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LESSON #1 CRYING UNTO THE LORD (Ether 1-3)
OBJECT
Magic 8 Ball
ICEBREAKER
I like to begin the book of Ether with the following Icebreaker that’s really fun and effective. I have this little dialogue with my students. I tell them that I have a special gift. A gift that allows me to answer people’s questions about their future; about what to expect. But there is one catch. In order for my gift to work, they must ask their questions in a Yes or No format. That’s the rule. So, is there anybody out there who would like to ask a question about their future, do so now. And sometimes they’ll ask things like “Will I be rich or not. Will I get married? Will I be famous? Or sometimes they’ll ask more mundane kinds of things, like "Will lunch be good that day?” Or "Will I pass my Math test?" Whatever they ask (and I like to play this moment up quite a bit), I close my eyes, and put a finger to the side of my head and pretend like I’m concentrating really hard. And then I reach into a bag or behind the podium, and I pull out, a Magic 8 ball and start shaking it. And of course, they start to laugh. And I say, "I told you I had a gift, I got for my Birthday”. And then we have fun for a couple of minutes asking and answering questions with the mystical Magic 8 ball.
But then I transition to something more meaningful by asking "Is this the best way to get guidance? Is a Magic 8 ball going to be a reliable source of truth or directions for your future or the decisions you make? Of course the answer is no. Interestingly though, people do in fact turn to similar kinds of things for help. Horoscopes, fortune tellers, gurus, Magic 8 balls, fortune cookies, rolling the dice. People are hungry for guidance in this world. Fortunately for us, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we know of a better source of guidance, truth, and confirmation. A source we can rely on. What might that be? That source is personal revelation from our Heavenly Father through the power of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost. And, one of the best places in all of scripture that I know of to learn how communication between man and God works is here in the book of Ether. The story of Jared, the brother of Jared and their people is an excellent place to better understand divine communication. Some of the most common questions that I get as a teacher deal with that topic. How do I get answers to my prayers? How do I know when it’s the Spirit that’s guiding me and not just my own thoughts and feelings? How can I make prayer a more meaningful experience? Why do my sincere prayers seem unanswered? I believe that these chapters can help to answer those questions.
BACKGROUND-SUMMARY
Before we continue though, a quick note to teachers here. Sometimes with scripture blocks that are more narrative in nature, more story centered—it’s easy to get so caught up in the story and its details, that we fail to give adequate time to the principles and applicable truths that the story teaches, which, in my mind, is the more critical focus. As fun as the story is, the truths and principles it teaches are what are going to be most helpful to your students. Still, you do have to give the story some focus and time so that your students have a foundation and a framework to work from. They’ll be lost without that background. So after I’ve introduced the lesson with an Icebreaker, I like to help them get their bearings in the story. Ideally, you’ve encouraged your students to come to class prepared to talk about what they’ve already read or studied that week. That way, there’s no need to spend a lot of time summarizing or repeating the story. It should already be fresh in their minds. But, not everybody always comes prepared to class, so a brief summary may be a good idea. Sometimes, I’ll have students read the chapter headings out loud to summarize the story. They do an excellent job of that. Sometimes, I’ll ask if somebody familiar with the story could summarize it for the rest of the class. Or sometimes I, as the teacher, briefly summarize the story. It also helps to display pictures as you summarize. A great resource for this is what’s called the Book of Mormon reader. It was created by the Church for younger readers and gives an illustrated version of Book of Mormon stories. The pictures are really great for summarizing and I’ll provide a link to that resource in the video description below. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-stories-2024?lang=eng) However you do it, try to break they story down into its most basic components. For example, here is how I would summarize the story of the Brother of Jared.
The Book of Ether is a flashback in Book of Mormon history. The story of the brother of Jared takes place nearly 1600 years before Lehi and Nephi ever arrive in the promised land. It begins at Babel where the people tried to build a tower high enough to reach to heaven. As a consequence, the Lord confounded the people's language and Jared and his brother, and their families were among them. The brother of Jared prays for their language not to be confounded, AND, the Lord answers that prayer and vows to lead them to a promised land. The Jaredites, as we’ll call them, leave Babel and are led through the wilderness to the seashore where God then gave them instructions on how to build barges to carry them across the ocean to the new world. One of the more notable aspects of the story comes when the brother of Jared requests that the Lord provide for them a means to have light inside their barges. The Lord asks the brother of Jared to offer his own solution to this request. As a result, he asks the Lord to touch 16 small stones with his finger to cause them to shine and light the barges. The Lord does this and in the process shows the brother of Jared his finger and then his spirit body as well. The Jaredites then take a 344-day journey across the ocean as a furious wind blows the barges towards the promised land until they arrive safe and sound.
