Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Ether 12–15 – Autumn Dickson

Valuable Weakness

by Autumn Dickson

For the chapters this week, we go back and forth a bit between Moroni speaking directly and his abridgment of the Jaredite record. Whenever Moroni is directly speaking (and this is true of the chapters that we read in Mormon as well), we find that Moroni is really concerned about his weakness in writing. He talks about it plenty in Mormon, and he brings it up again during these chapters in Ether. He did not believe himself to be a strong writer, and this was probably exacerbated by the fact that he was simultaneously dealing with a myriad of personal problems.

But it’s beautiful that Moroni was meek and open about his weakness. Because he chose to be vulnerable and talk to the Lord about it, the Lord was able to teach all of us specific principles about weaknesses and their place in the Plan of Salvation.

Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

The Lord taught us that He gave weakness to us, and then the Lord taught us that He can make weak things strong.

He gave us weakness

There is a phrase in verse 27 that’s super important. The Lord proclaims that He gave weakness to us. It’s important to understand that weakness can stem from a lot of places. For example, when we fall into temptation and sin, we carve out a weakness that can last for a long time afterwards. Not all weakness is given directly by the Lord, but He does clearly teach us that giving weakness is something He does.

This is significant. Not only does the Lord allow for weakness and take care of weakness through His atoning sacrifice, but He also gave weakness. We often look down on weakness, especially in ourselves. We resent our own weaknesses for inhibiting us from truly being able to serve the Lord.

But here this verse is teaching us that the Lord gave it to us. Like a gift. How does this change how you view your weakness?

This didn’t necessarily make sense to me as a teenager. If the Lord is trying to make us like Him, wouldn’t He give us strengths when we ask for them? I feel like I’m still trying to fully wrap my head around the concept, but I believe that the only way for us to truly develop specific Christlike characteristics is to have to earn them the hard way. Let me give an example.

If I were looking to develop more compassion, I could pray for it. It would be easy for the Lord to just “give” me extra compassion, and I believe that sometimes He does that. Perhaps I need compassion for someone in my ward that I don’t get along with. Let’s say the Lord chooses to bless me with that temporary compassion, my eyes are opened to the reality of this ward member, and I’m changed because of the experience and feel a desire to show more compassion in the future. Sometimes, the Lord gives us strengths.

But sometimes, when we pray for something like compassion, He answers us by giving weaknesses. The Lord loves to support us and teach us and give us what we need to develop into a Being like Him. Part of developing into what He is will require us gaining the experiences we need to be compassionate without His constant, direct interference. To stick with our same example, He wants us to learn to be innately compassionate and not just lean on His compassion. When the Lord opens our eyes and gives us some of His compassion, it can be very powerful. It can be just as powerful when He answers that plea with weakness.

Sometimes I get depressed, and there have definitely been a million times in my life when I’ve resented it for being a stumbling block when I’ve been trying to do what the Lord wants. It makes it harder to feel connected to my husband, and I get testy with him. It makes it harder for me to engage with my kids when I want to hide in a closet. It makes it harder to find messages in the scriptures and teach because my own mind is my stumbling block.

I can’t say for sure whether this is one of those weaknesses that Heavenly Father gave me, but whether or not He directly gave it to me, He definitely allowed for it.

It is very easy to see how it’s a weakness. I can name a million times that it interfered with who I wanted to be. On the flip side, it’s taught me things that I couldn’t have learned in any other way. It’s given me opportunities to develop characteristics that will serve me well as I engage in the same work that He is engaged in.

I have had moments where He has given me something beyond myself, and it has blessed and taught me something. I’ve also had plenty of significant moments where He answered my pleas with weaknesses that pushed me to develop in ways I could not have developed in any other way. Because of those weaknesses, I have benefited in ways I couldn’t have benefited otherwise.

Weak things strong

The Lord gave us weakness, but He also promised to make weak things become strong unto us. I think there are a million different ways He can answer this promise. Let’s talk about three specific ones.

I used to believe it only meant that He would give me strength beyond my own to overcome the obstacle. To put it in more concrete terms, I believed that it meant He would take the difficulty out of it. I would be given a moment of time in which I operated off His goodness, rather than my own. As we’ve discussed previously, He does this sometimes depending on what we need.

I was depressed last year as I headed off to FSY to teach. I remember sitting in some of the meetings and wondering how on earth I was going to get through it all because I felt so numb. How was I supposed to bring the Spirit when I couldn’t feel it? How was I supposed to help these kids feel valued when I was so dissociated that nothing felt valuable to me? However, with each class I taught, I watched as He lifted me out of those numb feelings, helped me engage while I needed to, and then removed that extra support as my classes would end. Sometimes, the Lord fulfills our promise to strengthen our weaknesses in the most obvious way.

But other times, He makes our weaknesses strong in more subtle ways. We can turn to Moroni to find a solid example of another way that the Lord fulfills His promise to make weak things strong. Moroni is praying to the Lord about his weakness in writing.

Ether 12:25-26

25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.

26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;

Moroni was worried that us Gentiles would mock and twist his words. This obviously happens plenty in our day. We see it all the time. People love taking phrases or verses out of The Book of Mormon and twisting those words into something they’re not.

I don’t write canonized scripture, but I do write messages about Jesus Christ. I write messages, and I put them on the internet where they are permanently available. I’ve looked over past messages I’ve written, and I’ve realized that there was so much that I didn’t understand yet. I’ve looked over past messages and found everything from silly errors about timelines to messages that could be interpreted too far in one direction and be considered completely false doctrine.

I have been weak. I am weak, and I will continue to be weak.

And while that weakness is embarrassing and painful sometimes, I have also been strengthened by it. Having my personal messages out there permanently in the ether have made me overwhelmingly aware of those weaknesses, but they have also made me far more meek than I used to be. These specific weaknesses have helped me understand and love the prophets. It has helped me understand that their words hold truth but can also be widely applied depending on circumstances. It has helped me understand that they’re trying to reach many different kinds of audiences with different needs. It has helped me understand that making an error doesn’t mean they don’t know Christ. And because I am more meek than I used to be, I gain so much more from their words.

In this way, the Lord didn’t directly strengthen my weakness in writing. He utilized my weakness to develop my meekness. He gave me weakness, I became more meek, and this is a strength.

Yet another way He turns our weaknesses into strengths is also more subtle. My husband, Conner, has a unique and strong personality. He’s gifted, like incredibly gifted. He’s the most brilliant man I know; we’re talking autism-genius scale. It’s a good thing he doesn’t listen to these, or he would kill me for saying so.

Anyway, I have watched people look at Conner and misunderstand him. They have wondered why he won’t just let go of things or why he can’t let things lie or why he can’t be silent about things that bother him. They see him grip tightly to things that complicate his life, and they think he’s crazy for it. Because I have a front row seat, I see it a little differently.

Some of his stronger characteristics have definitely caused him problems in his life. They have made certain aspects of his life more difficult than they needed to be. But in the same breath, I have seen those same strong characteristics be the making of him. I