It is interesting how God can turn even mistakes to our benefit.
I read this morning from Words of Mormon. Mormon, having reached a point in his abridgment of the plates, came across the small plates of Nephi and decides - hey, these are pretty good! I think I'll include them...
He didn't know WHY he put them in there, just that it seemed like a good idea.
Rewind 1000 years or so, and we find Nephi, who had just finished making a record of his own, feeling prompted to make ANOTHER set of records which were parallel to the ones he'd just finished. Based on references made in other places, this was no mean task. He says he doesn't know either why he's supposed to make two sets of plates saying just about the same thing, only that it seems like a good idea. These are the plates that Mormon includes in the record 1000 years later.
From Nephi's originally making the plates, to 1000 years later Mormon including them in the abridgment he made of the records, fast forward another 1400 years to the 1820s where we find Joseph Smith translating the plates and wanting to impress Martin Harris. We all know the story - the 116 pages were lost. But all was not lost, because God knew, more than 2500 years earlier, that the pages would be lost. And rather than be frustrated in His eternal purposes, He inspired men along the way to carefully keep the records and include them in the abridgment. Thus, the record is in tact and we can learn and grow from it - and we can learn from Joseph Smith's experience as well.
God has a plan for us. He is interested in our lives and wants us to succeed. He orders all things for our benefit. Even though we cannot see the end - Nephi certainly couldn't have know anything about Martin Harris 2500 years later - God can. Even our mistakes can turn for His purposes and our ultimate benefit if we will allow it to be so. God be praised for His mercy and love!
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