Now I think that’s all they really need to understand as the basic framework of the story, and this only takes a couple of minutes. Then, with that brief background in place, you’re ready to really study the message and the profound truths that this fantastic story offers us.
HANDOUT
Remember that one of the major themes of this story is communication between God and man. To illustrate this, I like to begin with a quick handout and marking activity. Look up the following verses or sets of verses, then identify and mark the word or phrase that is used to describe communication with God. You’re not going to find the word prayer in these verses, but you will find different synonymous terms for prayer. What are they?
1:34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43/ 2:18, 22/ 3:1/6:7 Cry
1:38 Inquire
2:4, 5, 14 talked
2:14, 15/ 3:2 call upon
6:9 sing praises, thank
Aren’t those excellent words for prayer?
And then a question to ponder.
What do these words teach you about prayer?
And, to me, sometimes I think we use certain terms in the church so often that they begin to lose a bit of their meaning. Prayer is one of those terms. Saying our prayers can often become rote, rehearsed, and a meaningless exercise of routine. When they start to get that way, maybe we could try using some of these words instead and see if that changes things. So rather than saying, “I’m going to go say my prayers", I said, "I’m going to go cry unto the Lord" or "I’m going to "inquire of my Heavenly Father” or “I need to go talk to God” would it be different? Those phrases seem to carry a different connotation don’t they? They suggest effort, sincerity, two-way communication, diligence, and significance. If we want our prayers to become more meaningful, maybe we could consider calling them something other than prayer. Try one of these terms instead. I think you’ll notice a difference.
SEARCH
After illustrating that initial truth to my class, as a teacher, I then want to encourage my students to go in and discover some truths about divine communication on their own. So I display the following slide and encourage them to select and ponder one or more of the following references. Now if you feel like this is too much and you won’t really have time to cover all of these, you could always go in and edit this slide or activity and only display the verses that you feel are most important and that you’ll have time for. With each of those references, I also provide them with a highlighted phrase from those verses. I then explain that they don’t have to focus on the highlighted phrase and if they wish to focus on a different phrase within the verse, that’s ok. It’s only there to help. Encourage them to listen to the Spirit. So you could allow them to select their own phrases, or you could assign each member of your class one of the phrases by counting them off from 1-10 until they all have one to study. The last four phrases are in a bit of a category of their own. As the brother of Jared seeks help in building the barges, I see four different ways that the Lord answers his concerns. With those references, seek for the way that the Lord is resolving his concerns. I think those verses illustrate different ways the Lord may answer our prayers. Then, after your students have studied their verses, ask them to share what they learned.
But, to help you to be prepared to have that discussion, I’d like to give you some of my thoughts on these phrases.
Ether 1:35/1:37/1:40 The Lord had compassion
There is something we learn about the Nature of our Father in Heaven from these three verses. As the brother of Jared cries unto the Lord, each time it says that He had compassion on him. One of the first truths we need to understand about communication with heaven is that God is a compassionate God. And that’s an important place to start. Because what will happen to my prayers if I believe that he is an uncaring God, a vengeful God, an apathetic God, or a distant God? If that’s my perception, I probably won’t have the confidence and faith to approach him in any sort of meaningful way. It’s nice to know that he cares about us, and that when we put forth the effort to call upon him, he hears and considers our desires. That’s also an important truth to consider when our prayers seem unanswered; those times when He doesn’t respond in the way or the time frame that we want or expect Him to answer us. In those cases we can rest assured that his response or lack of it, is still an act of compassion towards us; that he is demonstrating his eternal perspective and wisdom and foresight, by responding to us in the way that will provide us with the most growth and benefit. Truth about divine communication then? The Lord is compassionate.
Ether 1:38 Let us be faithful unto the Lord
What I think this phrase could suggest is that our personal righteousness and faith can have a great effect on our ability to receive answers to prayer. Now that doesn’t mean that we have to be sinless in order to get answers. In fact, I believe that God will even respond to and answer the prayers of the very wicked if they will just cry out to Him. We should never conclude that we are too unworthy to pray. That’s a lie from the adversary. That being said, if we wish to broaden the bandwidth between us and deity, if we wish to increase the likelihood of accessing His divine help and guidance, if we wish to demonstrate to God our readiness to receive answers, then faith and personal righteousness can play a huge part in that equation. We know that God responds to faith. When we've consistently shown our confidence in his wisdom and a willingness to obey His commandments, He's much more likely to offer us counsel and help. Because He knows that we will value it, and strive to follow it. There is indeed a link between righteousness and revelation. Like Nephi taught in 1 Nephi 15:11:
11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.
Ether 1:43 This long time ye have cried unto me.
