The brother of Jared took his 16 stones to the Lord and asked Him to touch them so they would provide light in the barges as they crossed the sea. He expressed his faith in the Lord and His ability to do this thing.
"And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear." (Ether 3:6)
He had such great faith in the Lord that, according to Moroni, "he could not be kept from beholding within the veil". He was so humble, that his first reaction was to fall down before the Lord struck with fear lest the Lord should smite him.
He learned some things about the Lord and the nature of His being. I think the Lord decided to test the brother of Jared just a little bit. He, knowing everything, asked a question after the brother of Jared said he'd seen the finger of the Lord: "Sawest thou more than this?" (Ether 3:9)
It must have been pretty humbling to see the Lord's finger, and then to have a conversation with Him. One might normally expect a humble guy like the brother of Jared, who fell down in fear and faith when he saw the Lord's finger, to say to himself "wow, what a neat experience to see the finger of the Lord!" But his response to the Lord's question kinda gives me the chills every time I read it.
"And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me." (Ether 3:10)
I mean, can you imagine, in the presence of the Lord to tell Him to show Himself! That's bold!
See, I think faith gives us that boldness. I've heard it said that faith is the opposite of fear. I mean, fear isn't just "gone" when we have faith. But think about it. A fear of heights is essentially just a lack of faith in whatever you are climbing to support you and that it will somehow fail to keep you up, and you will fall. Does this mean that when you are high up, you don't feel a little bit of adrenaline start running through your system? No, but when you have faith, it becomes so much easier to do that particular thing.
When we believe, as the brother of Jared did, we can have that kind of boldness too. This is something I need to do better, to trust in the Lord so I can be bold and get out of my comfort zone, and just go out and minister to those around me.
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