Recently I’ve been reading in The Book of Mormon and I came across a passage in 1 Nephi that struck me. In 1 Nephi 2:16 – 19. Nephi discusses the process by which he obtained his testimony from God that the things his father was teaching were true. In these verses he provides a pattern which we can all follow whenever we want to ask God for something. I’ve taken to calling this the petition pattern.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.

17 And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.

18 But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them.

19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.

From the above selection of verses I see the following 5 parts of the petition pattern that we need to apply when we go before the Lord

1. We must truly desire something
2. We must ask the Lord
3. We must believe or have faith in God that he can provide what we are asking
4. We must be diligent in our asking
5. We must ask in humility or lowliness of heart

Another great example of the pattern is given in Enos. In this book the pattern is repeated a couple of times. First when Enos is praying for himself and forgiveness for his own sins and second when we began paying for others.

3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.  [humble and teachable]

4 And my soul hungered; [Desired]  and I kneeled down before my Maker, [Humble] and I cried unto him [Asked] in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high [Diligent] that it reached the heavens.

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith [Faith] in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.

 Elements of the pattern then repeat in vs 9 – 15 as Enos continues to pray for his brethren the Nephites and ultimately his enemies the Lamanites. Now that I have recognized this pattern I find it all over the scriptures when people go to God with questions or requests. Sometimes each of the 5 steps isn’t explicitly commented on in each example but often they are all at least implicitly inferred.

 

Reference	1.Desire	2. Ask	3. Faith	4. Diligence	5. Humble
1 Ne 1:16-19	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit
Enos 1	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit
JSH 1:13 – 16	Explicit	Explicit	Implicit	Explicit	Implicit
Hel 11:8-9	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit
Mor 10:3-5		Explicit	Explicit	Implicit	Implicit
3 Ne 1: 11-12	Explicit	Explicit	Implicit	Explicit	Implicit
Alma 5:46		Explicit	Implicit	Explicit
MSH 27:14	Implicit	Explicit	Explicit
MSH 24:10-16	Implicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Implicit
1 Ne 11: 1-6	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Implicit
Gen 18: 22-32	Implicit	Explicit	Implicit	Explicit	Implicit
Gen 32: 9-11	Implicit	Explicit	Implicit		Implicit
Matt 15:22-28	Implicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit	Explicit
Matt 8: 5-10	Implicit	Explicit	Explicit	Implicit	Explicit

I’m sure there are many other examples of this that could be found in the scriptures the above references are just a sample.  

In 1 Nephi Chapter 18, Nephi and his family are on the boat and his brothers rebel. They tie Nephi to the mast and threaten Lehi and their mother when they try and reprimand them. Despite all this Nephi doesn’t mummer against the Lord. This is a difficult thing the Lord has asked Nephi, Lehi and their family to do. Despite their obedience they are experiencing afflictions, grief, sickness, and tears (see vs. 16 – 20). Doing what is right is often not the road to ease and pleasure in life. Often the Lord asks much of us and to have faith that we can have peace of mind and heard despite the afflictions, and that he will reward us in the end.

There are many examples of people who do the right thing being required to endure suffering; Joseph who was sold into egypt by his brothers and then cast into prison because of his obedience to God’s commandments, Moses who obeyed God’s command to return to egypt to free Israel and then is required to wander in the wilderness for 40 years with the faithless and ungrateful group. Joseph Smith and the modern saints were driven from place to place, abused and mistreated. And of course Christ is the greatest example of this he was perfectly obedient and suffered more than any of us. Nephi describes Christ’s suffering this way “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.” (1 Ne 19:9)

So when we find ourselves in a difficult situation there is a tendency to ask “why me” and to think I am trying to do what is right, why is God making me go through this. This is sometimes a difficult thing to be sure. But one thing we need to remind ourselves is that Christ has descended below all things, he took upon himself the worst injustice possible. He had no need to be chastised, corrected, or humbled. He was perfect and yet he suffered more than any of us. We need to say to ourselves as the Lord said to Joseph Smith as he suffered in Liberty Jail “ The Son of Man hath descended below them all, art thou greater than He?” (D&C 122:8)

In 1 Ne 17:9 God has asked Nephi to do something seemingly impossible. Nephi had no idea how to how to build a boat. But he had faith that God would show him how to do it. He did not just wait for God to tell him exactly everything he needed to do though, nor did he need to see the end from the beginning. But he took what little bit he did know, he knew he would need tools, and he asked God to show him how he could get ore to make them. He then continued this pattern of doing what he could and asking for guidance. (See 1 Ne 18:1) In this way he learned line upon line how to build the ship. He didn’t know exactly how to accomplish this thing from the beginning, but he had the faith necessary to rely on the Lord, that if Nephi pushed forward then the path would open up before him a bit at a time. This is something that is very applicable to me. There are things God has asked me to do and promises that he has made that I don’t right now see the clear path before me getting me from where I am to where I need to be. But I need to have faith and do the small things that are right before me that I know will need to happen (like asking for ore to make tools) and have faith that as I continue to do that, that the way forward will open up.