God Will Do Something Unimaginable
A few years back, then, President Uchtdorf gave a talk called “A Summer With Great Aunt Rose”. He said it was a parable and I found great symbolism in it for these last days. This morning, in Relief Society, the Conference talk was Elder Uchtdorf’s most recent talk. I had forgotten this was the talk we would cover, so I hadn’t studied it ahead of time. As the lesson began, I pulled the talk up on my phone and quickly began to speed-read through it. I started seeing things I had not seen before and it prompted me to pull up the talk and see what there is new to see. Here’s my “new understanding”. It is, of course, only one way to see the talk, but today, the Liahona showed me this “new writing”...
God Will Do Something Unimaginable
God has prepared His children and His Church for this time. What is “this time” referring to? Today, for me, it means “this time” of confusion over what seems to be a contradiction in what the church is doing in support of global mandates and vaccines versus the glaringly obvious hand of the adversary in the takedown of governments and freedom as warned in the Book of Mormon.
Not long after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Latter-day Saints began building their holy temple. They felt they had finally found a place where they could worship God in peace and be free from persecution. This represents the church in the last several decades. We are established in this valley and have built temples the world over. We are finally an accepted religion and we have worshiped God free from persecution. The “world” came to our valley for the Winter Olympics and found us a hospitable and welcoming people. One of our members ran for President of the United States, putting the name “Mormon” on the television of every home in the country, if not the world. We’ve grown and spread our wings over the whole earth, it seems.
However, just as the temple foundation was nearing completion, an army of United States soldiers approached to forcibly install a new governor. In literal terms, the foundation of the temple is being shored up and secured to withstand a great earthquake. The United States has just experienced an election stolen by fraud to forcibly install a new president against the voice of the people. Symbolically, the church is going through some renovations that will take us to the very foundation of our testimony. We will need to tear away old and weak footings and replace them with new, better and stronger ones. We will feel exposed and vulnerable during this renovation process as our decaying structures are exposed as not being fit for the coming pressures that we will face. A great “earthquake” is coming that will cause great destruction to the testimony of the Saints if they are not actively participating in this renovation project. We have been told by our leaders during Covid, that the Lord wanted us to use this time to examine our temporal and spiritual “readiness”. Is the time for finishing our foundational renovations coming to an end because it is timed with this illegitimate installation of a new president?
Because Church leaders did not know how hostile the army would be, Brigham Young ordered the Saints to evacuate and bury the temple foundation. Though we are a church of revelation, God does not always reveal everything that is going to happen. Our Church leaders did not have revealed to them how hostile Covid would be in attacking our freedoms and our government or how hostile the persecution would be if they didn’t go along. So our leaders told us to “evacuate” our temples and churches and activities and meetings. We were to “cover” the truth about why we were going along with the government orders and restrictions. It would even be covered to most of the saints, except through personal revelation. Yes, we were told to use this time of isolation to shore up our foundations, but we were not told that was why we were going along with things.
I’m sure some members of the Church wondered why their efforts to build God’s kingdom were constantly being frustrated. All our current church efforts (callings, temple work, missionary service, ) have been frustrated by Covid. We can’t meet; We can’t sit by each other; We can’t talk much; We have to do church mostly by ourselves; Ministering isn’t as easy; No ward parties or activities. So frustrating! Why?
Eventually, the danger passed, and the temple foundations were excavated and inspected. It was then that the pioneer builders discovered that some of the original sandstones had cracked, making them unsuitable as a foundation. This too shall pass. But in the process of it’s “passing” our Church foundations will be excavated and inspected. We will discover some of our original foundation blocks had cracked and they will be removed as unsuitable for a foundation for our church. How will this affect the larger foundation of the members of the church at large? How will they view this newly revealed, never seen before flaw in the foundations of our leadership?
Consequently, Brigham had them repair the foundation so that it could adequately support the granite1 walls of the majestic Salt Lake Temple.2 Finally, the Saints could sing the hymn “How Firm a Foundation”3 and know their holy temple was built on a solid foundation that would last for generations. Our response to this as a church, by our prophet, will be to repair our foundation so it will support the great load of a coming Zion, with it’s city of Enoch and return of the Ten Tribes and additional scripture and revelation. The newly renovated church will truly be majestic. Finally, we as saints will be able to sing, “How Firm a Foundation”. We will know that we are built on a solid foundation that will last through the millennium.
