Expectation and Faith

In 1 Nephi 17:4 we read that Lehi and his family "did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness."

Ishmael had died early in the journey, but as far as we know, everyone else who embarked was still in tact at the time they arrived at the seashore those eight years later.

I began to pondering on these eight years. That, in my estimation, is a long road trip! And I wonder how many of them expected it to be so long and arduous, for in verse 6 we read that they "had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all."

What I'm getting at is that I have begun to see two sides of the word expectation.

If Lehi and family expected to take a merry prance over to the promised land that would surely last no more than a few months, that would likely have been a source of some angst as the time went by.

Can you imagine the scene inside one's head? I can imagine if it was my head, and I would probably follow some course such as the following. Once the self-appointed deadline had passed and nothing but desert extended all around, I would update my timeline and say "well, maybe three months was a little too short, but surely we'll be close by now. There's no WAY it could take more than another month, or at the absolute most, it will be less than two months out by the time we arrive." My mind would likely be hopping around, hoping for this to be true and getting stressed at the thought that maybe it's not true. At a little over a month, depression starts to set in as I realize my month was totally off, and I start disbelieving my self-fabricated two month deadline. In fact, I start looking for proof that the two month deadline will come and go, and with every such evidence I invent, I blame God, or Lehi, or Laman, or Nephi, or Sariah, or myself, or the wind, or my camel, or, or, or.

None of this is healthy and all of this is destructive. And yet, is this not a resemblance of someone simply trying to exercise faith? It's someone believing that a certain outcome will manifest while working to make it so! So... what's wrong here?

Well, let's consider another side of the word expectation.

If Lehi and family didn't have any expectation about the journey, but only held the expectation that God would guide them to the promised land, how does this change things?

I would imagine this mental scene to be a bit different, at least in my head. With the Liahona, I would trust that God would lead us in whatever path and journey He would deem best for us. Thanks to that trust, I would hold the expectation that 1) He would help us through it, and 2) We would arrive in the promised land. The timing, how long it took, what mountains we had to climb, or anything else was simply part of the journey. In fact, with the hope of the promised land burning bright, we could even find joy and pleasure in the difficulty of the journey.

I think Nephi was able to do this, at least in hindsight, for he talks about the strength they were given and the blessings provided them in their journey.

This is a much more healthy mindset. So what's the difference?

In the latter example, the expectation is focused on the what, while the expectation in the former is focused on the how. In the latter, the expectation was God's promise while in the former the expectation(s) was/were self-appointed.

Going back to my definition of faith, I do believe both are examples of faith, since both are based on belief. The problem with the first example is that the belief (the journey will fit within a few months) is not aligned with Truth (with a capital T). The second, of course, is so aligned since it is based on a promise from God.

We are here on earth to, among other things, learn discernment through experience. We can trust that a belief is True through revelation from God, but if we never exercise faith on any belief until we have a knowledge of it through revelation, I think we will fall into the slothful servant category.

Thus, using our experience, we choose (often unconsciously or without much consideration) what beliefs we accept and reject. I believe progress in life may be measured at least in part by how well we choose our beliefs. This is a line upon line process whereby we replace false beliefs with more subtly false beliefs. Said another way, we choose beliefs that are more and more aligned with Truth.

So how do we know how to choose better and better beliefs? Our beliefs lead to our works, for faith by works is manifest and faith is dependent upon belief. Mormon taught that "by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also." (Moroni 7:5) As we consider a belief we might accept, we can consider what faith in that belief will look like and what works it may produce. If such works are good, or even just better than what we currently manifest, then it is a belief worthy of our adoption until the time comes that we can trade it in for one even better.

We are walking, self-fulfilling prophecies. Our beliefs become manifest simply because we believe them! (See 1 Nephi 15:8-9) Note then, that in this context, what is true depends on what we believe! Might I suggest then, that one method to determine what to believe is by asking ourselves the question "what do we want to be true?"

I am not referring to moral relativism here. I believe in absolute truth, or Truth with a capital T. What I'm saying is that, in many instances of our day to day lives, the beliefs we choose impact our lives and manifest themselves to be true simply because we believe them. If we choose, consciously or not, to believe we have little to offer the world, then our actions will reflect that and we will offer little to the world. If we change that to believe we have much to offer the world, then our actions will reflect that and we will work diligently to make a difference! Either way, our truth, the evidences and experiences and history of our lives changes based simply on what we believe.

What do you want to be true? If a belief isn't serving you, perhaps that's a signal that you can seek a better replacement for it.

I believe that, the more in line our beliefs are with Truth, which I define as what God believes, then the more we will become like Him. Such beliefs will serve us better and lead us to greater fulfillment and happiness. We learn these "precept upon precept, line upon line." (Isaiah 28:9-10)

Post Script
I didn't really fit these in anywhere, but below are an assortment of quotes that I find relevant to the topic:

"Faith in God includes Faith in God's timing." --Neal A. Maxwell

"Self-appointed expectations lead to self-induced frustrations." --Dr. Abaraham Lowe

"Endorse for effort, not outcome." --Dr. Abraham Lowe

Joseph Smith: "Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, The idea that he actually exists. Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes. Thirdly, An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing, is according to his will. For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding, it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Emphasis added.)