followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 17]

In Ether we learn the story of the Jaredites. In Ether 2, the brother of Jared brings to the Lord three concerns about crossing the ocean in the boats they have built. In verse 19:

And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.

 The brother of Jared wants to know: 1) How to steer; 2) How to breathe; 3) If they are to travel in darkness. The Lord gives three types of answers to this prayer. I'm choosing to analogize them to modern-day situations that may apply, but there are many different prayers that the Lord chooses to answer the following ways:

1) To Steer:

24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.   
25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come.

 Here the Lord says, "I will take care of it. No need to worry."

This is not unlike when we pray for others; for example, the recent prayers that went up for the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines. There's nothing we can do about it, but as we pray we put our trust in the Lord that He will take care of what we ask.

2) To Breathe:

20 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood.

 21 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did so, according as the Lord had commanded.

 Here the Lord says, "This is what you should do." And the brother of Jared does it.

The most immediate example I thought of for this type of prayer was the ones we send when we are in danger or need immediate guidance to move forward. The Lord tells us what to do, and it's up to us to do it.

3) To Have Light:

Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?

Here the Lord says, "What do you want me to do?" or alternatively, "What do you want to do?"

Often when we are making decisions we want the Lord to tell us what to do like He would when guiding us to safety, but usually His response is to wait for us to decide, then He will help us. This lets us exercise our agency, and come up with solutions to problems. Generally I think most of us would prefer to just be told what to do, but that doesn't help us grow.

Because the brother of Jared exercised his agency and faith to come up with a solution, he had a marvelous experience with the Lord. Maybe that's what's waiting for us when it seems like an answer to prayer isn't forthcoming.