Because of the simpleness of the way....

1 Nephi chapter 17:41

This scripture gets me every time. It speaks of the Lord leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and says that the Lord straitened them in the wilderness with his rod because of the hardness of their hearts and because of their iniquity. Serpents were sent forth (by the Lord) and bit them but the Lord prepared a way for them to be healed; they were to look upon the serpent on the staff and they would live. However, because of the simpleness of the way there were many that perished.

I feel like this relates to me because the basics of the gospel are what we are told over and over again will help our lives - every area of our lives - but I am a bit of a skeptic. Like I mentioned in the lesson, sometimes I look at the promises for reading and think, what is the spirit going to tell me about marriage, raising children, health, frustrations etc?? Sometimes because of the simpleness of the way, I don't believe. It is something that I am working on and every time that I read this scripture, I am reminded.

I have also realized, just in this time reading it, that this is also a metaphor for the atonement. The serpent of course is Satan who will tempt and try us and the Lord allows us to be tempted and tried (bitten), but he also provided a way that we could be healed (the atonement, reading scriptures, saying prayers, attending the temple)