We Can Be Like Enos

Enos is the fourth spiritual leaders whom we meet in the Book of Mormon, after Lehi, Nephi, and his father Jacob.  He is unique in that he is the first who did not see the Lord, at least as far as we have it recorded.  Lehi saw the Savior in vision as recorded in only the ninth verse of the book: "And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day" (1 Nephi 1:9).  Nephi later recorded his own vision of the Savior in 1 Nephi 11, and then he recorded as well, "[Isaiah] verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him" (2 Nephi 11:2-3). This gives great weight to the testimonies of Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob knowing that they indeed saw the Lord.  We also have recorded many other great spiritual manifestations that they received, including spiritual dreams that Lehi received (1 Nephi 2:1, 1 Nephi 8), angels that visited Nephi and Jacob (1 Nephi 3:29, 2 Nephi 10:3), the visions Nephi had (1 Nephi 11-14), the Liahona they possessed that displayed the writings and directions of the Lord, and in general great miraculous events wrought by the power of God.  The latter includes Nephi breaking the bands that tied him down, shocking his brethren with the power of God, and Jacob showing forth a sign from heaven in Sherem.  All of this points to the incredible spirituality and faith of Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob and highlights that we should listened to their words given their spiritual resumes.  They were men of God who communed with the most High and had a portion of His power.  

And yet, we may get discouraged that we can't reach the level of spiritual attainment of a Lehi, Nephi, or Jacob and be frustrated with our own progress because we aren't like them.  If so, we can take encouragement from the story of Enos, who at least at first did not have these same powerful spiritual manifestations.  At the start of his story, the text clearly tells us that he didn't see or hear the Lord with physical senses.  After praying all day and night, he heard the voice of the Lord in his "mind" forgiving him of his sins (v10). He didn't see a vision or get carried away to a mountaintop or even hear an audible voice; rather, the Lord spoke to His mind.  When he asked how it was done that he could be forgiven of his sins, the Lord responded highlighting his lack of great spiritual manifestations, "Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen" (v8).  In reading his story, we see that it isn't required for us to see the Savior personally or have visits of angels or call down the power of God from heaven in order to commune with Him.  We may not feel like we can for now reach Nephi's level of spirituality, but we can all be like Enos: we can pray with all our heart and hear His voice in our minds.  Enos's example is simple and repeatable for all of us: we can "pray unto him with many long strugglings" for ourselves and for others (v11).  We can "pray and labor with all diligence" like Enos as we seek forgiveness for ourselves and the blessings of God for our brethren (v12).  And when our efforts sometimes fail, like the missionary efforts of Enos did towards the Lamanites, we can still "cry unto him continually" knowing that the Lord hears us even in our weakness (v15).  Ultimately Enos may have had some of the same visions or visits by angels as his predecessors, but to me his final verse suggests that he still awaited the day when he would see the Savior with his natural eyes: "And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father" (v27).  We can take hope too that even if we don't have the type of powerful spiritual manifestations as the prophets of old in mortality, if we have faith in Him and pray and work like Enos, we will one day hear His voice and "see his face with pleasure."