Apparently, the brother of Jared had been praying for a long time before the Lord answered his prayers. We too must often be willing to put forth a continual and long-term effort before we receive answers to our prayers. Now when I make that point, I always like to ask my students why they think that is. Why would God delay his response to a sincere prayer until after that individual had asked many times, maybe even for years, before he answered it? I think you’ll get a lot of insightful answers to that question. One possible explanation is that he is testing our desire. Are we willing to work for our answer? It was Thomas Paine who noted that "What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods" –Thomas Paine (The American Crisis No. 1, 1776). I think that applies here. The answer will mean more to us. One of the most intriguing parables that the Savior ever told is that of the Friend at Midnight in Luke 11:5-8. Do you remember this one? As the title suggests, a friend comes to his neighbor’s house at midnight to ask for bread for a guest that had arrived. And he just keeps knocking and knocking and knocking. Well, the neighbor finally gets up to answer his friend’s needs. But why does he do it? Not just because he’s his friend, but the Savior emphasizes that he answers him because of his importunity. What's importunity? It’s persistence. He answers because of his friend’s persistence. We need to keep that in mind when it comes to OUR prayers. In our quick fix world where we want and expect everything to come immediately, we would do well to consider that God doesn’t always work that way. He requires persistence, and oftentimes expects us to pray a “long time” before the answer comes. So if you don’t feel like you've received an answer, bruise your knuckles on heaven’s door, until you do. Quick caveat though. The instruction is not to bruise your knuckles on heaven’s door until you get the answer you want. But, until you get an answer. That’s an important distinction to make. The story of Balaam in the Old Testament attests to that truth, and then the story from Church History regarding Joseph Smith and the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript is another. God doesn’t always answer our prayers immediately, but when he does answer, hopefully we will be willing to accept that answer when it comes, even when it’s not what we initially desired or expected.
Ether 2:13-14 and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.
This is a fascinating one. We learn that the Jaredites stay on the seashore for four years before this happens and the brother of Jared is chastised, for three hours no less, for not calling upon the Lord. But, do you really think that means that the Brother of Jared stopped praying completely for those four years? I don’t think that’s likely. I think he stopped crying, and calling upon or inquiring of the Lord. Could it be that he just stopped asking for additional instructions on how to proceed to the promised land? And why do you think he might have done that? Maybe because things were good. The beach was probably a pleasant place to hang out. They could sit on the seashore, play some beach volleyball, enjoy the cool breezes and beautiful sunsets. Maybe that’s why the Lord felt the need to chasten the brother of Jared—because he ceased requesting direction from God on how to proceed. The ultimate goal was not the beach, but the promised land. God had greater things in store for them. But between them and it lay an incredible obstacle. The great deep. The ocean. Do we sometimes make the same mistake when we encounter great obstacles to our development or when we get comfortable with our current situation? Do we stop requesting challenges to make us stronger? Cease putting forth efforts to improve and strengthen our faith? Do we get complacent with our progress? I think that displeases the Lord when we do that. Why did it take four years for God to finally say something to the brother of Jared? Maybe He was hoping that he would come to that conclusion all on his own. God wants us to take personal responsibility for our own development and progress. Remember what the Lord said In Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-27
26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
What’s the principle of divine communication taught here? Major barriers and comfortable circumstances do not excuse inactivity. Instead of waiting around for God or for the challenges of life to get us moving us closer to our promised land, we can consistently seek the Lord’s counsel and instruction on how to move forward.
Ether 2:16 Go to work and build.
The principle here? Pretty simple. Go to work. We can’t expect the Lord to do everything for us. We’ve got to be willing to put in the work. We’ve got to act. That willingness to act is often a prerequisite for receiving an answer. We’ve got to do everything that lies in our power to aid the answer coming forth. Joseph Smith is a good example of this. He wanted to know which church was true, but did he just sit around hoping and waiting for God to speak to him? No. He attended church meetings, he pondered, he studied the scriptures, he talked to people. He acted. He worked. Therefore, God was much more willing to eventually give him an answer when he asked. Even prophets have to work to get answers and guidance from God.
Ether 3:2 We know that thou art holy . . . and that we are unworthy before thee.
I love the attitude that the brother of Jared shows here in making his request to the Lord. Just listen to how he asks it.
2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.
Do you sense his humility there? His meekness? He's not making demands. He doesn't show frustration. He doesn't display self-righteousness. He recognizes his weaknesses, acknowledges that God’s ways are higher than his and is open to the possibility that he is asking for the wrong thing. We may need to do the same in our prayers. When our prayers seem unanswered, perhaps it’s a message that we need to rethink what we're praying for. Are we praying according to our own wisdom or are we seeking God’s? Prayer is less about imposing our will on God, and more about aligning our will with His. Perhaps instead of praying that our problems go away, we pray for the capacity to recognize what our problems can teach us. Instead of praying that God change somebody else, we pray for help to know what we need to change in ourselves first. Instead of praying that our burdens be removed, we pray for added strength to bear up under them. In any case, we should be open to the possibility of adjusting or rethinking our desires, our requests, with humility and a recognition of God’s higher and more eternal perspective.
