As the Savior instructed His newly called apostles
here on the American Continent, one of the first things He did was institute
the sacrament. He spoke of the
importance of partaking of the sacrament and its significance in bringing souls
closer to Him. He taught them the
importance of worthiness as far as the sacrament was concerned and how no man
was to eat or drink of it unworthily.
Towards of the end of His counsel to them in 3 Nephi chapter 18, He
speaks of those who may leave the church and how we should treat them. He teaches them and all of us this, in verse
18. Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him
out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye
continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent and
come unto me with full purpose of heart…”
There will be times in all of our lives when we may
fall short of the mark that we, as well as our Heavenly Father have set. We would be foolish to think that we could go
even one day and do everything that Heavenly Father has asked of us. Because He, our Heavenly Father, knew that we
would fall short, He gave us a Savior to atone for our sins and make repentance
possible for us. We know and have
testimonies of this truth. If we didn’t,
we wouldn’t be here today. There are
those of our brothers and sisters who have experienced adversities in their
lives and for whatever reason have turned from the church. It is our obligation to love them despite
their human weaknesses and welcome them back into the fold of God. In order for us to be able to help them back,
we have to have firm testimonies and faith in our Father, in the Savior and in
our Heavenly Father’s plan for us.
This can prove to be a difficult thing, especially
as we ourselves face adversities and have to rely on the Savior to see us
through. There are 4 scriptures that I
would like to share that illustrate to me how we can have faith in adversity
and rely on the Savior to allow us to help others come back.
The first is contained in the 9th chapter
of Mark in the New Testament. In the first of this chapter the Savior is
transfigured and then performs miracles. As the Savior and His Disciples
descended from the mountain they beheld a great multitude that had gathered.
There were scribes questioning the multitude. When the Savior reached the multitude
it says in verse 15, “And straightway all the people, when they beheld Him,
were greatly amazed, and running to Him saluted him.”
These people knew who He was and were seeking Him
for the miracles that they had heard He was able to perform, and were thankful
now for the opportunity they had to be in His presence.. One of the crowd, who
diligently sought the Savior, was a man carrying with him his son. It says that
the young man was found possessed with a dumb spirit. I imagine in my mind,
this humble father carrying his son a great distance to be healed by the
Savior. It says in verse 18 that this spirit, “teareth him: and he foameth and
gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.”
In verse 21, the Savior asked the boy’s father, “How
long is it ago since this came unto him?”, the father replied, “of a child”. I
can’t imagine being this father. He had to watch his son almost drown and be
burned in fires, all sorts of horrible things happened to this young man, and
it seemed that no one could help him.
I also can’t help but think of the adversities that
may have been placed upon this man from those whom he may have called his
friends, or ward members. It is
sometimes easier for us to pass judgments on people like this man, than it is
for us to offer to help. You can almost
bet that there were those who pointed the finger of scorn in the direction of
this man and his family because of his son.
This is a tragedy that is simply unnecessary and can be totally avoided
by loving ward members and neighbors who simply live their lives the way the
Savior lived His. Wanting everyone to
enjoy the blessings of the gospel, of exaltation and eternal life.
When I think of adversity, this man definitely found
himself in the middle of it. He needed help and so he brought his son to be
healed by the Savior. Before He healed the young man the Savior told the father
in verse 23, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.”
The Savior was teaching all of us a great truth. If
we can just believe, anything is possible. When we are in the midst of any bit
of adversity, this is a difficult thing to remember. The
words spoken by the young man’s father have echoed in my mind over and over
again. His reply to the Savior is in verse 24, he said, “and straightway the
father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou
mine unbelief.” This humble father knew that there was hope to be found in the
Savior, he just needed a reason to believe. I see in my mind a man who deep
down wanted to believe, he just didn’t know how. Through his tears he pled with
the Savior, as we all should, yea Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
The end of this story is a happy one, the Savior
rebuked the spirit and healed the child. He did so because the father of the
child exercised his faith in the Savior and His matchless power. The power of
the hope this man had ultimately led to the healing of his child. The Savior
had the power to heal this young child, just as He has the power to heal all of
us. Brothers and sisters, I know that if we can truly rely on the Savior, He
will help us in our times of unbelief. We will feel Him near us, we will know
that we are encircled about in the arms of His safety and the arms of His love.
