Do You Suppose...

Do you suppose……?

When something happens, our mind goes to work to interpret it.  This gives meaning to the event.

Our emotions assign value to what happened.   It’s how we interpret things that make the difference.   

There is a Book of Mormon story that clearly shows how this works.

Previous to this chapter, Lehi had asked his sons, Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam, to return to Jerusalem.  They were to ask Laban, a powerful ruler, if he would give them the Brass Plates.  This was no small task.  Why would Laban want to give them the plates?    Nephi had the unshakeable faith that they would be able to accomplish this, because he knew that this was a commandment of the Lord.  Laman and Lemuel were not convinced of this, but they had all gone to Jerusalem.  

In Chapter 5, we find that the brothers had returned to their parents, and had obtained the plates due to Nephi’s faith and diligence.   Lehi and Sariah (his wife) were very glad.

The verses tell us, though, that while the boys were gone, Sariah had mourned.   

Verse 2 says:  For she had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness; and she had also complained against my father, telling him that he was a visionary man; saying:  Behold, thou hast led us forth from the lands of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness.

Sariah’s “supposings” were very  logical.  The wilderness was very dangerous.  Laban was a very powerful man, and not  a righteous one.  He wouldn’t willingly give her sons the plates just because they asked for them, and Sariah knew this.  He would probably have her sons killed just because they dared to approach him about it.  The boys had been gone a long time.  She supposed they were dead.  It was logical that they would die, too, in the wilderness.

She “supposed” wrong.

Contrast that with Lehi’s “supposings”.

Verse 5.  For behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again to us in the wilderness.

Lehi’s “supposings” were totally different.  They surely were in the wilderness, not in a land of promise - and yet to him, the land of promise was as real as if they were already there.  It had been given to him, and he knew it.  He also knew that his sons were coming.  He might not see them now, but they would return.

We can use this in our lives to help us keep faith, be strong, and to be full of courage.  What do we “suppose”?  Do we “suppose” with the eye of faith - or with the “logical” thinking of the world?  

It matters.