So now to the different ways that God may respond to our prayers or requests for counsel or help.
Way #1 Ether 2:16 According to the instructions of the Lord.
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.
In order to cross the great deep, they were going to need some divine help in order to accomplish that incredible feat. They needed to build barges. So the Lord provides them with instructions on how to do just that. God gave them the design! They didn’t come in response to a specific problem or concern. They were just given to help the Jaredites make their journey. In our world, I think those kinds of instructions come directly through the prophets, the scriptures, parents, and inspired local leaders. These instructions are usually general in nature and provide the fundamental principles of gospel living. Sometimes I think we forget just how much specific guidance we already have in making decisions in our life. For example, the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet is chock full of instructions on how to best navigate the tumultuous years of youth. We don’t really have to pray and ponder and seek diligently to know what standards we should hold. Do I really need to ask for divine guidance on whether I should cheat on school assignments, drink alcohol, or watch inappropriate movies? No. The instructions are clear. For adults it’s the same. We have plenty of counsel and guidance from living prophets and scripture. Of course we should pay our tithing. Of course we should be faithful to our spouses. Of course we should be honest in the workplace. The Lord has given us plenty of help in navigating our journey to the promised land. We just need to be willing to build our lives “according to the instructions of the Lord”. That’s one of the ways God provides guidance and answers to our questions.
However, we’re also going to need personal guidance for navigating the specifics of our own lives. Everybody’s path back to God is going to look a little different. We face different challenges, come from different backgrounds, inherit different gifts and talents, and face unique circumstances. The scriptures often provide general principles but will not always cover exactly how those principles are to be applied individually in our personal lives. Often that can be situational. So we come to:
Way #2 Ether 2:20 Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top
In this specific situation of building the barges, the Lord’s design carried some interesting drawbacks. As they’re building them, the brother of Jared notices some issues with the construction. We know that they had used barges before, but only for short journeys over small bodies of water. I’m sure that initial design worked great in those instances—but this was going to be a different kind of journey. They were going to be on the ocean for almost a year traveling hundreds of miles over the open sea. So I can just imagine what that conversation with the Lord must have been like for the brother of Jared in this instance. To paraphrase verse 19, “Uh Lord, we’ve built the barges according to your instructions. They look great, they’re wonderful, umm, I’m not trying to criticize your design, however, there are just a few minor issues we’re having. Umm, we can’t breathe, we can’t see, and we can’t steer. Uh, any thoughts on how we might resolve those things?” And the Lord sits back, and says, “Hmmm. Well, I don’t quite know how I missed that in my initial design. But no worry. Let me help you out.”
2:20 And then verse 20 illustrates a way that the Lord may choose to answer our prayers. He basically just gives him the solution and asks the brother of Jared to act on it.
20 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood.
And, for the longest time I wondered why the Lord would want them to drill a hole in the bottom of their boats. That didn’t seem to make much sense to me. Was it because they would sometimes be upside down and need to unplug the bottom hole? I pictured these barges as rolling around in circles. But then you think, they had animals on these barges. How are they supposed to roll upside down without injuring everybody and their livestock? So, I’ve since come up with a different theory for what he meant by the top and bottom of the boat. I think he means horizontally. Where we might say the front and back of the ship, he said the top and bottom of the ship. Like we might talk about a basketball court. We talk about the top and the bottom of the key. But it’s on a horizontal surface. Now I don’t know if that was it, but it seems to make sense to me. Anyway, that’s not really the point here, the Lord just simply gives the brother of Jared the solution to that problem. But, he had to act on that solution. He actually had to go out and do something that the Lord had instructed him to do. When I served as bishop, I sometimes prayed to know who would be a good fit for a specific calling, and as clear as day, the Lord would provide me with an answer. Sister so-and-so would be a perfect fit for that calling, Brother so-and-so will flourish there. This member of your ward could really use this opportunity to grow. I like those kinds of answers, as I’m sure you do as well. Straightforward, quick, and direct. But, God doesn’t always work that way, does he?