This story can teach us how God uses adversity to bring about His purposes.
A Worldwide Pandemic
If this sounds familiar given the circumstances in which we find ourselves today, it’s because it is. How is this example of the early church foundation similar to today with Covid and the election and our church response? Keep reading...
I doubt there is a person who hears my voice or reads my words who has not been affected by the worldwide pandemic. Whether you have gotten sick with Covid, or died, or lost a job or business, or had an office you were running for stolen, or if you have not had any of those things affect you personally...all members have been affected by what is going on. You are somewhere on the spectrum of believing everything that you are told by the church, media and government officials, to being confused about what is true and what is not, to downright rejection of all the narratives being fed to you. In that way...ALL are affected.
To those who mourn the loss of family and friends, we mourn with you. We plead with Heavenly Father to comfort and console you. In the above “war”... we are losing many family and friends to the lies of the adversary. It is so hard to see the blind march to captivity and not be able to intervene. Agency has never been more at play than it is now for us in our lives. Everyone is getting to choose.
The long-term consequences of this virus go beyond physical health. Many families have lost incomes and are threatened with hunger, uncertainty, and apprehension. We admire the selfless efforts of so many to prevent the spread of this disease. We are humbled by the quiet sacrifice and noble efforts of those who have risked their own safety to assist, heal, and support people in need. Our hearts are full of gratitude for your goodness and compassion. The long-term consequences of this virus of deception goes beyond physical health. It’s more importantly about spiritual health and sensitivity. We have spiritually lost our “income” of weekly spirituality as defined by attending our meetings and doing our callings and attending the temple. We are threatened by spiritual hunger, uncertainty, and apprehension as people have to decide for themselves if they are “active” in the gospel defined by something other than attendance and duty. During it all, there is quiet sacrifice and noble efforts being made by many who are doing much good “of their own free will and choice”. They do not have to be “commanded in al things.” These people are trying to prevent the spread of the disease of complacency, apathy, and weak testimonies. These people risk going against the flow of isolation and reach out to assist, heal, and support those in need. The truly exemplify “goodness and compassion”.
We pray mightily that God will open the windows of heaven and fill your lives with God’s eternal blessings. We pray mightily that God will open the windows of heaven and fill our lives with His eternal blessings. We pray the window of truth with shine the light on the “evil designs which do and will exist in the hearts of men in the last days.”
We Are Seeds
There are still a lot of unknowns about this virus. But if there is one thing I do know, it is that this virus did not catch Heavenly Father by surprise. He did not have to muster additional battalions of angels, call emergency meetings, or divert resources from the world-creation division to handle an unexpected need. There still are a lot of unknowns about this virus. Unknowns about why the Church has responded as it has. About why the virus/deception was allowed to go on; Why we didn’t get a miracle last Spring after General Conference and 2 World-wide fasts. And while these things may be unknown to us, they are known to God. All things work together for good to them that love Him. Our job is to discern His will; to find the good and the divine purpose in God’s ways...which are not our ways.
My message today is that even though this pandemic is not what we wanted or expected, God has prepared His children and His Church for this time. What did the church want and expect? Last Spring, it was a miracle. Seagulls were supposed to be coming to devour this unknown virus. We expected the miracle. But it didn’t happen. Instead, God let it continue and prepared us in advance for church closures through the Come Follow Me program and the shortened block; through Home Church emphasis and the new Home Centered goal setting program for the youth. Everything was designed to take us to the only holy place we had left...our homes. We were to remodel our homes, if needed, into the holy place God intended them to be.
We will endure this, yes. But we will do more than simply grit our teeth, hold on, and wait for things to return to the old normal. We will move forward, and we will be better as a result. We will endure this time of testing. But we are not to just “get through it”. We are to move forward and get better. And what are we to get better at? Becoming Zion. Becoming firmly grounded in our Savior. Not in the “church” or it’s programs. Maybe not even on the Prophet...