I testify to you, that there is no better place to be than in His arms.
I believe that we all knew that our lives here on
this earth would not be easy. We knew after all, that we were coming to this
earth to be tested and tried and to prove ourselves worthy to return to the
presence of our Heavenly Father. Adversity is certainly a great portion of that
test, but I believe it is how we deal with those adverse times that prove who
we really are. Adversity comes to each of us in different ways, we may look at
some and think that their lives are easy. That nothing bad ever happens to
them. I promise you that they do, it is how they choose to deal with adversity
that makes it seem as though there is none. We all face the adversity of
temptation, the death of those for whom we love, some have to deal with
poverty, the betrayal of friends and even family, physical or mental
disability, the list could grow on for pages. As we rely on the merits of the
Savior through this adversity, we will come forth as conquerors. Our faith in
the Savior and His infinite atonement will be strengthened as will our resolve
to do the will of our Father in Heaven.
We know why we are tested, and it certainly is on
account of our obedience or lack thereof to the commandments of God. We read
accounts in the scriptures of nations being cursed for their blatant
disobedience to the will of God. Certainly our poor choices can bring about
unnecessary adversities. A quick poll of those who find themselves in our
prison system would reveal that very few of them are really happy, and are
pleased with the choices they have made to end up where they are.
On the other side of this sit those who are
righteous, who are doing everything within their power to live the commandments
of God, yet they find themselves living lives of challenge. There may be times
in their lives where they feel betrayed, even abandoned by God. We know that
just because we are doing our best to be obedient, doesn’t mean we won’t still
be tested and tried. There are numerous accounts in the scriptures that teach
this principle. One of the most common is the account of Job in the Old
Testament. I would like to share my two favorites. The first is found in the 9th
chapter of John.
In the first verse it says that Jesus and His
disciples happen upon a man who has been blind since his birth. I think we can
all agree that blindness is definitely an adversity. In the second verse the
disciples ask the Savior a question about this man’s blindness, they ask
“Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” They
thought that sin had to be the reason for his disability. I wonder if they
anticipated the response of the Savior. In the third verse He said, “neither hath
this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made
manifest in him.”
I love this response. Neither of them have sinned.
The man was blind so that he world would know of the power of God and also the
Savior’s ability to fulfill the will of His Father. When I think of how many
people have read the Bible and have read of this man’s story, there is no doubt
that the works of God have been made manifest through this man’s disability.
They will know that the Savior had power to heal, to take away the adversities
of man. That God is mindful of us and has provided a way for us to be happy, to
be healed from our adversities, from the mortal effects of this world and
finally be able to return to His presence.
This story differs from the first in that the Savior
didn’t ask this man if he had faith, He had him prove it. He made a concoction
of spit and clay and it says in verse 6 that He anointed the man’s eyes with
the clay and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. In verse 7 it says that
the man went and washed and came forth seeing. He exercised his faith in the
Savior and was healed of a lifelong blindness.
As it was with this man, so it is with us. We have
adversities also, to help others understand the power of God. As we faithfully endure
the trials of life, we can come to the aid of those whom we love. We can help
them as they face similar trials. We can put our arms around them and lift them
up, just as the Savior did for this man. Through our love and faith, the world
should know the works and power of God.
As we live faithful and obedient lives, others may come to know the
Savior and the power of God through our examples and through our testimonies.
Our hands to lift become the Savior’s hands. Our hands to bless also become His
hands. Our words of comfort may be His words as we say those things that the
Spirit directs.
