The Faith of the Brother of Jared: Work

May 2, 2018

Continuing my thoughts from yesterday, in addition to his powerful prayers, there is another theme I see in the life of the brother of Jared that shows how he exhibited the great faith that the Lord extolled.  He went to work following the Lord’s instructions and trying to get answers from Him.  James teaches us that “faith without works is dead,” and the brother of Jared showed us his great faith by his willingness to work hard at following the Lord’s instructions (James 2:26).  For example, when the Lord answered his prayers about preserving their language He said, “Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind….  And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward” (Ether 1:41-42).  The brother of Jared went to work and did just that: “Jared and his brother, and their families… went down into the valley which was northward… with their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female, of every kind” (Ether 2:1).  When the Lord continually commanded him to move forward into the wilderness, he did it: “And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord” (Ether 2:6).  When the Lord spoke, he went to work doing exactly what was commanded. 

               When the brother of Jared was at the ocean the Lord commanded them to prepare to again move on in these words: “Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built.”  He showed his faith by doing just that: “And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord.”  And their work was of the highest quality: four times we are told the barges they built were “tight like unto a dish,” meaning I believe that they were so well done that they would let any water in.  When this was finished the brother of Jared reported: “O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me” (Ether 2:16-18).  He knew how to work to put into practice the instructions of the Lord.  The next task he had to do was figure out how to get light.  To accomplish this he “did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass,” and he took this before the Lord (Ether 3:1).  He didn’t just grab the first stones that he found and ask the Lord to touch them but instead he used first to create the purest, clearest stones he could.  He knew the miracle would be the Lord, but he wanted to get the stones as close to the final result he hoped for—stones that glowed with light—as he could.  I don’t know if he made glass like we make it today, but to put it into perspective, one has to heat sand to 1700 degrees Celsius in order to turn sand into glass.  The brother of Jared must have really gone to work in order to heat up his stones and turn them into transparent glass before taking them before the Lord.  Surely his willingness to work hard at every task the Lord gave him was part of the reason the Lord commended his great faith.