“I will bring you up again out of the depths…” (Ether 2:24)
The Book of Mormon begins and ends (almost the end anyway) with journeys and families. By design, I’m sure, the Lord wants us to see ourselves in these experiences and learn the lessons He has taught those before us. The Jaredites were faithful, and were brought out of the land of their birth to escape the evil there and prevent their language being confounded. The Lord covenanted with them to bring them to a land of promise, where they could serve God and live in peace. Our faith and covenants likewise bring us, symbolically at least, out of the wickedness of the world with promises of our own land of plenty, now and eternally.
As a first step along their journey, the Lord taught them to make barges to cross some smaller bodies of water, and they settled for a time on the seashore. At this point, they were probably feeling pretty comfortable. They had already been led to a beautiful place, away from the wickedness they had left behind, on the beach in a land of plenty. Unfortunately, that comfort led them to be a little lax in their devotion and diligence. When we are comfortable, it is easy to forget our need for God and to become complacent. They needed the reminder that although the Lord had blessed them thus far, He had far more in mind for them. While they were happily playing on the beach, they forgot that He had a future for them beyond anything they could imagine. He reminded them that He would forgive their spiritual laziness this time, but that ‘my Spirit will not always strive with man’ (Ether 2:15) if we fail to seek Him and let Him guide us. We should not get so comfortable where we are that we neglect to continue striving to discover the path He has for us and let the ease lull us into forgetfulness.
After repenting, the Lord directed them to build barges once again. Their journey was not over by far. As they built, they must have recognized that the Lord had prepared them in smaller ways for this big moment. Because they had built before, they knew what to do. Because they had crossed the waters before, they trusted they could do so again. Similarly, the Lord prepares us for what He sees ahead in our lives, that we cannot possibly foresee. Often we do not even recognize the preparation until after the event, but the Lord never leaves us helpless. Either He has prepared us or He will intervene. “He foresaw all the problems, all the disappointments and frustrations, the temptations, and the trials of life; and before the wind ever started to blow, he prepared us to withstand it.” (S. Michael Wilcox, “Walking on Water”)
Not only did He prepare them, He assured them that what they were doing would be sufficient, even when they were buried in waves and tossed about by the sea. He knew it wouldn’t be a soft, breezy kind of journey. He instructed them to build those barges tight. Tight like unto a dish; exceedingly tight; tight in the bottom and sides and end and top and door (Ether 2:17) So tight in every respect, that they need not fear the journey ahead would break up their transport. Because the Lord knew that in order for them to reach their destination in the manner He intended, He would have to cause furious winds to blow them that direction, and He knew that strong winds on the seas would cause storms and waves that would bury them and toss them and crash into them, so He assured them that the vessels He provided would be up to the weight of the journey. ‘I prepare you against these things.’ (Ether 2:25) Likewise, we can trust His provided methods for our journey. Even though He knows that storms and waves will come, He also assures us that the vessels He has provided, if we have followed His instructions, can withstand those things and bring us safely to our destination.
The barges had no air and no light. Although the Lord knew these things, He allowed the brother of Jared to seek answers. He solved one problem for him and invited him to come up with a solution for the second. In seeking for light (literally,) the brother of Jared thought and worked and brought it to the Lord and received abundantly more than he asked for. He may have wished for an easier solution. Why not just give both answers? The Lord desires to give us light, but often it is in our own searching and working that we are prepared to receive and comprehend that light. Without the endeavor to find a solution, the brother of Jared would not have sought the touch of the Lord’s hand for his stones to provide light, and thus would have missed the flood of knowledge he received from his request. Without our own pursuit of light and truth, we may also miss out on opportunities to see His hand and hear His voice. Always, the Lord wants us to have light on our journey: ‘And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.’ (Ether 6:3) He is the source of light because He is the light and in searching for Him, we will find abundance and knowledge and growth.
As they commenced their sail over the vast waters, they ‘commend[ed] themselves unto the Lord their God,’ (Ether 6:4) and although a ‘furious wind flew upon the face of the waters’ and ‘they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves…and also the great…tempests,’ ‘there was no water that could hurt them.’ (Ether 6:4-7) Their vessels were ‘tight like unto a dish’ and they cried unto the Lord when they were ‘encompassed about’ and ‘he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.’ (Ether 6:7) When we entrust ourselves to the Lord on our own journeys, we can know that He will bring us, too, back again on top of the waters, even if much of our time is spent encompassed about.
Finally, we learn that the ‘wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land.’ (Ether 6:8) I’m sure it was frightening to be in the midst of the sea, to have monstrous waves crashing over them and to feel their relatively small barges being tossed around by the elements. They spent nearly a year in those barges traveling by the force of the wind to their promised land. That may have felt like the equivalent of a lifetime! We, too, feel small and tossed about and overwhelmed by the waves and the seas of trouble that sometimes threaten us. It is comforting to know, then, that the winds will never cease to blow us toward our promised land. There will be balmy, breezy days on the water, but there will also be storms and fierce winds. Both kinds of wind are used by a loving Heavenly Father to our good. Every challenge can be overcome or endured with His help and every experience and lesson learned will be to our benefit and glory eternally. We, too, will be ‘brought up again out of the depths’ and led to a beautiful, promised land prepared for us.
