“They Wearied Him with Their Teasings”

What were Mosiah’s top priorities as the new king of the Nephites? We don’t know, but the narrator strongly implies that finding the people of Zeniff wasn’t one of them.

Many years earlier, a man named Zeniff had led a group of Nephites back to the land of Lehi-Nephi, which he called “the land of our fathers’ first inheritance” (Mosiah 9:1). Mosiah and his people hadn’t heard from them since. Even though Mosiah wanted to know what had happened to them, he only organized a search party after some of his people “wearied him with their teasings” (Mosiah 7:1).

That’s the only time any form of the word “tease” appears in the scriptures. When we use that word, it usually means to make fun of someone, but its oldest meaning is to pull apart fibrous materials like wool or flax. Over time, by analogy, the word came to mean persistently annoying someone. (See “tease” in the Online Etymology Dictionary.) One of the definitions in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, for example, was “vexing with importunity.”

In the Savior’s parable of the Importunate Widow, a heartless judge eventually has mercy on an aggrieved woman, not because he felt sympathy for her, but because he was tired of her continous pleading. The moral: If even this callous man responded to the widow’s repeated requests, surely your Father in Heaven, who loves you, will answer your persistent, heartfelt prayers. (See Luke 18:1-7.)

So lesson #1 from Mosiah’s experience is this: Don’t stop asking God for the blessings you desire, even if you don’t receive them immediately. Like Mosiah’s people, and like the importunate widow, you demonstrate how much the blessing means to you through your perseverance.

However, a caution: It is possible to “ask amiss” (2 Nephi 4:35, James 4:3). If you are listening, the Lord may help you refine and improve your requests. Also, as Joseph Smith learned, it’s not a good idea to keep asking when you’ve already received an answer. (See Elder Dale G. Renlund, “A Framework for Personal Revelation,” General Conference, October 2022).

For lesson #2, let’s step into Mosiah’s shoes. If someone repeatedly makes a request, pay attention. Maybe the first few times, it seems like a small issue, even a distraction. You may think it’s just a passing fancy, and it may be. But if they don’t let up, if they keep asking, that means it’s important to them. I’m not telling you to give in to peer pressure when something is clearly wrong, but I am encouraging you to modify your priorities when something that doesn’t matter much to you is important to someone you love.

Today, I’ll follow the examples of Mosiah’s people and of Mosiah himself. I will keep praying for blessings I have not yet received that are important to me, and I will respond to the persistent pleadings of the people around me.