Brothers and sisters, the Savior has the power to
heal each of us from our blindness, just as He did this man. Our blindness is
not the physical blindness experienced by this man, but may be spiritual. It is
difficult to see with our spiritual eyes, when our mortal eyes tell us to give
up, but through humble pleadings to our Father in Heaven, come gentle reminders
that He is there. That He knows of the difficult circumstances in which we
sometimes find ourselves. And finally, that the difficulties are but for a
short time and are thankfully not eternal. This principle is powerfully taught
to us in the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
This section speaks of the difficulties in which
Joseph Smith found himself in Liberty jail in Liberty Missouri. The Prophet
Joseph and others spent the winter in this cruel jail, referred to by Elder
Maxwell as the prison/temple. Certainly the situation in which they found
themselves, created feelings for them similar to those that many, if not all,
of us have felt, alone. I think Elder Maxwell’s calling Liberty a prison/temple
is very profound. It surely was a prison. They endured unthinkable things. The
constant threat of being poisoned, spending the cold winter in a dungeon
without heat. The ceiling was so low that some of them could not stand upright.
They had to listen to the prison guards say unspeakable things. They were
deprived of some of life’s necessities while they were there. Yet some profound
revelations came to the Prophet Joseph as he endured those conditions, thus the
definition of prison/temple.
I think that all of us can relate to the Prophet’s
feelings as he opened this section. In verse 1 he cries out, “O God, where are
thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place.” I know I have
uttered words similar to these. Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God, felt alone.
Surely if the prophet of God felt alone, we are all going to feel that way at
some point in our lives. He then wanted to know how long the suffering would
last, how long? The last thing he asks is in verse 6, he asks the Lord to
remember them. Does this sound at all familiar to any of you?
We may go through difficult adversities where we do
feel alone, where we may ask the Lord, do you remember me? His answer to the
prophet Joseph is the same as His answer to all of us, of course He does. He
said in verses 7 and 8, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversities and
thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well,
God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all they foes.” These
words are sure to bring instant comfort to all of us. First, our afflictions
definitely aren’t going last forever, second, if we endure them well, we will
find ourselves back in the presence of God. It is there that we will enjoy the
blessings of exaltation and eternal life.
The promise made by the Savior was that, not only
does He remember us, we aren’t alone. He is right there next to us, just as He
has always been and will always be. We are neither alone, nor forgotten. No
matter how justified we may feel in those feelings, they simply are not so.
This is something that was taught by the Prophet
Isaiah in Isaiah 49 and repeated by Nephi in 1 Nephi 21. The Savior poses this
question in the 15th verse of chapter 49 of Isaiah, “Can a woman
forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb?” He then answers the question by saying, “yea, they may forget, but I
will not forget thee.” He continues in verse 16 to say, “Behold, I have graven
thee upon the palms of my hands; yea thy walls are continually before me.”
The answer is plain and simple, just as it was for
Joseph Smith, for Job, for the blind man spoken of by John and for all of us,
we are not forgotten. It is impossible. The Savior has us graven in a very
literal sense upon the palms of His hands. We are continually before His face.
Through the marks that He carries when He was brutally crucified upon the cross
of Calvary. He know us, He bares the marks of our sins, our pains, our
sicknesses, and every pain of body that we would ever feel. He knows how to
succor us because of those marks, we are not, nor ever will be alone nor
forgotten, it just is not possible.
Brothers and Sisters we have been purchased by the
blood of a God, one Jesus Christ, the literal Son of the very Father of Heaven
and earth. He knows us and loves us perfectly. As we have occasion in our lives
to ask the same question that Joseph Smith asked, O God, where art thou? My
promise to you is that you will receive the same answer, you’ll know that He is
there. As you have occasion to pray to Him for a miracle, may your response be
the same as was the young man’s father spoken of in Mark, yea Lord, help thou
mine unbelief.
My promise to you is that as you bear with dignity
the adversities that will fall upon you, because they certainly will come. As
you let the Savior heal your heart of that which ails it and breaks it, there
will be that sweet comforting assurance spoken of by Isaiah, that you are not
forgotten, nor ever will be.
