“And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” (1 Nephi 4:6). I have always thought that Nephi showed an unusual degree of courage and humility and faith to be led by the Spirit, “not knowing beforehand.” It seemed almost arbitrarily cruel on our Heavenly Father’s part to demand Nephi just follow blindly and hope that everything works out. But I am beginning to understand that when it comes to being led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand is not only not that unusual, but it is actually a requirement. “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. “ (2 Nephi 9: 28). Anyone who has ever tried to offer advice to someone who “already knows how to do it” understands that it is impossible to lead or guide someone with that kind of attitude. When we think we are wise and we already know everything, we will not hearken unto the counsel of God. Look at what has happened to Nephi and his brothers so far on their journey. They thought they were wise enough to smooth talk Laban into just handing over the plates. They nearly perished. They thought they were wise enough to buy the plates off of them. They nearly perished. Finally, Nephi was humble enough to admit that he was not wise and he didn’t know everything. And when he could truly acknowledge that he did not know beforehand the things which he should do, that is when he began to be led by the Spirit and that is when he and his brothers began to have success. It is only when we can admit that we don’t know what we are doing that we have enough humility to accept the counsel of God and can be led by the Spirit. If we refuse to accept the fact that we don’t know what we are doing, then none of the counsels of the Lord or the promptings of the Spirit will seem wise to us and we will refuse to hearken to God’s counsel. “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” (D&C 131:6). We will remain trapped in ignorance until we acknowledge the truth that we are ignorant. Once we have accepted this truth, we can leave ignorance behind and be saved. I know that if we want to be led by the Spirit to Salvation, we must become willing to accept that we do not know what will happen and have faith that it will all give us experience and be for our benefit and work out in the end anyway.
