15 Yea, O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them.
16 And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, and try again if they will serve thee? And if so, O Lord, thou canst bless them according to thy words which thou hast said.
Immediately after receiving this power, he went to work preaching in all parts of the land. However, the people were not receptive to his message. By the following year, as he saw contention and violence growing among the people, Nephi began to fear that they would destroy one another. Having done all that he could, he decided to make use of the power he had been given. Knowing that the people needed some motivation to repent, he pleaded with the Lord to send a famine.
Nephi’s prayer reminds me of the plea which the Savior will make on our behalf at the Final Judgment, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants:
Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life (D&C 45:4-5).
Nephi’s goal was not vengeance but rehabilitation. By pleading on behalf of his people, he followed the example of the Savior, who didn’t come “into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).