In a way, we are seeds. And for seeds to reach their potential, they must be buried before they can sprout. It is my witness that though at times we may feel buried by the trials of life or surrounded by emotional darkness, the love of God and the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will bring something unimaginable to spring forth. If we are seeds, then we truly have been “buried” in this deception. Masks, mandates, social distancing, censuring, lying, cheating, etc. Our potential is Zion, sanctification, purification...but in order to reach that potential we have to be buried in the mire and muck. Then, like a seed, we have to seek the light. We have to not get comfortable with the darkness. We have to work our way to the light, while sending down deep gospel roots anchored in eternal truths so that nothing will move us from our position. The promise is, that God’s love and blessings will cause something unimaginable to spring forth. What will that be? A stronger church base? A more grounded and faithful following?
Blessings Come from Hardship
Every dispensation has faced its times of trial and hardship. It is our turn. It began with the early persecution of the Saints and will end with the latter day persecution of the Saints. Christ was crucified before His triumphant resurrection. We too, are going to face our own Gethsemane and Cross at Calvary.
Enoch and his people lived in a time of wickedness, wars, and bloodshed. “But the Lord came and dwelt with his people.” He had something unimaginable in mind for them. He helped them establish Zion—a people “of one heart and one mind” who “dwelt in righteousness.”4 WE live in a time of wickedness, wars, and bloodshed (more so soon...) But stit says “the Lord” came and dwelt with his people and helped them establish Zion. He did that for the Nephites and he will do that for us. We cannot establish Zion without him doing it! The Nephites didn’t have to be perfect to live to be there when he appeared. They just had to be “more righteous” than those that were slain and not “stone the prophets”. How do we “stone the prophets today?” Say they are “fallen”? Ignore their counsel about how to live the gospel and prepare as God has designed? To trust in the arm of flesh and not make the “sacrifice necessary” to learn to “hear Him”?
Young Joseph, the son of Jacob, was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, betrayed, and abandoned.5 Joseph must have wondered if God had forgotten him. God had something unimaginable in mind for Joseph. He used this period of trial to strengthen Joseph’s character and put him in a position to save his family.6
We are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have been charged with saving God’s family through the great Gathering of Israel. We are headed for some great testing and persecution. We may be thrown in to jail, sold into slavery, betrayed and abandoned by those we trusted, like Joseph. We may wonder if God has forgotten us. But time proved that God had Joseph in his hands the whole time. All our trials will strengthen our character and put us in a position to save ourselves and our families.
Think of Joseph Smith the Prophet while imprisoned in Liberty Jail, how he pled for relief for the suffering Saints. He must have wondered how Zion could be established in those circumstances. But the Lord spoke peace to him, and the glorious revelation that followed brought peace to the Saints—and it continues to bring peace to you and me.7
Our prophet may soon plead for our relief for the saints. What will we be suffering from? Persecution? Betrayal by those we trusted? (In government, church, friends, schools) Effects of taking the Covid vaccine?
How many times in the early years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did the Saints despair and wonder if God had forgotten them? But through persecutions, perils, and threats of extermination, the Lord God of Israel had something else in mind for His little flock. Something unimaginable. We need to be prepared to go through the same. There is persecution, peril, and threats of extermination ahead. We will truly be a “little” flock. But Zion is quite “unimaginable” to us. But it is coming and so is Jesus Christ!
What do we learn from these examples—and the hundreds of others in the scriptures?
First, the righteous are not given a free pass that allows them to avoid the valleys of shadow. We all must walk through difficult times, for it is in these times of adversity that we learn principles that fortify our characters and cause us to draw closer to God.
How many times can he say it. We will not get to Zion without trial. There is a difficult time ahead. But God will allow them and use them to help us learn principles that will make us stronger and draw us closer to Him.
Second, our Heavenly Father knows that we suffer, and because we are His children, He will not abandon us.8
Even though we are going to suffer...know that God will not abandon you. Suffering is not evidence that God is not there.
Think of the compassionate one, the Savior, who spent so much of His life ministering to the sick, the lonely, the doubting, the despairing.9 Do you think He is any less concerned about you today? We will experience sickness, loneliness, doubt and despair. The Savior will minister to us.
My dear friends, my beloved brothers and sisters, God will watch over and shepherd you during these times of uncertainty and fear. He knows you. He hears your pleas. He is faithful and dependable. He will fulfill His promises.God will watch over us and guide us through these times where will will fear uncertain and fearful. Trust that He knows you and hears your pleadings and that you can trust and depend on Him to keep His promises. Know the promises. Hang onto them with faith and hope.
