"And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.
And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters."
Ether 6:5-7
I think this is interesting. We usually focus on the first part of the story where the brother of Jared makes the barges and solves the problems inherent in their design, especially the light problem. The journey after though sounds really challenging. Verse 4 tells us that they had flocks and herds with them, and verse 11 that they were traveling for 344 days. I have no idea how big those barges were in terms of living space, but the whole being alternately under or on top of the sea and not having a way to look outside... sounds scary. I also worry about the smell, and the fresh water they would have needed for a year on the ocean, etc. Seriously, going on this journey blind, not even knowing what land they were going to... that is some amazing faith.
I also think that kind of faith is probably a necessary lesson in our lives. We can't always know how things are going to work out beforehand, and there is an awful lot of ambiguity in the human experience. In order to get through it, we can't rely wholly on our logic, because we just don't have all the information that we need. God can solve the problems that we can't, and can answer questions that are impossible to answer otherwise. Taking those leaps of faith is how we learn and grow and build up enough trust in God to commit our whole lives to God's way, and become able to fulfil our potential.
Today, let's learn to take the leap of faith and trust in God. Let's move forward along God's path even when it is dark and stormy, trusting in God that he is leading us to the promised land. :)
And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters."
Ether 6:5-7
I think this is interesting. We usually focus on the first part of the story where the brother of Jared makes the barges and solves the problems inherent in their design, especially the light problem. The journey after though sounds really challenging. Verse 4 tells us that they had flocks and herds with them, and verse 11 that they were traveling for 344 days. I have no idea how big those barges were in terms of living space, but the whole being alternately under or on top of the sea and not having a way to look outside... sounds scary. I also worry about the smell, and the fresh water they would have needed for a year on the ocean, etc. Seriously, going on this journey blind, not even knowing what land they were going to... that is some amazing faith.
I also think that kind of faith is probably a necessary lesson in our lives. We can't always know how things are going to work out beforehand, and there is an awful lot of ambiguity in the human experience. In order to get through it, we can't rely wholly on our logic, because we just don't have all the information that we need. God can solve the problems that we can't, and can answer questions that are impossible to answer otherwise. Taking those leaps of faith is how we learn and grow and build up enough trust in God to commit our whole lives to God's way, and become able to fulfil our potential.
Today, let's learn to take the leap of faith and trust in God. Let's move forward along God's path even when it is dark and stormy, trusting in God that he is leading us to the promised land. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment