First - the verbiage used earlier in the conversation by the Lord does not come across as overly humble. It is fairly harsh in some instances - "Fools mock, but they shall mourn . . .". Yet this is plain humility. It is very direct in some places and may even sound as if the Lord understands that He knows things that we don't. (How know-it-all-ish) - "Men come unto me and I will show them their weakness." Yet this is plain humility. Shouldn't someone who is perfectly humble be less focused on our weaknesses and more on their own? Of course Christ doesn't have any weaknesses - so the question becomes how can you be perfect and humble? My dad had a song for this - the lyrics went something like this: "O Lord its hard to be humble and perfect in every way!" Or perhaps the word humble is wildly misunderstood and to be plainly humble is very different then what most people seem to view it as.
So lets cross reference the word plain found in the above referenced passage. When you participate in that activity you find that the cross references take you two instances in the scriptures where plainness refers to truth. Simple truth. Truth that could not be misconstrued.
It would appear the Lord spoke plainly, without the intent to offend or hurt, but with the intent to teach truth so that it could not be misconstrued. Elder Uchtdorf mentioned in his most recent conference talk that pride (which is the opposite of humility) would seek to bring down or destroy someone else. So the Lord, when speaking with Moroni, spoke plainly with no malice, but harshly according to the truth. Humility and truth are very closely tied because Humility relies on truth in order to be accurate.
The Lord needed to be plain. He wanted to tell Moroni how things are or how they really will be, to the point that Moroni could not misconstrue His message or His words. People who are humble recognize their weaknesses and in fact he commended Moroni earlier in the conversation for recognizing his weakness in writing. He commended him because Moroni saw things for what they were - he saw the truth.
Moroni continued, in humility, to apparently boast of being "mighty in faith". The Lord didn't seem to have a problem with that. Why not - that isn't very humble. Someone with the gall to openly declare that they are mighty? However brash those words may seem, it would appear that it also fell within the realm of humility because it was also true. And it really obviously was. Humility may be nothing more then seeing ourselves as we really are.
The savior answered Moses - "I am that I am." What a wonderful statement. Some of my favorite statements of the savior are His I am statements. "I am the way, the truth, and the life . . . " "I am the light and life of the world." "I am the first and the last." "I am your advocate with the father." "Art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed? - I am." Our Great God and His Son have never been bashful to say who they were. Knowing what we are and who we are is a characteristic we must posses. We must know the truth of what we are. We must have the humility of knowing ourselves for what we truly are.
I love the account of the people of King Benjamin upon hearing his famous sermon upon the tower. The scriptures say that they viewed themselves in their own carnal state. They were only able to make changes in their lives when they were able to see, in the depths of humility, what they plainly were. Once they did see themselves in their true state - they were able to make glorious changes in their lives. One of the changes was to no longer have any desire to do evil, but to do good continually.
There is a real power that can come over our lives when we are able to be humble enough to see ourselves as we are. That power is manifest in the Lord's ability to help us make the changes we need to make to be more like Him.
I have had many opportunities in recent months to see myself as I am. It isn't always pleasant. It also isn't always easy to change. But I am grateful to have the knowledge of what I am and who I want to be. I now know what I need to seek and what I need to change. It reminds me of a Michael Martin Murphy song that demonstrates the cycle of learning. It states (to the best of my memory) that the "higher you climb - the more that you see - the more that you see - the more that you know - the more that you know - the more that you yearn - the more that you yearn - the higher you climb."
I hope that I can gain enough humility that I can know more and grow more. My weaknesses may one day be strengths. My strengths are real and my weakness are real and humility means knowing about both.
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