Enos’s brief record is a fascinating one. He writes likely many decades after his wrestle with God. Yet, one can still see how tenderly Enos clings to the promise that his people’s record will be preserved and restored unto his brethren.

Enos asked that the records be preserved in the hypothetical case that the Nephites fall into wickedness and are destroyed. At the time when Enos prayed, he likely asked the Lord at a time of relative peace and stability. In Jacob’s record we catch glimpses of growing pride and wickedness, but we do not see anything resembling what Enos described.

“And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand. And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them”

From Enos’s youth until he records on the plates, his greatest fears have come to fruition. Not only are his people wicked but they are in constant warfare. And the precious plates with the scriptures and the historical records have been targeted for destruction by the Lamanites.

In this dark moment, Enos likely found great comfort in the promises of the Lord. I know that in my darkest moments I likewise have thought back upon the moment when I gained a testimony and I’ve reflected time and time again on the Lord’s promises. Like Enos, I have again and again feasted on the sure promises of the Lord. I know he will not let me down. Like Enos, I know that God cannot lie.



Continue reading at the original source →