In a recent video on social media, President Jeffrey R. Holland shared a sentence from scripture that he loves and called “a terrific line.” The sentence comes from Ether chapter 3 in which the Lord asks the brother of Jared, “Believest thou the words which I shall speak?”
President Holland points out that the Lord isn’t asking the brother of Jared if he believes the words the Lord spoke in the past. Nor is He asking if the brother of Jared believes the words the Lord is speaking right now.
“[The Lord is asking,] will you believe the words I will speak?” President Holland says. “What a … quick examination of faith.”
Believing in What the Lord Will Speak
President Holland shared how this sentence inspired a young woman to be baptized. The young woman was “very bright” and “very committed” to her new faith, but her family did not understand her decision. She was hurting over the trouble her desire to be baptized was causing in her family and almost decided to postpone her baptism.
But then she remembered Ether chapter 3. She, like the brother of Jared, had received a testimony and needed to keep going to hear more of the Lord’s words in the future. With that assurance, she knew she could not put off her baptism. We, too, need to believe in the words the Lord will continue to speak.
“I want you to believe the words the Lord has spoken, is speaking, and will speak in these latter days,” President Holland says. “We better believe them. We’ll need them in a world tossed and torn, and people worried and divided and confused. We need to believe what the Lord will speak soon and always, till the Savior comes.”
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More from Jeffrey R. Holland
Among the many names of Christ is the Day Star—the sun—that “shineth in a dark place until the day dawn ... in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). Our lives will have difficult periods, which may go on for days, months, or even years. But in all of it, somehow, not only when He comes again but also during the anticipation of His coming, we can rest assured that His light will guide us unfailingly through. This book reminds us of the promise that, if we wait for it and watch for it and want it badly enough, our Day Star will most certainly arise in our hearts. Available at Deseret Book and deseretbook.com.
