With the end of the Nephites' story, Moroni still had room on the plates, so he gave us the story of the Jaredites. I'm grateful for what he wrote, but I wish he'd thought differently about including the creation story. While we have an account in the Bible and two in the Pearl of Great Price, I would love to have read Ether's version. Sigh.
The standout message in this chapter though is the powerful story about prayer. I wonder though, why Jared didn't pray? Why did he feel the need to go to his brother instead? Yet he did and that's what we have. But here is the lesson...
Three times Jared asks his brother to cry to the Lord for help. Each time he does and every time, God answered. The first is to ask the Lord to not confound them and their families so they could still understand one another. Which makes me wonder, did they know it was going to happen by revelation? Or, was the process such, they could see it happening in real-time and wanted to avoid it? I don't know, but either scenario is plausible.
The second time was to extend that blessing not only to their families and kin but to their friends as well. Again the Lord granted their request.
The third time was to ask... "if you're going to drive us out of the land, where do you want us to go? And if so, could we go some place nice?"
In reply, God says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "You are going to be scattered, but since you asked, I will lead you to a choice land and there I will make you into a great people." And we'll see, that's exactly what happened.
My take away is this, it never hurts to ask God. You just have to be willing to do what He says when He answers, if you want His answers to continue coming.
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