Here is the classic scenario: life is tough—you're in the middle of a difficult trial, then something terrible happens. The one solution to your problem, the thing you most rely on fails you. Now you are completely destitute. The Lord seems to have left you in a situation in which there is no way out. Here is where the real trial of faith begins. You didn't think the Lord would allow something that terrible to happen to you because your already having a hard time of things. These thoughts come to mind, "maybe He doesn't love me," or "maybe He is not even paying attention to my problem," or "what am I supposed to do now?" This is murmur time.
The Lord will bring all of us to our knees at some point. He will push us to our limit to see how far we will go and still be faithful. He allowed Lucifer to all but destroy Job, but Job was remarkably strong. He would not blame the Lord, Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips (Job 2:9-10, italics added). Job understood that the Lord was testing him and wanted to remain faithful, Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity (Job 31:6).
Like the testing of Job, the broken bow-incident becomes a crucial test for Lehi's family. They are on a journey through an unforgiving desert wilderness; they have been traveling and are hungry and tired. Just when they expect to see the sons return with the usual dinner, they find out that the bow had broken. They will go to bed hungry, with no prospects for food in the near future. Laman and Lemuel's response is predictable. However, even Lehi has a moment of weakness. Nephi records that he began to murmur against the Lord (v. 20). Before we judge Lehi too harshly we should walk a day in his shoes—and do it in the Arabian Desert. Nonetheless, he was truly chastened because of his murmuring (v. 25). Nephi was similarly challenged; he admits that for him, it began to be exceedingly difficult (v. 21).
Nephi passes the test. He understands that when everything has gone completely wrong, he must turn to the Lord. Those of us who like to be in charge of everything have a difficult time with these kinds of tests. They are designed to force us to rely completely on the Lord. They require us to humble ourselves before our Maker and ask for His help. It represents the ultimate surrender of individual will to the will of the Father. It is a lot easier said than done.
Neal A. Maxwell
"There was murmuring, too, because Nephi broke his steel bow and also because he couldn't possibly build a ship (see "1 Ne. 16:18"1 Ne. 16:19"1 Ne. 16:201 Nephi 16:18-20;"1 Ne. 17:17 17:17). Those same murmurers, insensitive to their inconsistency, quickly surfeited themselves on the meat brought back by Nephi's new bow. They also sailed successfully over vast oceans to a new hemisphere in the ship that Nephi couldn't build. Strange, isn't it, how those with the longest lists of new demands also have the shortest memories of past blessings?" (If Thou Endure It Well, p. 125.)
Hugh Nibley
"Through the years critics of the Book of Mormon have constantly called attention to the mention of steel in that book as a gross anachronism. But now we are being reminded that one cannot be dogmatic in dating the appearance of steel since there is more than one kind of steel with 'a whole series of variants in the combination of iron and steel components' in ancient times; and when a particularly fine combination was hit upon it would be kept secret in 'individual workshops' and 'passed on from father to son for many generations.' Hence it is not too surprising to learn that 'even in early European times' there is evidence for the production of steel 'of very high quality' and extreme hardness. Further east steel is attested even earlier." (Since Cumorah, p. 254)