Faith and The Power of Choice

***

This morning I was reading the story of Enos, who goes out in the wilderness and thinks about the things his father had taught him about Christ.  As he pondered he decided he really, really wanted to know God, and to be pure before Him.  So he prayed, and prayed, and prayed -- for hours and hours.  He did not give up.  He poured out his whole soul to God.  He told God everything.  And finally Enos hears God's voice telling him he's forgiven and will be blessed and He knows God doesn't lie.  Then Enos asks an important question.  "Lord, how it is done?"  How is he forgiven?  Enos is told that it is "Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen."  He is told that "Thy faith hath made thee whole"  (Enos vs. 8)

This line struck me differently this morning than it has before.  It doesn't say Enos is made whole through Christ's Atonement, which would be true.  It says it is because of Enos' faith in Christ.  Enos chose to believe in Christ.  God gave us agency, but I think we don't often realize what power there is in agency.  If we read the scriptures we can read about God's love for us, but we have to choose to believe it.  He will not make us believe it.  He will send us tender mercies, but He won't make us recognize them as tender mercies.  He can point out that His voice speaks truth, and that we should believe His voice above anyone else, but He will not make us believe that voice.  He will tell us He listens to us, but we actually have to choose to believe He does.

We are told that miracles come after faith.  After we choose to believe God's love for us, we can have the miracle of beginning to see it.  If we choose to believe He sends us tender mercies every day, and we look for them, the little miracles in our days will become more evident.  We can read His words that guide our life, but until we choose to believe them above anyone else, and to find our answers in them, we will not have the miracle of courage that we need to act on those things.  We can pray, and feel like our prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back at us and still choose to believe that He is listening, and that He hears.  We can pray with our prayers feeling that way for a long time, but I know from experience that if we do not give up, in time He will provide the miracle that lets us knows He hears.

When we choose to have faith in Christ, who we have not seen or heard, then like Enos we will eventually understand that it is our faith in Christ that made us whole.

***Picture by Robert T. Barrett used by permission from churchofjesuschrist.org