WAY #3 Ether 2:24-25 The winds have gone forth out of my mouth
In vs :24-25 God answers the problem with the steering by saying that he would take care of that one by sending forth the winds to steer them towards the promised land. Sometimes God answers in that way. He just says, I’ll take care of it. There’s nothing you need to do in this situation. He doesn’t offer any specific bit of instruction to act on. He just says, "Just put your faith in me, and all will work out in the end.” I know I’ve had that kind of answer in my life. Have you ever experienced this? When I initially didn’t get hired to teach seminary for the church, I feel I got that kind of answer. The Lord didn’t tell me what was going to happen or any specific instructions on what to do other than for me to hold on, have faith, and all would work out in the end. And that’s what happened. Seemingly out of nowhere, the solution came when I wasn’t even expecting it. God took care of it. The winds went forth out of his mouth to move my barge towards the promised land. I like those kinds of answers too!
However, sometimes he gives a different kind of answer.
Way #4 Ether 2:23 What will ye that I should do?
With the issue of light. In 2:23, the Lord answers by saying:
23 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.
So, he doesn’t give a straightforward solution to this one. He asks, “What will YE that I should do?” And I can just hear the Brother of Jared saying, “Wait a minute? That’s my line. I ask you what you want me to do. Not the other way around.” But in this case, he lets the Brother of Jared figure it out. I believe it’s very similar to the counsel the Lord gave Oliver Cowdery in Doctrine and Covenants 9:8 where he instructs him to "study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right”. Still, God does offer the brother of Jared some, what I call, “No not that way’s". He doesn’t provide the outright solution, but he does give some parameters to work within; some things not to try. So the Lord says, “Well Mahonri, what are going to do about this light thing? Windows won’t work, there are going to be big storms, those would be dashed in pieces. Fire’s out, the barges are made of wood, and oxygen is a problem already. Ummm, I’m stumped, I’m going to let you work this one out. Devise a solution and then come back and check with me when you have an idea.”
And don’t you just love that?! Sometimes God answers our prayers by saying “study it out in your mind, then ask me if it’s right”. God has enough trust in the brother of Jared to let him work out a solution on his own. It’s the same with us. We do need his guidance and counsel and wisdom, however, he doesn’t need to command in all things, like we saw before. He lets us choose. We don’t need him to micromanage every decision that we make in our lives. In some things he says. Choose. I’ll give you some things that won’t work, but, in the end, you get to make a choice. This is agency at its best! It’s what we fought for in the premortal world. So let’s use it.
And, let me give you some examples of this kind of thing in my own life.
My career. For the longest time, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. I envied those kids who knew exactly what they wanted their future to look like since they were in high school. That wasn’t me. And I remember praying, and wanting the Lord to make that decision for me. To just tell me what to do. And over the years, I finally got the sense that that answer was not going to come from God, but that I needed to make that decision myself. He certainly gave me some, “No, not that way’s” though. He wasn’t completely silent on the issue. I thought to myself, should I go into the medical field? No, the answer came, you can’t stand hospitals. Should I be an engineer or go into finance? No, you’re no good at math. How about professional sports? You’re not that coordinated. How about law, or politics. No, I’m afraid you’re not that good of a liar. And I’m kidding there, with all due respect to you lawyers and politicians out there. So what was left over? I thought, teaching and law enforcement. And for both of those, I felt the Lord say to me, you would be happy in either of those areas. So I majored in English, thinking I would be happy teaching literature. I also seriously looked into working for the FBI or the CIA and felt some excitement there. And then, on a whim, I decided to look into teaching seminary. And, to make a long story short, that’s what I eventually ended up pursuing. And I love it, and I am very happy doing it. But I still believe that it was my choice. I wasn’t destined to teach seminary for a living. I think I would have been just as happy and fulfilled teaching English, or working in law enforcement. I’m grateful for a Heavenly Father who was willing to guide me, but also respect my agency and let me choose.
Another area. Marriage. As a church, doctrinally speaking, we don’t believe in soul mates—that there is only one person out there that we are destined to create an eternal marriage with. I imagine that for all of us, there are multiple people that we could create healthy, flourishing, eternal relationships with. Quite possibly, perhaps ANY two righteous people with the proper attitude and eternal perspective could make an eternal marriage work. Now some may say that that doesn’t sound very romantic. But I disagree. I think it’s very romantic. That I could admit that there are others with whom I could create an eternal marriage with, but of all of them, I chose Allesha Hilton to be mine, and she chose me. When I was dating, I felt the Lord did give me some, “No, not that way’s”. That there were some women that I dated that it would not have been a good idea to pursue marriage with. And there were different signs that He gave me that said, No, don’t pursue this. But when I met Allesha, and dated her, and spent time with her, at one point, I distinctly felt the Lord impress upon me, you may proceed. This is a good fit. You can create a happy, eternal relationship with this woman. I made the choice, but he confirmed it for me.
This kind of thing happened with the Brother of Jared, right? I imagine there were multiple ways he could have solved the issue of light in the barges. He came up with the idea of the smooth stones touched by the finger of the Lord. He brought his decision to Him, and the Lord confirmed that it was good. And blessed that idea, and made it work. I believe that the Lord will do this kind of thing for us too in many areas of our lives.
