Ether 12:23-27 -- On Powerful and Mighty Words and Weak things Becoming Strong

"And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;
And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.
Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.
And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Ether 12:23-27


I enjoyed this today for several reasons:

• Even Moroni stressed about what people would think, and God helped comfort him in that regard.
• I love the idea of being "mighty in writing" like the Brother of Jared.  I mean he moved a mountain with faith, but Moroni is admiring his writing.  I would love to be able to read that someday.  Now I just have to learn the Jaredite language... or obtain the gift of tongues. :)
• Similarly, I like the idea that the Nephites used words that were so "powerful and great" that they couldn't write them.  It would be cool to hear a Nephite speech.  I also wonder if that is why the Nephites were always falling down at spiritual moments... did their words have a physical *and* spiritual effect?  Ours can too, but I've never seen fainting as a missionary or in church, so ... are we stronger, are our words less powerful, or none of the above and something else I have never thought of? :)
• I love, love, love the last verse about weaknesses, and that God gives them to us for a reason, and they help to teach us.  We don't typically enjoy weakness, but learning humility is worth all of the frustration.  Humility goes a long way with God, in spiritual things and in earthly things.
• I also love that God will turn our weaknesses into strengths as we are humble and have faith.  I know this one is easy to doubt, but I know it works, and am so thankful that it does, and that God can work mighty changes in us.  The idea of God's grace being sufficient for all men, as long as we do our part, is powerful.

Today, let's turn to the Lord in our weaknesses and work on our humility and our faith, so that God can work his grace in our lives.  Also, we might want to work on our powerful speech and mighty writing, just because those things are super cool, and will help us spread the good word. :)