Enos 1:2

[pam]

Enos 1Â*

2 And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.

Quotes for Discussion

“Wrestle which I had before God”

In answer to my first prayer, no answer came. The faith was there, I felt, to the extent that I could exert it. The need was there, I felt certainly no doubt about that, but was the worthiness? I could always think of something, as I prayed night after night without an answer,…and so I continued to pray, feeling that when I could make myself worthy of an answer, I would get it. It was after I had been praying nightly for five years that the whole family…attended a Sunday School entertainment. My class rendered its number, followed by another that sang, and I remember some of the words of that song: “Keep on asking, God will answer by and by.” To me that was a revelation. I kept on praying. Some four years later, in the latter part of the month of August, 1887, in my nineteenth year, after I had been praying nightly for nine long years with all the earnestness of my soul for this special blessing, I was alone in the bedroom, and I said, half aloud, “O Father, wilt thou not hear me?” I was beginning to get discouraged. Then, brethren, something happened. The most glorious experience that I have received came. In answer to my question I heard as distinctly as anything I ever heard in my life the short, simple word: “Yes.” Simultaneously my whole being, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, was filled with the most joyous feeling of elation, of peace and certainty that I could imagine a human being could experience. I sprang from my e, and jumped as high as I could, and shouted: “O Father, I thank thee.” At last an answer had come. I knew it.

Joseph F. Merrill, in Conference Report, Apr. 1944 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1944], 151-152

Some prayers are expressions of gratitude. Others are simple requests like those asking for a blessing on the food. Still others are heartfelt cries for help. Of these kinds of prayers, Jesus commanded us to pray having “a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ.” (Moroni 10:4.) Patricia T. Holland observes: “We are women now, not children, and we are expected to pray with maturity. The words most often used to describe urgent, prayerful labor are wrestle, plead, cry, and hunger. In some sense, prayer may be the hardest work we ever will engage in, and perhaps it should be.” (Ensign, Oct. 1987, p. 31.)

Cited in the Visiting Teaching Message “Remember Him through Prayer,” Ensign, July 1990, p. 62

The story of Enos teaches us that there is a price to pay both in effort and attitude before we can receive forgiveness of our sins. Enos said: “I will tell you of the wrestle I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins” (Enos 1:2). Enos’ wrestle before God was a spiritual struggle which contains lessons that can apply to all people who seek forgiveness through the Atonement. In many cases, this wrestle contains the following four elements:

(a) A wrestle with sorrow. Repentant persons experience deep disappointment in knowing that their sinful lives have offended God. This sorrow is intensified as they confront the great disparity between their sins and the standards which God has set.

(b) A wrestle with guilt. As these persons accept the fact that they have sinned and humble themselves, they will wrestle for a restoration of peace to their souls and the return of the Holy Ghost, which has withdrawn. President Spencer W. Kimball related: “There must be a consciousness of guilt. It cannot be brushed aside. It must be acknowledged and not rationalized away….There must be a pricking of conscience, perhaps sleepless hours, eyes that are wet, for as Alma says: “none but the truly penitent are saved’” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball 87).

© A wrestle with time. Often the Lord requires a period of time to elapse before lifting the burden of sin. This waiting period compels sinners to reevaluate their commitment and live the promises they have made. When this upward struggle is completed, it can then serve as an anchor to hold on to after the remission of sin is grated. During this period of struggle they school their appetites and desires so that their only focus is upon pleasing God and keeping his commandments.

Although Enos wrote that he “went to hunt beasts in the forests” (Enos 1:3), President Kimball said, “But no animal did he shoot nor capture. He was traveling a path he had never walked before. He was reaching, knocking, asking, pleading; he was being born again. He was seeing the pleasant valleys across the barren wastes. He was searching his soul. He might have lived all his life in a weed patch, but now he envisioned a watered garden.” (Faith Precedes the Miracle, 210)

(d) A wrestle in prayer. If we are to receive forgiveness, we must ask for it. Enos wrote, “And all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens” (1:4). Of this President Kimball has taught:

Here is no casual prayer; no worn phrases; no momentary appeal by silent lips. All the day long, with seconds turning into minutes, and minutes into hours and hours. But when the sun had set, relief had still not come, for repentance is not a single act nor forgiveness an unearned gift. So precious to him was communication with and approval of his Redeemer that his determined soul pressed on without ceasing (Faith, 211)

Prayer is a significant key in many conversion stories recorded in the Book of Mormon. For example, king Benjamin’s people all prayed “with one voice” for forgiveness of their sins (Mosiah 4:2). At the turning point in his spiritual life, Alma “cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18). And king Lamoni’s father prostrated himself upon the earth and cried mightily, saying, “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee” (Alma 22:18). Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). The story of Enos teaches us that sometimes it takes a wrestle just to open the door. This struggling is a tutorial period which becomes a hedge against closing that door in the future, for we learn through experience that God cannot be mocked and that mercy cannot rob justice.

Dennis L. Largey, “Enos: His Mission and His Message,” The Book of Mormon: Jacob Through Words of Mormon, To Learn with Joy, Vol 4 pp. 144-146