ADDITIONAL INSIGHT
See, so many great things in these chapters on personal revelation and divine communication. There is one more principle though that I want to share here. Take a look at this pattern I noticed. Is there anything that stands out to you about the progression of the following verses?
1:35 The brother of Jared cries unto the Lord, and the Lord has compassion and answers his prayer.
1:40-41 This time he cries unto the Lord, and he actually hears the Lord speak. He hears his voice offering instruction.
2:4 Then here, the Lord comes down and talks with the brother of Jared in a cloud.
3:6 Then in 3:6, after he requests that the Lord touch the stones, he actually sees the finger of Jesus’s spirit body.
And then 3:13. When the Lord recognizes the great faith of the brother of Jared. He shows himself, completely, to him.
Do you see a pattern or a principle in that? The progression? The more the brother of Jared reached out to the Lord, the more Christ revealed himself to him. It started with just a silent answer to his prayer, then a voice, then a voice in a cloud, then a finger, then his entire spirit body. What does that teach you? What I see is the truth that the more I pray, the more I seek a connection with God and Christ, the more real they become to me. The closer I get to them. The more they show me of their power and presence in my life. Christ says, draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you.
TRUTH
So many that we could point to here.
God is compassionate
God is more likely to answer the prayers of the faithful and obedient
We must be persistent in our prayers
Major barriers and comfortable circumstances do not excuse inactivity in seeking God’s guidance
We must be willing to act on the answers that come
We must be humble in recognizing that prayer is less about imposing our will on God, and more about aligning our will with His
Sometimes God gives us guidance through scripture and living prophets
Sometimes God gives us guidance directly through answers to our prayers
Sometimes God gives us guidance by just asking us to trust in his care and wisdom
Sometimes God gives us guidance by giving us “No, not that way’s” but allowing us to use our agency to make our own decisions and find our own solutions.
The more we pray, the more we seek a connection with God and Christ, the more real they become to us.
TAKING IT TO HEART
When have you seen one of these principles played out in your own life?
How have your prayers brought God and Christ closer to you and in what ways have they manifested themselves unto you?
VIDEO
A great little video that you might consider showing during this lesson that illustrates some of the principles that we’ve discussed is called “His Grace: Does God Really Answer Your Prayers?” Some of you might be familiar with Michael Mclean, a well-known and exceptionally talented composer. Well, in this video he discusses a very personal and moving experience that he had with prayer and receiving guidance from God. As your students watch, have them look for truths about prayer that Michael learned during this time and if they’ve ever had a similar experience.
I WILL GO AND DO
What one change to your personal prayers do you feel would make the biggest difference right now in your life?
CONCLUSION
If there is one thing I know about life it’s that heaven wants to help us. God does intend for us to make the great journey of our life in faith, but he never intended us to make it alone. He has provided us with various means to receive his wisdom and guidance, and it’s not through the stars or a Magic 8 ball. There is an actual system of communication set up between heaven and earth. The network has been established, the cables are in place, and the lines are open. In a sense, we just need to pick up and dial the number. The Lord is there. He hears and He answers. Joseph Smith once said that we “grow into the principle of revelation”. I hope that we, like the brother of Jared, can continually seek the Lord’s compassion, counsel, and confirmation. As we do this, the closer we will draw to Him and the more real our relationship will become.
LESSON #2 TIGHT LIKE UNTO A DISH (Ether 2)
Moving on, there is a principle in this story of the barges that I would like to highlight all on its own. It’s a principle that means a lot to me and has guided me through a number of difficult experiences in my life.
ICEBREAKER
To introduce that principle I like to ask this question: What is considered to be the oldest continuously living thing on earth? Now some may guess whales or giant tortoises, but usually it doesn’t take them long to realize that plants are living things, and they begin to start guessing different species of trees. The oldest living thing on earth is a Great Basin Bristlecone pine tree. They're found in parts of Utah, Nevada, and California and some of these trees are believed to be close to 5000 years old. How are they able to live so long? You would think that it’s because they have the luxury of being planted in the most ideal of growing conditions. Lots of water, sunlight and great soil. But you’d be wrong. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Bristlecone pines live longer than anything else because they grow under the harshest of conditions. They don’t get much water, the soil is poor, and they experience extremes in temperature and weather. But it is those very conditions that have made them so hardy. The rings of a bristlecone pine are very, very close together. Their growing season is very short each year. This results in the wood becoming extremely hard and dense, almost like stone. Therefore they are almost impervious to high winds, disease, insects, and even fire. What principle does the life of bristlecone pine teach us? I think it shows us that it is adversity and opposition that produces longevity and strength, not ease and comfort.
