Touch These Stones - Ether 3 - Deliberate Faith

Just a thought about the brother of Jared. Chapter 3 is great.

VV 4-5

And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea. Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this.

I like that the brother of Jared is so deliberate in his faith. He doesn't vacillate or hesitate, but he goes boldly to the throne of grace and doesn't even ask. He just states his level of faith and confidence in the Lord. To embellish a little on what he said adding my own personal expression to it, here is the gist of what he said to the Lord:

"I know You have all power" - "I know You can do anything and You are the most powerful being in the universe. You created the universe! You can do anything! You are God! And you just asked me, the tiny little brother of Jared, what I would have You do. So here is my answer: Touch these stones. Make them shine in darkness. You can do this. Do it."

I love this deliberate command. It isn't bossy or inappropriate. It is the response to a request from God. And his response is bold and full of confidence in the Lord's ability to do anything.

I want this same confident and deliberate faith. So I can come boldly to the throne of grace (like Paul teaches) and say to the Lord: "I know thou hast all power," followed by my deliberate response. We are all crossing a dark ocean and need to have light in our vessels.

Possible deliberate responses could include:

• Heal me
• Change my carnal nature to eternal nature
• Touch my heart
• Fill me with light
• Pour down pure intelligence upon me in revelations
• Endow me with further light and knowledge
• Fill me with Charity
• Make me holy

Don't get me wrong. He was humble. He asked for forgiveness for his possible ignorance. He repented before coming to the Lord. And he showed pre-prayer, faith-action (see verse 3): Behold these things which I have molten out of the rock. He went to all the trouble of mining and chipping and melting and molding - all with faith that this was his going to be his response. Then he showed deliberate faith. 

Touch these stones, and I know they will glow. 

And the Lord touched them. And the stones became lights.

This is the power of deliberate faith.