1 Nephi 18: 20

20 And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me.

This incident marks a real change in Laman and his gang. With the exception of when they went to retrieve the brass plates, Laman and Lemuel have always come around and repented. They have shown remorse, and recognized the hand of the Lord. This time, though, there is no mention of that. The only thing that convinced them to untie Nephi was the threat of their impending destruction. Mormon comments on this in Helaman, where he says that the only way the Lord’s people will remember Him is if they are chastened with affliction and even threat of death (see Helaman 12:3). In the past, this method has always worked with Laman and Lemuel. This time, however, there seems to be a subtle difference. From this time forward there is no mention of their hearts being softened. This one feels more to me like another time that Mormon wrote about. He thought the people were lamenting in godly sorrow, but instead it was “because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” (Mormon 2:13). There is more of a feeling of Laman just biding his time now, waiting for Lehi to die so he could rule and finally put an end to his pesky little brother. Even a successful end to their journey didn’t seem to soften them.

• Helaman 12:3
• Mormon 2:13

1 Nephi 18: 19

19 And Jacob and Joseph also, being young, having need of much nourishment, were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother; and also my wife with her tears and prayers, and also my children, did not soften the hearts of my brethren that they would loose me.

Having described the cost to his parents of his imprisonment, Nephi now briefly tells us about the effect this episode had on other members of the family. Jacob and Joseph, Nephi’s younger brothers, could not have been more than eight years old. They were both born in the wilderness, where the family had lived for about eight years. So these boys were still quite dependent on Sariah for many things in life. Notice that their grief came because of the stress on their mother, not so much because of Nephi. They were probably too young to fully understand what was really happening, but they sure knew that whatever it was really was hurting their mother. Nephi’s wife and children had no impact on Laman and company. All of their pleading and tears could not soften the hearts of these proud brothers. Laman and his followers were too far-gone down the path of anger and wickedness. They had no compassion. They only cared about themselves. This whole thing started when Nephi tried to get them to stop doing what they wanted to do. They are consumed with selfishness.

1 Nephi 18: 17–18

17 Now my father, Lehi, had said many things unto them, and also unto the sons of Ishmael; but, behold, they did breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for me; and my parents being stricken in years, and having suffered much grief because of their children, they were brought down, yea, even upon their sick-beds.
18 Because of their grief and much sorrow, and the iniquity of my brethren, they were brought near even to be carried out of this time to meet their God; yea, their grey hairs were about to be brought down to lie low in the dust; yea, even they were near to be cast with sorrow into a watery grave.

Nephi now goes back and tells what it cost to win his freedom. The burden to Lehi and Sariah was almost the last straw. It literally nearly killed them. One of the interesting things about this story for me is how similar it is to another time, yet how differently it played out. This was not the first time Laman’s gang had tied up Nephi. They did it on the way back from getting Ishmael’s family back in chapter 7 of 1 Nephi. At that time Nephi prayed for strength to burst the bands, and they were loosed from him. So we know the Lord was capable of getting Nephi untied, and we know that Nephi had the faith to ask for that, yet the episode went on for four days before they let him go. However, the first time this happened, it had no effect on Laman and his crew. They still wanted to kill him, even after he was miraculously delivered. Only the pleading of a few of the more righteous members of the party were able to turn their hearts. On the sea, the Lord did not loose the bands, the pleading of the more righteous members had no impact, and it was only the peril of their lives that led them to untie Nephi. So the Lord handled this situation much differently than He did the previous one. I can’t help but wonder what the difference was. What did the Lord want to accomplish in the two ways?

1 Nephi 18: 16

16 Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.

Once again Nephi shows he is the bigger man. He is focused on the goal of getting to the Promised Land, and he won’t let some minor setback get in his way. We may consider this to not be minor, him getting bound and rejected by his brethren. However, in the eternal perspective, nearly every tragedy in our lives is of little consequence. What matters infinitely more is our response to trial and tragedy. And Nephi is a great example of not letting his trials get in the way of his eternal reward, as well as getting to the Promised Land. We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can always control our response. That was something my brother, Nolan, taught me way back when I was about 8 or 9 years old, I think. I was pretty young, but it made a huge impact on me. So it doesn’t matter what our temptation or test is, it only matters that we pass it. Everyone is different, and everyone has different weaknesses. What is a huge temptation to me may not even register as a temptation to someone else. And yet that same person may be brought down by something that wouldn’t faze me at all. When looked at in those terms, there is no such thing as a “minor” temptation. All of them can potentially be devastating, depending at whom it is directed. What matters is not the temptation; what matters is the response to the temptation.

