Ether 3

(Below is a list of questions that help me think about each verse as I read it. The numbers represent the verses in the chapter.)

As we humbly call upon the Lord, he will answer us according to our faith and his will. As we exercise faith in the Lord, we will grow closer to him.

How do you feel when you have a problem, go to the Lord for answers, and then don't feel like the Lord really gives us a solution? What do you do about it?

"If you want to get revelation, do your homework… The good works that really matter requiring the help of heaven. And the help of heaven requires working past the point of fatigue so far that only the meek and lowly will keep going long enough. The Lord doesn't put us through this test just to give us a grade; he does it because the process will change us. " – Henry B Eyring, To Draw Closer to God, page 94–95

2. How does this prayer illustrate that the brother of Jared understands the plan of salvation? Do your prayers in anyway illustrate a similar understanding? How does remembering and understanding the plan of salvation help us to approach God more humbly and sincerely in prayer?

3. What divine attribute does the brother of Jared display as he petitions the Lord concerning the stones which he had prepared? What words would you use to describe his character?

4. In a day where there was no modern conveniences of electrical lights, where do you think of the brother of Jared came up with the idea of shining stones that would emit light? What impresses you about the brother of Jared's efforts to solve the problem of having light in the barges?

5. What evidence do you find in this chapter that the brother of Jared had faith that the Lord could help him solve his problem? Even though the brother of Jared went to great effort to molten the stones how effective would his efforts have been at providing light without the lord’s help?

"Surely God, as well as the reader, feel something very striking in the childlike innocence and fervor of this man's faith.' Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this'. Perhaps there is no more powerful, single line of faith spoken by man in Scripture… However uncertain the prophet is about his own ability, he has no uncertainty about God's power ". – Jeffrey R Holland, 1995

6-8. What might it have been like to be in the situation described in this verse? Do you think the brother of Jared would have had this experience if the Lord had simply handed him 16 illuminated stones when he first asked in chapter 2? Why or why not?

9. Why was the brother of Jared able to see the finger of the Lord? How might you show face in the Lord as you seek for the lords help and guidance in times of need? What experiences have you had in your life that has led you to know of the truthfulness of the principle that as we humbly call upon the Lord, he will answer us according to our faith and his will?

"But if you had faith to go out to the graveyard and raise up scores of the dead, that alone would not make you Latter-day Saints, neither if the visions of your mind were opened so as to see the finger of God. What will? Keeping the commandments of the Lord, to walk humbly before your God, and before one another, to cease to do evil and learns to do well, and to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; then you are a Latter-day Saint, whether you have visions or not."  – Brigham Young, Journal of discourses, 3:211

What experiences may have helped increase the faith of the brother of Jared in the Lord? How do you think these experiences prepared him to exercise such a exceeding faith? What is an experience in your life that has increased your faith in the Lord? How did that experience prepare you to exercise even greater faith in the future?

10-12. Do you have enough faith in the Lord to commit to believe and follow what he will reveal to you even before he reveals it?

"Preparatory faith is formed by experiences in the past – by the known, which provides a basis for belief. But redemptive faith must often the exercise toward experiences in the future – the unknown, which provides an opportunity for the miraculous.… Faith like that of the brother of Jared, precedes the miracle and the knowledge. He had to believe before God spoke. He had to act before the ability to complete that action was apparent. He had to commit to the complete experience in advance of even the first segment of its realization. Faith is to agree unconditionally – and in advance – to what ever conditions God may require in both the near and distant future." – Jeffrey R Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 1997

13-20. What did the brother of Jared learn about the Savior from this remarkable experience?

19. What do we learn about faith from this verse? How can you work to ward building such a deep faith?

"Building faith is often preceded by shaping circumstances, benefiting those who are in a preparation to hear the word. These beginnings require at least a desire to believe and then comes the exercising of a particle of faith… Experience by experience, faith can yield to knowledge in that thing, meaning the particularized verifications of gospel truths. It was so with the brother of Jared: "He had faith no longer, for he knew. "… While faith is not a perfect knowledge, it brings a deep trust in God whose knowledge is perfect!" – Neal A Maxwell, GC, April 1991

21-22. What does this verse teach about the sacredness of spiritual experiences?

23-24. What language did the brother of Jared record his experience in? What did the Lord do to prepare the way for his experience to be brought forth in the day and time that the Lord desired?

"We are assured that the Lord is in our midst. He will lead us along. He will stand by us. By knowing that these everlasting things are firmly in place, can we not then, better endure irritations?… Some actually question God's capacity, this in the face of his assurance to us: 'I am able to do my own work.' Therefore, murmuring can be another form of mocking God's plan of salvation.… The Scriptures specifically advise us that all things must come to pass in their time.… God accomplishes things in the process of time. This calls for our patience. Moreover, doing things in process of time is often his way of either preserving our agency or of providing us with needed opportunity." – Neil A Maxwell, GC, October 1989 

25. What did the brother of Jared see in vision?

"I say that when the brother of Jared went on the mount, the Lord revealed the history of the earth to him from the beginning to the end thereof, but we do not have it. But when the Nephites became righteous, after the visit of the son of God, The Lord revealed that record to them, and then when they began to fall away, he took the record away and hid it up… The Lord has promised that we can have that hidden record when we are prepared to receive it." – Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith, GC, October 1961

26. What promise do we have from the Lord for a firm and complete belief in him?

27. Why is it so important for us to trust in the Lord's timing?

28. What are the two stones that were sealed up with the Jaredite record?