“As we come into Him, God will come to our rescue, whether to heal us or to give us strength to face any situation.”
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There is a well-loved story about a man who is walking along the beach when he sees a boy throwing starfish in the water.
He asks the boy why he is doing it, and the boy explains that it is low tide—and if he doesn’t, the starfish will die.
The man explains to the boy that he can’t make a difference—there were miles of shoreline with hundreds of starfish on them.
The boy picks up the next starfish and throws it in the water and says, “I made a difference to that one.”
When Enoch is talking to God, Enoch rejoices in the safety of Zion.
To his shock, God starts to weep.
Enoch asks, “How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (Moses 7:29)
In response, God shows Enoch all his children who are lost. All the children He loves, who aren’t choosing love. All the children He also wants to save.
Yes, God can see eternity to eternity.
But He also sees moment to moment.
Soul to soul.
He cried because He is counting heads.
(And even the number of hairs on each of those heads.)
He cried because He picked one city up, even while seeing the many others He wants to save.
People that He, unlike the boy in the story, CAN save. That He has done all the work already TO save (Moses 7:39).
But He gave us knowledge and agency (Moses 7:32), and He respects that agency.
So He will sit on that shoreline for as long as needed. Waiting.
So that when we feel washed-up and stranded, we can turn and find Him.
Elder González says, “As we come into Him, God will come to our rescue, whether to heal us or to give us strength to face any situation.”
In Moses 7:30, “And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; […]
“AND YET thou art there,
and thy bosom is there;
[…] thou art merciful and kind forever.”
So many starfish on the shore.
AND YET He is there.
For you. For me.
And He wants nothing more than to pick you up and rescue you.
One soul at a time.
He makes all the difference.