There's something that I've wanted to blog about for about a week, but I knew that I could only blog about it when my mind was awake enough to process my thoughts about it. In Institute a while back, we were talking about how, at the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Nephi and his older brothers were sent back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. They fail in their first two attempts to obtain them, but succeed on the third, which begs the question: If God wanted them to successfully retrieve the plates, and He did, then why didn't He help them the first time(s)? I think that the main reason is that God was training Nephi to be a leader.
Just before the Lord commands Lehi to have his sons go back for the plates, Nephi prays out of his "great desires to know the mysteries of God" (1 Nephi 2:16). I'm sure that one of the matters that was most pressing on his mind at the moment was why Lehi had been commanded to take his family out of Jerusalem in the first place. It must have been a troubling time for all of them, Nephi included, so Nephi would naturally want to know that there was a good reason for them to do this. As a result of his prayer, Nephi was blessed with a testimony of the importance of what they were doing.
Meanwhile, Nephi's brothers, Laman and Lemuel neither prayed for nor received a witness of the Lord's plan for their family, so, not fully knowing why God was leading them out of Jerusalem or how great a blessing this would be for them, they murmured and complained the whole way. For this reason, Nephi was promised that, as long as he was righteous, the Lord would make him "a ruler and a teacher over [his] bretheren" (1 Nephi 2:22).
Bear in mind that Nephi was the youngest of his brothers, and the mantel of leadership typically fell to the eldest, which would have been Laman. Without their father to lead and guide them, Nephi and his brothers at first "cast lots" to determine who should take the lead in their first attempt to get the plates. "And it came to pass that the lot fell upon Laman" (1 Nephi 3:11), so he went first to try to obtain the plates. If he had succeeded, the victory would have been his, not Nephi's, showing the position of leadership should fall to Laman, either because he was the eldest, or because he was chosen by fate or luck.
When he failed, Nephi really began step up to the plate. While the others wanted to go back, saying that they had tried, Nephi put his foot down, saying that he wasn't go to go back to his father without those plates he'd been sent to obtain. For their second attempt, though, it isn't clear who plays the role of the leader. It's possible that Nephi led that attempt, but it's equally possible that the leader was Sam or Lemuel, or maybe Laman again. Whoever was in charge, they followed Nephi's idea to attempt to trade their family fortune for the brass plates, and they failed, leading many to believe that the reason they succeeded the third time was because they were acting on faith, whereas the first two times, they were acting on the wisdom of the world.
Rather, I think that one of the main reasons these brothers failed in their first few attempts to get the plates was so Nephi could gain experience and confidence in following the Spirit and in being a leader. The third time, Nephi went alone, "and [he] was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do" (1 Nephi 4:6). This time, Nephi was given mental instructions through the Holy Spirit, and as he followed those directions, he was able to secure the plates.
If Laman had succeeded in getting the plates on their first attempt, the victory of obtaining the plates would have been his. If the brothers had succeeded the second time, it would have been a victory for all four of them, following Nephi's idea, which would have been alright, but God wanted something better. Because Nephi succeeded on their third attempt because he followed the Spirit, he received undeniable evidence that he could do great things, as long as he followed the counsel of the Lord. The was Nephi's first great test of faith, and it proved to him that as long as he had faith, he could do anything. The fait and courage of Nephi went on to carry Lehi's family through many trials and afflictions, any one of which could have resulted in their family's death, or at least their failure to reach the promised land. But because of Nephi's faith and courage, they all made it, and I offer as my personal opinion that Nephi's faith and courage gained their unshakable strength when he successfully used them to get the plates.
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