Well I sometimes think of those gnarled bristlecone pines when I consider the barges built by the brother of Jared and his people. Not that the barges were built from bristlecone pine wood, but because of a principle that they teach.
SEARCH
In Ether 2:17 There was one major aspect of the construction of these barges that Moroni wants us to understand. There’s something he emphasizes here. Can you identify what it is?
17 And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.
Did you catch it? It’s almost impossible not to. They were tight like unto a dish. He says it over and over again. Now I have a degree in English and the English teacher in me wants to take out a red pen, cross some of those out, and write “Redundant” in the margin. However, repetition is a form of emphasis, and Moroni really wants us to know something about those barges. They were waterproof. No water was going to get into them. That’s important. The Lord says in verse :24 that mountain waves would dash upon them, that they would be buried in the depths of the sea. That there would be rains and floods. They were going to face some major storms in this journey. Later we learn that there would monsters of the sea and whales that would try to mar and break them. Sounds terrifying, right?
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
What are we learning about life here? How are our lives similar? We too must cross a “great deep”. Mortality. Ever had any storms in your life? Ever feel like you were in the midst of a terrible tempest? Ever felt like you were buried in the depths of your trials, your challenges, your pains, your afflictions? Ever been attacked by the sea monsters and whales of life that are attempting to mar and break you? I believe that the story of the Jaredites' journey can help us through our own.
In order to face these challenges, God provided the Jaredites with instructions on how to build the barges that would carry them across the great deep in safety. Now remember, God gave the brother of Jared a chance to come up with a solution to the problem of light on the barges and we’ve already studied how he did that. But as I read this, I personally came up with a different solution to the problem. We just talked about the principle of God allowing us to use our agency to come up with solutions to our problems. Well let’s try that out. I’m going to read Ether 2:24 to you and ask if you could come up with a different solution to this problem of darkness. They needed these dark enclosed barges because of the mountain waves that would crash upon them. But what causes mountain waves on the ocean? Wind. Now listen to verse 24 and see if you could give me another solution.
24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.
So, where do the winds come from? His mouth. God is creating the wind which creates these mountain waves. So what might be your solution to the problem? I would maybe say to the Lord, “Well, if we have to be in these dark barges because of the waves, and the waves are coming from the wind, and if the wind is coming from your mouth. Lord, please don’t blow so hard. Just blow softly. Send a gentle breeze over the water and we can steadily drift to the promised land. We can make it like a little pleasure cruise. We can sit out on the deck, get a nice suntan, fish, eat from the buffet. And maybe, just possibly the brother of Jared did suggest that because in 3:2 he says, “O Lord, thou hast said that we MUST be encompassed about by the floods”.
And wouldn’t you prefer that solution to your own storms as well? Have you ever prayed that way? Lord, just calm my waves. Let me breeze through life. Keep me always above water, I don’t want to be buried in the depths of my problems for any amount of time. Now can the Lord calm storms? Yes. There are examples of that in scripture and sometimes, he does that in our lives too. But not always. There are some storms and waves that never seem to go away. What do we do with those? How do we explain why a compassionate God would allow those difficult things to continue? What is the Lord’s message to us when the storms and waves and whales of our lives are not rebuked? Ether 2:25
25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?
When God doesn’t still our storms, we can rest assured that he has prepared us for those things. Our vessels are tight like unto a dish. Can you see why that phrase was emphasized by Moroni? He won’t let us sink. We are strong enough. We are able. We can stay afloat. And yes, I realize that sometimes we feel that that’s all we can seem to do. Just stay afloat. BUT, he’ll help us. I think that in most cases, God prefers to prepare us against the storms of life than to calm them. AND, if we’ll turn to him, he won’t let us travel in darkness. He’ll provide us with light. The light of his love, his comfort, his peace, his truth, his counsel, his church, his Spirit. We have those things to aid us on our journey. So if we’ve been faithful and true, we can know that he’s already given us the blessing, the strength. He’s already answered the prayer long before we faced the mountain waves or the terrible tempest. He has prepared us against those things. We are tight like unto a dish. We’re like bristlecone pines. We survive because it is hard. The demanding conditions of our trials and challenges are what make our faith and our spirits strong.
One brief example of this in my life. I think for most of us Junior High School can be tempestuous years. They were for me. I was short, I had braces, I had acne, and these things didn't produce a lot of confidence in myself. Also, some of the other kids consistently reminded me of these shortcomings. When Junior High ended, things got much better for me in High School. I grew, the acne went away, I got my braces off, and everything seemed to get much better. Yet, I am forever grateful for what my Junior High experience taught me. I believe it made me a kinder person, it taught me the importance of having self-confidence, it helped me to get over worrying about the judgments of others, it made me stronger. What then seemed to be mountain waves and tempests were actually winds from the mouth of a loving Heavenly Father moving me forward, and I’m forever grateful for those experiences.
