Ether 12

Ether 12

27 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.

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon! It gives me hope that I can change and improve - that my weaknesses are conquerable.  The requirements are humility and faith in Christ. 

Chapter 12 of Ether is known for its insights on Faith. Moroni is writing in this chapter, btw (not Ether). What do you learn about faith from any of these verses, and what themes do you see?:

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. 

12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith. 

18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.

The main lesson I see is that faith has to come first! It comes before answers, before miracles, and before happy endings. Basically, God wants to see your faith before He can deliver on your request, whatever it may be.

So I ask myself, what have I been asking of God? And have I been demonstrating faith first before expecting an answer or a miracle?

Moroni gives a lot of examples of miracles in the Book of Mormon that were brought about by people’s faith. If this has been your first or second time reading the Book of Mormon, you probably don't recall all of these names and stories. This is a great time to use the footnotes, which will lead you back to where the original stories are found (p.s. if you’re reading the online version of the Book of Mormon and you don’t see any footnotes in the text, there is a setting toward the top right of the page that says “show footnotes” or “hide footnotes” that you might need to click):

13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the ^aprison to tumble to the earth. (the footnote to “prison” takes you to Alma 14:26-29) 

14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the ^achange upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost. (The footnote to “change” takes you to Helaman 5:50-52…etc.) 

15 Behold, it was the faith of ^aAmmon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.  

17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should ^anot taste of death… 

19 And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. 

20 And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother of Jared; for so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his ^afinger he could not hide it from the sight of the brother of Jared.

And then Moroni bids farewell (not realizing he’s going to have time to write a whole other book –the Book of Moroni – to add after Ether). These are powerful words:

38 And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. 39 And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things; 41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.