1 Nephi 4

It would appear that you can't underestimate how important the brass plates were to Lehi's family. The Lord sends an angel to prevent Laman and Lemuel from hindering Nephi. Then he commands Nephi to slay Laban who was obviously very wicked. Had not been wicked, he would have given them the plates or the Lord would have chosen some other way for Nephi to obtain them. We will see the power of the plate's influence over the Nephites later in the Book of Mormon as they are referred to and used numerous times.

I think verse 6 is one of the most important guidelines for life there is. "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." When I first joined the church, a young couple my age would sometimes have me over for dinner and family home evening. I remember one night their telling me that the most important thing I could learn to do, now that I was a member, was to follow the Spirit in everything I did. I don't know that I've done that as well as I could. But I do know that life will go in the right direction, that we end up in the right place a the right time, and we spare ourselves a lot of needless grief (sometimes it's needed) and frustration, if we try to stay in tune and obey the Spirit. Even though we feel alone at times, because of the Spirit, we really do have much more surrounding us than we realize. Sometimes we cannot sense its presence and that is for a reason. At other times, we can sense its presence, and even the presence of angels, and we can feel confident and have faith that we will see things through and be where we would have wanted to be when all is said and done. Later, when Nephi courageously goes after the plates (remember Laban had sought to kill them so Nephi was heading back into the hornet's nest) and is now faced with the command to kill Laban, he says these important words, "Therefore, I did obey the voice of the Spirit." He knew its voice, he recognized and understood its promptings, and even though he had to do something he would have never thought of doing, he ended up doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. But none of that would have happened if he had not gone forward in faith to begin with, not knowing what was going to happen. And it wasn't the angel who commanded him to kill Laban. It was the still, small voice.