TRUTH
The Lord will often prepare us for the troubles of our lives instead of simply removing them from us. He has made us “tight like unto a dish.”
TAKING IT TO HEART
Now this is a truth that I think some reflection and personal pondering is in order. To help your students do this, you could invite them to participate in this personal application handout. Have them consider and write down their answers to the following questions.
Have you ever felt like the Lord had prepared you to face a certain trial or life circumstance? (Made you “tight like unto a dish) What happened?
What has helped you most to weather the storms and mountain waves of your life?
How have your storms made you stronger?
CONCLUSION
Being an inland dweller myself, the ocean has always seemed a vast and intimidating force of nature. I can’t imagine the feeling the Jaredites must have had as they boarded these tiny vessels and pushed away from land. Probably not unlike the way we felt as we left the presence of our heavenly parents to embark on the journey of mortality. And yet, the Lord has provided us with vessels as well. As small and vulnerable as they may seem compared to the enormity of the open sea, the Lord has made them tight like unto a dish. We too have been prepared by a loving God to face the mountain waves and storms that seem to threaten our journey home. He knows the challenges that we will face and has equipped us to pass over or under or around them. Not only that, but even as the ferocious winds bellow, we can rest in the knowledge that it is those very winds that are carrying us forward. We can sail calm in the assurance that there is no wave that can capsize us, no whale that can mar us, no storm that can sink us, as long as we are willing to place our faith and trust in a compassionate God who can see both shores from his heavenly perspective.
LESSON #3 THE SEALED PORTION (Ether 3-5)
GAME
I’m not going to go into as much depth on the last two chapters. But I would like to provide you with a little activity you could do with your class to quickly cover some of the material here. The focus here is the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. We know that when Joseph Smith translated the plates that there was an entire section that was sealed-not available for Joesph to read or translate. A quick way to review these principles would be to play this fill-in-the-blank activity. Each phrase teaches a truth about the sealed portion. Whichever person can successfully fill in the blank and name the verse that the answer comes from, I will usually throw out a small treat to them.
So these first ones are from Ether 3:17-28
Here we go:
3:21 Wherefore, ye shall _____________ up the things which ye have seen and heard, and show it to no man. TREASURE
So first truth. The brother of Jared was instructed to show what he had learned to no man.
3:22 ye shall write them in a _____________ that they cannot be read. LANGUAGE
Second truth. His vision was written in a language that couldn’t be understood.
3:23 And behold, these two _________ will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also with the things which ye shall write. STONES
Third truth. The brother of Jared included those two stones, we know what they’re called. The Urim and Thummim which could be used to interpret them.
3:25 he showed unto the brother of Jared all the _____________ of the earth which had been, and also all that would be. INHABITANTS
The brother of Jared saw everybody. No wonder he had such an amazing perspective to write what he did in the sealed portion.
3:26 he knew that the Lord could show him ______ things. ALL
So not only did the brother of Jared see all the inhabitants of the earth, but he also saw the entire history of the earth. We learn from 2 Nephi 27:10 that he saw and received a revelation of “all things from the foundation of the world to the end”. That’s what you’d find if you could read the sealed portion.
Now to chapter 4
4:2 After Christ truly had showed himself unto his people he commanded that they should be made ____________. MANIFEST. So the people in the Book of Mormon at the time of Christ’s visit got to read what was in the sealed portion. How fortunate for them. I’m jealous
4:4 And there never were ________ things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared. GREATER
The sealed portion has the greatest things ever recorded by man written on them.
4:6 they shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall ________ of their iniquity REPENT
We’re not going to get those writings until we are collectively righteous enough for them.
4:7 And in that day that they shall exercise ________ in me saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, . . . then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw. FAITH.
It’s not until we have faith like the brother of Jared that we will see those things.
4:13 the knowledge which is hid up because of _____________ UNBELIEF
Again, these things are hidden from us because we don’t collectively have sufficient faith for them
4:15 when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief . . . then shall the great and ____________ things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you. MARVELOUS
THE TAKEAWAY
I think the big message here taught by the sealed portion is that the more we fight against God’s word, the less we believe in it, the less we will receive. BUT, the more I believe, the more faith I demonstrate, the more truth I am willing to receive, the more of his word and truth he will give me. It’s kind of cool to think that there is more scripture out there to study. I can’t wait to hopefully someday read and study what’s in the sealed portion. And who knows when that opportunity for all of us will come, but certainly it won’t come until we have, as a church, valued and fully received what he has given us. I think we still have a long to go. But someday, who knows. I really look forward to that.
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