Can you imagine how different this story would end if Nephi had sought revenge on his brothers? He would have shown himself to be just as bad as they were. The storm would not have stopped for them, and the Liahona would not have worked. We should never lose sight of the eternal perspective.

• Mosiah 2:20 (20–21)

1 Nephi 18: 15

15 And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.

Add this to the long list of stories in the Book of Mormon that illustrates Helaman 12:2–3. There, Mormon summarizes the lesson about human nature, that when the Lord prospers them and things are going well, that is when man turns against Him. So the Lord gives, or at least allows, problems so we will depend on Him. Here, Laman and Lemuel were partying while things were going well. They rejected the prophet and his warnings, so the Lord caused a storm to come and the Liahona to stop working, just to get their attention. Now, after four days of life-threatening weather, they are finally catching on. After 3 days they were afraid, but not humbled enough to turn to the Lord (see verse 13). After four days they finally began to see the Lord’s judgment in this storm. Pride has always made slow learners of us all, and Laman in particular. I still am amazed that these guys were so slow, even after all they had experienced. I wonder what their attitude was as they let Nephi go. Were they humbled again, although the record says nothing about humility, or were they reluctant to give in the their younger brother (again)? We can tell by the amount of swelling that Laman meant business when he had Nephi bound. Those were tight bindings to cut off Nephi’s circulation like that. “And great was the soreness thereof,” is most likely typical of the understatements found throughout the Book of Mormon. I bet this hurt a lot.

• Helaman 12:2–3

1 Nephi 18: 14

14 And on the fourth day, which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be exceedingly sore.

It’s almost as if the Lord is simply turning up the intensity of this storm the longer they wait to repent. Laman and Lemuel forget that in this fight with God all they have going for them is their stubbornness. The Lord controls the elements and everything else. Laman has no chance to win this standoff. Even if he doesn’t give in to the storm and lost that way, he eventually loses. If the storm kills him in this rebellious state, his eternal consequences don’t look good, so he still loses (see Alma 20:17). What does it take for these people to believe that the Lord wins, no matter how you try to get around it? There just is no beating the Lord. He comes out ahead every time. Incidentally, this also applies to obedience as much as disobedience, as King Benjamin taught (see Mosiah 2: 20–25). Not only can we not gain the advantage of the Lord through our stubbornness, as Laman clearly attempts, we can’t get ahead of our debt to the Lord no matter how thankful and obedient we are, as King Benjamin taught. I would say that given the choice (and we have been given the choice), it would be better to try and get ahead in obedience than to try and win an unwinnable war with God.

1 Nephi 18: 13

13 Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.

There is some language used in this verse that I don’t understand, probably because it makes an association that I can’t see right now. The verse begins by saying they didn’t know where they should steer the ship. Then it uses the words, “insomuch that,” which indicates an amount, or to such a degree, which seems to indicate that lack of knowledge as the cause of the storm. So, in other words, as I interpret the meanings, it might read something like, “Therefore (referring to the compass that stopped working in verse 12) they did not know where they should steer the ship, to the extent that there arose a great storm.” So it sounds like the lack of direction caused the storm. It’s just a strange choice of words to me.

Although, it does make perfect sense in terms of our spiritual journey to the “Promised Land.” How often do we cause our own storms by our lack of direction resulting from sin? When we reject or ignore divine direction, whether it is personal revelation or counsel from Church leaders, we lose our bearing in life. In fact, if we refuse to go where the Lord wants us to go it almost doesn’t matter where we go, it’s all the same. And in those circumstances we cause or create our own problems, our own storms. One obvious example would be the addiction caused by ignoring the Word of Wisdom. Substance addiction and abuse would be a “storm” created by a person’s choice. Had that person followed the counsel, the storm would not exist.

Because the storm is self-inflicted, often the person does not associate it with a judgment from God, or a divine consequence. Such was the case with Laman’s group. After three days they were afraid they would drown, but it wasn’t until the fourth day that they made the connection between the storm and their actions, even though I’m sure they had been warned many times. They probably thought the timing of the storm and malfunctioning compass were a coincidence.

Incidentally, this experience also illustrates how the storms we create are not just personal. The notion that the storms caused by iniquity are private, or personal, and don’t affect others is wrong. Everyone around us experiences our storms to some degree. I suspect the idea is a way for Satan to rationalize our actions. Hurting ourselves is one thing, but most people wouldn’t knowingly hurt those around them, their loved ones. So they rationalize and convince themselves that their actions don’t affect others. The classic example of that attitude would be proponents of legal abortions. Their main argument for years has been, “It’s my body, I should be able to decide.” Or in other words, I should have total control and the last word in this matter because my choice only affects my person, my property, so to speak. They don’t want to consider the effect their choice might have to those around them, both the born and the unborn.