Last Updated on February 26, 2018 6:12 pm by Steven

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Nephi Subdues His Rebellious Brothers (Nephi Rebuking His Rebellious Brothers), by Arnold Friberg (62044); GAK 303; GAB 70; Primary manual 3-37; Primary manual 4-18; 1 Nephi 17:15–55

Alternate Post Title:  How do you Eat an Elephant?

Answer: One Bite at a Time!

The other day I while studying the scriptures, I ran across this gem in 1 Nephi 17:8-9 :

8. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.
9. And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?

Nephi and his family had been traveling in the wilderness for eight years.  They finally get to a nice place with water, trees, ocean, and food!  There was so much bounty there they called it Bountiful!  Nephi rests up for a while, then is called to the mountains for a talk with the Lord, wherein the Lord commands him to build a ship!

Nephi’s first reaction

Nephi’s first reaction is to ask where should he go to get the ore to make the tools to build the ship.

I thought this was interesting because Nephi had faith that the Lord had already prepared a way for Nephi to accomplish the task that was given him.  Nephi just needed some direction on where to go to get the ore the Lord previously prepared for Nephi.

When you are given a great task by the Lord, what is our first reaction?

  • To ask the Lord to do the task for us?
  • Or do we ask the Lord for the tools to do the task?

Or do we do as Nephi did, and ask the Lord where we can find the ore to make our own tools, then we can start on the task He gave us.  Nephi did not focus on the entirety of problem of building and launching a ship to travel to another continent!  He focused on how he could move this project forward today.  The first thing he needed to do was to find some ore.

A few verses later we discover that Lamen and Lemuel (Nephi’s brothers) stayed focused on the Elephant in the room.  They did not believe that they could ever accomplish such great a task as building a ship!

As my children get older, they have greater and greater tasks ahead of them.  When we talk, a common theme is for me to ask “How are you going to eat this Elephant?”  They already know the answer – break it down into bite-size pieces, and tackle one small problem at a time.

What can you do today and right now to eat a little more of your elephant?