God has something unimaginable in mind for you personally and the Church collectively—a marvelous work and a wonder. There are things coming for you individually and for the Church collectively. It is what God calls His “marvelous work and a wonder.”
We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet
Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. This is why God gives us modern revelation! Without it, life might feel like flying in a holding pattern, waiting for the fog to lift so we can land safely. The Lord’s purposes for us are much higher than that. Because this is the Church of the living Christ, and because He directs His prophets, we are moving forward and upward to places we’ve never been, to heights we can hardly imagine!
Now, this does not mean we won’t experience turbulence in our flight through mortality. It doesn’t mean there won’t be unexpected instrument failures, mechanical malfunctions, or serious weather challenges. In fact, things might get worse before they get better.
As a fighter pilot and airline captain, I learned that while I could not choose the adversity I would encounter during a flight, I could choose how I prepared and how I reacted. What is needed during times of crisis is calm and clear-headed trust.
How do we do this?
We face the facts and return to the fundamentals, to the basic gospel principles, to what matters most. You strengthen your private religious behavior—like prayer and scripture study and keeping God’s commandments. You make the decisions based on best proven practices.
Focus on the things you can do and not on the things you cannot do.
You muster your faith. And you listen for the guiding word of the Lord and His prophet to lead you to safety.
Remember, this is the Church of Jesus Christ—He is at the helm.
Think of the many inspired advancements that happened in the past decade alone. To mention just a few:
The sacrament was reemphasized as center of our Sabbath worship.
Come, Follow Me was provided as a home-centered, Church-supported tool to strengthen individuals and families.
We began a higher and holier way of ministering to all.
The use of technology in sharing the gospel and doing the Lord’s work has spread throughout the Church.
Even these general conference sessions would not be possible without the wonderful tools of technology.
Brothers and sisters, with Christ at the helm, things will not only be all right; they will be unimaginable.
The Work of Gathering Israel Goes Forward
At first it may have seemed that a worldwide pandemic would be a roadblock to the Lord’s work. For example, traditional methods of sharing the gospel have not been possible. However, the pandemic is revealing new and more creative ways of reaching out to the honest in heart. The work of gathering Israel is increasing in power and enthusiasm. Hundreds and thousands of stories attest to this.
A good friend living in beautiful Norway wrote to Harriet and me about a recent increase in baptisms. “In locations where the Church is small,” she wrote, “twigs will become branches, and branches will become wards!!”
In Latvia, a woman who had discovered the Church by clicking on an internet ad was so excited to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ that she showed up to her appointment an hour early, and before the missionaries ended the first lesson, she asked for a date to be baptized.
In Eastern Europe, one woman who received a call from the missionaries exclaimed, “Sisters, why haven’t you called earlier? I’ve been waiting!”
Many of our missionaries are busier than ever. Many are teaching more people than ever. There is an increased connection between members and missionaries.
In the past, we might have been so tied to traditional approaches that it took a pandemic to open our eyes. Perhaps we were still building with sandstone when granite was already available. Of necessity, we are now learning how to use a variety of methods, including technology, to invite people—in normal and natural ways—to come and see, come and help, and come and belong.
His Work, His Ways
This is the Lord’s work. He invites us to find His ways of doing it, and they may differ from our past experiences.
This happened to Simon Peter and other disciples who went fishing on the Sea of Tiberias.
“That night they caught nothing.
“But when the morning [came], Jesus stood on the shore. …
“And he said unto them, Cast the net on the [other] side of the ship, and ye shall find.”
They did cast their nets on the other side and “were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”10
God has revealed and will continue to reveal His almighty hand. The day will come when we will look back and know that during this time of adversity, God was helping us to find better ways—His ways—to build His kingdom on a firm foundation.
I bear my witness that this is God’s work and He will continue to do many unimaginable things among His children, His people. God holds us in the palm of His caring and compassionate hands.
I testify that President Russell M. Nelson is God’s prophet for our day.
As an Apostle of the Lord, I invite and bless you to “cheerfully do all things that lie in [your] power; and then may [you] stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”11 And I promise that the Lord will cause unimaginable things to come from your righteous labors. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Comments
Post a Comment