1st Nephi Chapter 3

Synopsis: Lehi's sons go to Jerusalem to retrieve the Brass Plates of Laban containing Old Testament scriptures.  Their attempts fail, so they beat up Nephi with a stick, until an angel of the Lord stops them and tells them to try again.

A WORD / THE SAVIOR

Lord.  When Nephi returns from his own revelatory experience, he describes it as speaking to the Lord. It is clear that the English text of the Book of Mormon was given to Joseph Smith in King James English, so that both its earliest and its later readers, would recognize it as a companion to the Bible, written in similar reverential language, which was not the actual vernacular of 1820s America, or 1600s England either. We know that one of the choices made by the King James translators, in order to avoid too frequent use of holy names, was to translate the Hebrew JHWH, not into the English, Jehovah, but into the word Lord.  It is likely that Nephi's original usage has been similarly modified.  The Jerusalem Bible, which reinserts "Jahweh" in lieu of Lord throughout the Old Testament, provides some interesting insights, such as in Genesis 4:26, which in the English KJV makes no sense (not until Enosh's day did people first begin to call upon the Lord?) but which in the New Jerusalem Bible informs us that Enosh "was the first to invoke the name of Yahweh" in calling upon God (which leads me to the incredibly irresponsible but highly intriguing speculative inquiry: was this the point in time when, having overseen the creation of earth by His son, participated directly in the creation of man, and watched over the events of the fall, God's divine investiture of authority upon His son Jehovah first took place?) https://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/04/the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng

In any event, it is helpful, I believe, to remember that Lord refers to a specific being, Jehovah, speaking with divine investiture on behalf of His and our Father, and is not a generic honorific for deity, but is the name of a named member of the Godhead.  

A DOCTRINE 

Nephi is sure if the Lord gives a commandment, He will find a way to ensure it can be fulfilled.  The brothers then come up with a plan, which fails miserably; followed by another plan, which fails even more miserably.  The interesting point here is that they don't pray to know what to do, nor seek the Lord's confirmation that their plans will work, before either of these failed attempts. In the next chapter, when Nephi goes back in a third attempt to obtain the plates, knowing not beforehand how he will do so, but being led by the spirit, things work out.  Reliance on our own wisdom won't always get us very far, it seems.  This reminds me of the many times in my own life (starting with an event on my mission that has long been seared into my memory, but too frequently forgotten when most needed) when I have, perhaps in some priesthood leadership capacity, been called upon to advise others, and how often I have failed to give any advice or counsel which was worth anything, until I prayed for guidance, and let the Spirit tell me what to say.  And thus we learn that we aren't alone down here, and we don't have to figure everything out for ourselves.