I haven't been reading anything particular in my scriptures lately. I've just been opening them up and reading. Last night, I opened up to the Book of Ether and started reading about the Brother of Jared. I noticed some things that I had never noticed before.
These days, I've been thinking a lot about faith. Usually when I read this passage of scripture, I read it more as a story of the past. But last night, it seemed to relate directly to my present-day life.
The Lord instructed Jared and his Brother to leave the land they were in, promising them that he would lead them to a choice land.
The Lord said:
These days, I've been thinking a lot about faith. Usually when I read this passage of scripture, I read it more as a story of the past. But last night, it seemed to relate directly to my present-day life.
The Lord instructed Jared and his Brother to leave the land they were in, promising them that he would lead them to a choice land.
The Lord said:
41 Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the seed of the earth of every kind; and thy families; and also Jared thy brother and his family; and also thy friends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families.
42 And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.
43 And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me.
42 And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.
43 And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me.
I really liked that the Lord said, "I will go before thee..."
Jared and the Brother of Jared followed the Lord's counsel. The Lord went with them and led them.
Read:
5) And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them...
Here's where I started noticing a direct correlation with faith. They were commanded to go into a land where no man had ever been, yet the Lord was ever with them, as He had promised.
Read:
6) And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.
Eventually, they reached the seashore. They pitched their tents and lived there -Moriancumer -for four years.
After four years, the Lord visited the Brother of Jared again and chastened him for not calling on the Lord as he ought. He chastened him for three hours.
The Lord did not want the people to stop at the seashore. He desired that they should press on and start their sea journey that would lead them to their choice land.
The Lord did not want the people to stop at the seashore. He desired that they should press on and start their sea journey that would lead them to their choice land.
16 And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.
This is where I quit reading and started to go to bed. I thought a lot about this passage of scripture.
The Lord has given us all a chance to inherit a "choice land", that being our home in Heaven. He has gone before us -He is not only with us, but one step ahead of us. He knows what is coming. He knows what is best for us. I thought about the small bodies of water that the Brother of Jared and his family crossed, and I compared them to trials. The Lord has a choice land for us, but there are obstacles to getting to it. There are easy moments on sure ground (land), and scary, unsure moments afloat (on water). Notwithstanding, the Lord is there with us. Just as he gave the Brother of Jared instructions on how to build vessels to carry him across the ocean, so will He give us instructions on crossing our own oceans.
And sometimes we are called on to cross an ocean with the promise that our blessings, should we choose to cross, will be very great. How easy it would be to camp out on the seashore! But we would be selling ourselves short.
Oceans must be crossed so that we may achieve our full potential in the Lord.
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