Saturday, May 18, 2013

When the Brother of Jared Notices Some Problems With the Barges, Ether 2:16-19

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Two Sundays ago our stake had stake conference, and Elder Roberts of the 70 shared a scripture insight about the brother of Jared that I hadn’t noticed before and which I thought it was definitely worth sharing.
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.
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.
18 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me.
19 And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish. (Ether 2:16-19)
After the brother of Jared built the barges as the Lord told him, he went to the Lord to report.  “I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me,” he says, and then he points out there are some problems with the barges.  No light, no way to steer, and no air! 

Elder Roberts asked us all, “When do you think the brother of Jared figured out those problems existed?”  Of course, we all thought to ourselves, As he was building them.  Elder Roberts then made the point that even though the brother of Jared noticed the problems as he was building, he didn’t stop building.  He kept going, finishing the work he had been commanded to do.

I was very much impressed by this because I am far too likely to quit when I notice problems with a plan, on account of thinking there is no point in continuing if there are major flaws.  Instead, the brother of Jared built the barges as he was told, and then took the problems to the Lord for help.  He didn’t give up.  

On a lighter note...
jaredite barge

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was actually asking myself the same questions.Why go ahead to finish building the barges when there is air,light and steering problems ,you can even add space,how was everyone and everything going to fit in.Now I got my answer.