2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine
eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people
and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?
3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these
wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened
toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?
4 O Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven,
earth, and seas, and of all things that in them are, and who controllest and
subjectest the devil….let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no
longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and
thy bowels moved with compassion toward us.
6 Remember thy suffering saints, O our God;
and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever.”
This comes from the beginning of Section 121 of Doctrine
& Covenants; the writer of this petition to God is none other than the
first prophet of this dispensation, Joseph Smith.
What I wish to speak to you about today is
choosing the right while in the mist of afflictions. First and foremost let’s
get this out into the air: Life isn’t fair; all of you know this and all of you
have very much felt the sting of afflictions and trials at some time in your
life, some of your lives as a whole may very well feel like one big piece of
hard life pie. I know my life has had its fair share of trials and I dare say
that I’ve had more times of affliction then the average Joe so I know all too
well how the weight of hard times can bring you down, lose sight of yourself
and the things you hold true to.
It seems like when we do lose sight it’s
because our minds come to us with the following questions and we can’t seem to
find answers to them that satisfy our mortal minds need for balance and in the
end we end up making choices and act on impulses that get us into trouble. A
few of these questions we’ve all heard and or have asked are:
Why does this have to happen to me?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
If God was real or loved me why would He let this happen?
I am a good person and I do everything asked of me, why do
I still have to suffer?
And there are a million other questions we’ve all asked in
our time here on earth.
I am not sure I can fully answer these
questions that creep into our minds during times of trail but I do want to show
you that even in your life, even in the worst situations, you can know with all
your heart that you are in good company and show you that using examples from
very Prophets themselves and the things they have suffered, things that no man
or woman should have to. Not only that but to show you that you can come out on
top, that you can be strengthened and refined by this, not broken down and destroyed.
My First example being the Prophet Joseph
Smith; at the time he wrote the Sections 120-121 of D&C he was in Liberty
Jail being imprisoned for variety of false allegations against him. This jail
was in the basement of a house that was so small that an average sized man
could not stand all the way up and would have to hunch over in order to walk
around. They froze because there was no insulation and anytime they tried to
start a fire they were engulfed in the smoke and could not breathe, this also
being the coldest winter on record at the time. They starved more often than
not and when feed, where typically given spoiled food and therefore poisoned and
spent most of the time sick and delirious; out of desperation they would have
to continue this cycle or starve. There was even one instance when the jailers
tried to feed them the carcass of a deceased man. Joseph Smith and the others spent months in
this jail before being able to leave.
Joseph Smith went through a hell on earth
and this wasn’t the first time and even though a Prophet, he wasn’t spared any
of this, he suffered and was afflicted for months. This time, away from his
family, cold, sick, starving, and taunted must have felt like an eternity. And
the cause of all of this where false allegations against him, men lied in order
to imprison and torture a good man who they didn’t understand and who they were
afraid of and hated because of the church that he was the figure head for. But out of this suffering came these Sections
of D&C for us all and they are a blessing to us in these days if only we
will study them and use them to help us. These sections include these very
words from the Savior to the Prophet and in affect to us:
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity
and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God
shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they
shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
These words to the Prophet, these
words to us not only are supposed to comfort but to teach us a simple truth.
Our
afflictions, regardless of how long they seem are just that, “a small moment” and
if we “endure it well” we will be exalted by our Father, no matter what we are
going through, if you stay faithful and hold true to what you know and choose
the right; it may not be immediate or even while you’re here in mortality, but
it will happen if you stay strong which each and every one of you can do
because you are so much stronger then you realize; you’re children of a
heavenly lineage and that power is in you if you will just but tap into it,
My second example comes from Daniel the Prophet of the Old
Testament. Daniel was a good and Godly man that found favor with King Darius
But the presidents and princes were envious
of Daniel for this and I will from Daniel Chapter 6 tell you what they
did:
“ 4 …the presidents and princes sought to find occasion
against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor
fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found
in him.
5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion
against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his
God.
7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and
the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to
establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask
a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be
cast into the den of lions.
8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the
writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and
Persians, which altereth not.
From there they had all they needed
to get rid of Daniel knowing that he would not worshipping God under any
circumstance, used this to their advantage and they eventually caught Daniel
praying, and even though the King loved Daniel his hands were tied and Daniel
was thrown into the lion’s den while the king spent the night fasting and not
being able to sleep and from here I will continue in Daniel 6:
20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a
lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant
of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver
thee from the lions?
22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the
lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him
innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and
commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken
up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed
in his God.”
