The commandment to get blessings

Ether Chapter 3 is becoming one of my favorite chapters in scripture.  I cited it in a previous post on another topic.  Today, I was struck by verses two and three.

2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.
3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.

I think these two verses are almost universally applicable to almost any situation we face in life.

In this life we are bound to go through trials (floods).  Like the Jaredites were commanded to take their ships across an unknown sea to an unknown land, so are we commanded to take our bodies into this unknown world that is full of strife and temptation.  In the world we will be weak.  Our nature is, well, natural--evil continually, as BOJ puts it.

Yet in that situation, we are commanded to pray for blessings.  The Lord wants to bless us, and commands us to "call upon" so we can receive the blessings he has in store for us.  Even as we suffer for iniquity, the Lord is with us, ready to ensure that we "shall not go forth across this raging deep in darkness."

We may feel unworthy at times to ask for the Lord's help and blessings because of our "weakness" and "iniquity."  But Jesus's favorite thing to do is forgive people.

I have gone through my hardest trials (so far) in the last year and was encompassed about by floods.  I felt to drown.  I prayed as BOJ does in these verses.  "O Lord, look upon me in pity and turn away thin anger."

"I don't deserve what I'm asking for.  I've been weak and unworthy.  But please do not suffer that I shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness."

The Lord stands ready to take whatever things we have and touch them to make them shine (v 4) and guide us through the trials we face.  The Lord wants to give us those blessings, and in fact has commanded us to pray for them and receive them.

Let's get to praying.