Keep Thou My Feet

[I wrote this a long time ago, and I know I had more insights to add, but it's been so long that I can't remember them anymore--which is rather unfortunate.]

Ether 2

22 And he cried again unto the Lord saying: O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?

  23 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have ^awindows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

  24 For behold, ye shall be as a ^awhale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the ^bwinds have gone forth ^cout of my mouth, and also the ^drains and the floods have I sent forth.

  25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? 

I thought that verse 25 has some very interesting things to think about. One thing is that Christ was preparing the people of Jared for the journey across the ocean. He gave them many instructions about how to build the boats so that they would survive the waters and protect the people. The lack of light in the vessels was not an oversight on Christ's part. He didn't leave the light out and figure the people would deal with it somehow. He recognized that they would need light, and he wanted them to have light. That was something that was important to Christ.

Without help from Christ, these people could not have crossed these waters. The brother of Jared recognized that it would not work without Christ, and he also recognized that he needed Christ to do something so that they would have light. I think it's interesting that Christ expected him to do some of the work to find a source of light, that the brother of Jared had to come up with an idea and then ask Christ to do it.

One thing we can learn from this is that we cannot handle our trials without Christ's help. He knows the things that we need to do and understand so that we can make it through our trials and tasks, and he will prepare us for those things if we will pray and be open to his help. And just like with the Jaredites, he doesn't want us to begin our journeys without light--on the contrary, the light is very important, and he wants to provide us a way to have light to guide us and comfort us.

Just as Christ provided light for the Jaredites, He will provide light for us when we are "swallowed up in the depths of the sea." He wants us to ask for it. He wants us to turn to him. That is the only way to receive that light. There have been times in my life when I have felt in despair, and when I decided to turn to Christ and ask for his mercy and understanding, I was filled with light.