Because of
the wickedness of the natural man that resided in those men, Daniel was made to
suffer, but because he never wavered and continued to worship God and do right,
he was not only saved from the lions, but he was able to convert the king and
the kingdom along with it. This teaches us all a couple of very important
principles one is that when afflicted, if we continuing keeping the
commandments and having faith in our Father, we can be saved from even the
worst situation and secondly, you never know who is watching you and your
strength during hard times can bring about a conversion to others that
otherwise wouldn’t be touched in any other way. I would like to back up this
point with Alma Chapter 17 Verse 11:
“11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy
brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and
afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will
make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.”
The Last example I want to talk about is a situation that
Alma and Amulek where in during their ministry that found in Chapter 14:
“ 8 …they brought their wives and children
together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of
God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also
brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them
into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire.
9 And it came to pass that they took Alma and
Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they
might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire.
10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and
children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto
Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our
hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from
the flames.
11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth
me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them
up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this
thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the
hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise
upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent
shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at
the last day.”
I remember
when I first read this; it was and still is one of the most powerful things
I’ve ever read. This is the only time ever in my study of the scriptures that I
ever came across something like this. These verses addressed a question asked
by us all: Why doesn’t God do anything to help people all over the world that
are starving, dying or worse. A question I’ve asked myself plenty of times in
my life. Here we have two men with the Priesthood and the Spirit so strong
they’ve been able to bring about many miracles and even though they wanted to
do something and normally would have had the power to have done something, they
very well couldn’t. These innocent and good people suffered a cruel death. It’s
the same fate billions of people have suffered since Abel; it’s the same fate
people are suffering this very moment. Does that mean God doesn’t care? Does
that mean that we are just a game to him or any number of slanders you hear out
of the mouths of those jaded in life? I declare no, He very much cares, more so
and deeper than any of us can fathom. Every time one of us suffers even the
worst this world can inflict on us, we are never alone. We never suffer alone,
not even for a second because our Savior suffered it all; every tear shed,
every heart broken, all the blood spilt He suffered through the atonement for
us; and while He Himself suffered, and while we suffer, our Father in heaven
weeps for us all that suffer.
Why then does he allow this
suffering, I would like to refer to a couple of scripture verses in order to
shed some light on this:
1st Peter Chapter 1 Verses 7-9 says:
“ 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and
full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls.”
The Savior Himself said these words
that are captured in Matthew Chapter 5
verses 10-12:
“10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is
your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which
were before you.”
Our Heavenly
Father loves you more then you know, he very much suffers when you do. So with
this said we need to know and accept that He won’t always save us from
suffering and affliction. The reasons may vary, it maybe for us to learn, for
us to be refined so we can be exalted, it may end up being our time to leave
mortality, to be an example to others of strength or faith, or even to help
heap coals on the heads of the wicked and un-repented.
This doesn’t
mean that we are alone, not even for a second so we need to remember to do one
thing; the right thing and we need to make that a conscious choice every second,
even when we are being tried, tested or when life is unfair and we suffer for
it.
Why? Because
it regardless of the reason of our suffering, it really is a time for us to be
tested, to show ourselves and our Father our true potential. It’s also very
important for us to stay strong and to choose the right because even though He
will never walk away from us, we can very much walk away from him, which leaves
us alone in this world; when we do we lose the gifts of both the Spirit and the
blessings of the Atonement. These two gifts can make anything you go through even
a little bit more bearable then if you had to suffer it alone, trust me; I’ve
suffered with and without these gifts.
In addition
to these gifts, the keys to help you choose the right even in the worst of
suffering are honestly very simple, it’s the things we should be doing every
day, praying, and studying the scriptures, the basics you learn in primary or
in your missionary discussions. In addition you also have fasting and if
possible you always have the Temple. The hard thing about doing the basics
while in the mist of pain is that it seems like they are the hardest things to
do, but remember you are blessed in them, they give your strength and
discipline, prayer is your way to vent to loving Father who listens and
scriptures and the Spirit are the ways He speaks back to you.
It doesn’t
matter what you’ve been through, what are you are going through. Your body,
even your mind end up scared from this life, but if we use these things and
continue in righteousness, our souls will never be, and one day your body and
mind will not only be healed from all the hell this world put you through, but
they will be perfected, you will be perfected by it and because of it. But only
if you’ve let it, only if you’ve tried your best and stayed holding on to the rod
of iron and choose the right.
I hope that one day; we can all be
like Nephi when he said:
“…I have seen so
great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath
visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in
the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because
of mine afflictions?”
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