When Nephi’s brothers expressed confusion about their father’s teachings, he asked a piercing question: “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” (1 Nephi 15:8).
David would have had no trouble answering that question. Multiple times in the Old Testament, we read that David inquired of the Lord. And he received clear answers.
- When the Philistines attacked the Israelite city of Keilah, David’s men were afraid to go defend the city. Twice, “David inquired of the Lord” and received the same answer: Go, and I will deliver you (1 Samuel 23:2, 4). David went and saved the city.
- When the Amalekites attacked the city of Ziklag and took many prisoners, including David’s two wives, he asked the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them?” God responded, “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all” (1 Samuel 30:8). David caught and defeated the marauders and recovered everyone who had been captured.
- After King Saul and his son Jonathan were killed, David asked if he should go up to the land of Judah. The Lord directed him to travel to the Israelite city of Hebron, where the people anointed him king (2 Samuel 2:1-4).
- After David took possession of Jerusalem, the Philistine army approached the city, filling the nearby valley of Rephaim. David asked if he should attack, and God instructed him to go (2 Samuel 5:19; 1 Chronicles 14:10). Later, when the Philistines came into the same valley, David asked the same question but received a different answer: “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees” (2 Samuel 5:23, NIV; see also 1 Chronicles 14:14). David followed God’s instructions and was again victorious.
In the Book of Mormon, Alma was known as one who received answers from God. When the Lamanite army invaded in the eleventh year of the reign of the judges and took many Nephites as prisoners, the Nephite commander Zoram and his sons, “knowing that Alma was high priest over the church, and having heard that he had the spirit of prophecy, therefore they went unto him and desired of him to know whither the Lord would that they should go into the wilderness in search of their brethren, who had been taken captive by the Lamanites” (Alma 16:5). Through Alma, the Lord provided detailed instructions, including the Lamanite army’s future position and the appropriate location to engage them. Zoram followed the instructions, attacking the Lamanites and freeing the prisoners, “and there was not one soul of them had been lost that were taken captive” (Alma 16:8).
Seven years later, another Nephite commander, Moroni, used the same tactic to defeat an invading Lamanite army. “Knowing of the prophecies of Alma,” including perhaps his prior guidance to Zoram, Moroni sent messengers “desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord whither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites” (Alma 43:23). Alma received specific instructions which enabled Moroni to defeat the invading army.
We often ask God for help in overcoming our challenges but fail to ask specific questions which would enable us to overcome them. It takes faith to pray for assistance, and it can take even more faith to pray for answers.
Today I will inquire of the Lord. I will ask for guidance and instruction, and I will listen for answers. Like David and like Alma, I will exercise faith, believing that God will provide the knowledge I need.
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