been taught and believed about “Thou shalt not kill,” etc., acting with faith that it really was the right thing in this case, Nephi killed Laban. It reminds me of an example I have used since my mission to explain the relationship between the scriptures and living prophets. A living police officer directing traffic at an intersection might give instruction different from, even contrary to the signal from the traffic light. We follow the instruction of the living officer (living prophet) instead of the light (scriptures), which works perfectly well. The traffic light is the default, but the officer is aware of the particular circumstance with the traffic. The scriptures give us the law and the principles to live by, but the living prophet is aware of how those teachings apply to the current circumstances.