Introduction
I am grateful to be here today. My wife, Claudia, and I love BYU. We both met at and graduated from BYU (although it was the other one, I am sorry to say). Our children have attended both BYU-Idaho and BYU-Provo. We love these universities and we love the Lord. Today I pray the Holy Ghost will teach and enlighten us as we learn together about a key aspect of our Heavenly Father’s plan for His children.
Sister Hamilton and I were blessed with six children—and it was a blessing, but it was not always easy. These children are now grown and are raising their own families, and we are incredibly proud of them. However, there are all sorts of interesting challenges and trials that spring up along the way when raising a family. One time, during a particularly challenging struggle of some sort, we were wrestling with what to do and how to move forward, and finally I said to her, “Honey, we are just going to have to move forward in faith.” She very sincerely replied, “I have faith, but what if it doesn’t work?” Like most of us, she really did have faith, she wanted to trust in the Lord, but there is always that little question in our mind where we wonder what will happen. We are not always completely sure if it will actually work.
Faith is the First Principle of the Gospel
Our Articles of Faith state that faith is the first principle of the gospel, and that faith must be centered in Jesus Christ. [1] It is a key and essential part of mortality that is required to enable us to fulfill our destiny as “beloved sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents.” [2] God’s plan for His children requires that, in this life at least, we learn to live by faith. The Apostle Paul taught the Saints in Corinth, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” [3] Alma showed us that faith is “not to have a perfect knowledge” but it is to hope or believe in things that are true, that are not seen. [4] In other words, we believe even when we cannot see or do not have proof.
We have become conditioned to expect timely, even immediate, answers. We Google something and receive thousands of answers in fractions of a second. Wikipedia has more-or-less reliable information on just about everything, only a few keystrokes away. YouTube has a video on virtually anything that you can think to inquire about. Even our academic pursuits condition us to accept that there are answers for most questions. We want to know now, today, immediately. We expect to be able to get definitive answers—in black and white. But life just simply does not always work this way. It is more complex and challenging. Answers to spiritual questions, including some of life’s most important questions, will more often come bit by bit, “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” [5]—sometimes with frustrating gaps in the timing. We learn to be patient. We learn to be still and to wait upon the Lord. We are sometimes required, whether we like it or not, to live by faith.
President Boyd K. Packer taught that we “must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness; then the light will appear and show the way before you.” [6]
I have heard President Packer use the metaphor of a darkened street with a single streetlight.
We stand under the streetlight and can see to the edge of a semi-circle of light. Living by faith means we walk to the edge of the light and then we take a few steps into the darkness. We move forward with faith and trust, then we wait patiently. Slowly our eyes adjust to the darkness and we find that we can actually see further than we thought. We take a few more steps into the darkness and wait. Then a few more, and so it goes. [7]
The prophet Moroni, while editing the Book of Ether, made this compelling statement: “Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” [8] You will not know (or receive a witness) until after you have walked to the edge of the light and taken a few steps into darkness. You will not have a testimony of tithing until after you pay tithing. You will not have a witness of the Sabbath day until you keep it holy. You will not know that the Book of Mormon is true until you read from its pages and pray to know for yourself. You receive no witness until after you exercise faith—until after the trial of your faith.
Examples of Living by Faith
Nephi
I love the story of Nephi and his quest to recover the plates of brass from Laban. As he receives his instructions from his father, he says simply, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” [9]
But his later statement is even more instructive. After declaring that he will “go and do,” he then gives this insight into his personal faith: “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” [10] He moved forward in faith, he walked to the edge of his own light, and then took a few steps into the darkness, not knowing in advance what exactly would happen.
Joseph Smith
Another example is Joseph Smith. He, as prophet, and Martin Harris, as scribe, were in the early stages of translating the Book of Mormon and were making steady progress. They had a sizeable stack of manuscript pages when Martin begged Joseph to let him “borrow” the manuscript for a few days to show his skeptical wife. Joseph petitioned the Lord repeatedly, and eventually Joseph let Martin have the manuscript. Of course, as we know, Martin ultimately lost the 116 pages of the borrowed manuscript; and when he finally appeared at the Smith home to confess his error, he was in such a state of distress that Joseph jumped up and cried out, “Martin, have you lost that manuscript?”
“Yes,” Martin said. “It is gone, and I know not where.”
“Oh, my God, my God,” Joseph groaned, “All is lost!” [11]
Joseph came under serious condemnation from the Lord and went on to endure a severe chastisement for his failure to protect the translated record. The Lord speaking directly to him said:
You have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men.
For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. . . .
. . . You should have been faithful; and [God] would have . . . supported you. [12]
This must have been an absolute crisis for Joseph. He must have been shattered by the loss and the subsequent rebuke. He must have felt tremendous guilt and sorrow. His world had come crashing down around him and, as he exclaimed to his mother, “all [was] lost.” For weeks and months, he struggled forward without the gift of translation and without a clear knowledge of when or whether he would ever translate again.
Yet, he continued forward in faith. He humbled himself, he tried to make amends, he sought to regain the gift of translation—but to no avail. Weeks and months went by. What joy he must have felt when, many months later, he received these words from the Lord:
Because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate . . . , into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. And you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened.
Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again. [13]
He did not give up. He did not lose faith. He simply continued to move forward to the best of his ability until the gift of translation was again restored to him. Joseph Smith was a man of great faith.
Gabin Mendene
In 2005 while serving as a mission president in Belgium, my family was introduced to a young African convert from the country of Gabon. He was attending a university in Belgium, and his name was Gabin Mendene; thus he became known to us as Gabin from Gabon, which my children thought was quite amusing. He was an exceptional young man, and we became very fond of him. He finished his studies and graduated with his degree, but due to some bureaucratic problems with his home government, his promised return airfare never arrived. At about this same time, his student visa in Belgium expired and thus he found himself stranded in a foreign country without a visa and without means to return to his home country.
It was during this period that he met two young missionaries who taught him about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he was subsequently baptized. He was a faithful new member and had a deep desire to serve a full-time mission. Working with his stake president, he submitted a missionary application and in due course was called to serve. Prior to leaving on his mission, Gabin went to The Hague Netherlands Temple, where he was endowed.
A few days before the scheduled start of his mission, Gabin was suddenly deported back to Gabon. So, in the spring of 2006, he packed a small suitcase, and among his personal possessions were two copies of the Book of Mormon, his mission call, DVDs of both 2004 general conferences, his patriarchal blessing, a few tithing slips, and one pair of temple garments. He ultimately was unable to resolve his visa issues, and his call to serve as a missionary was rescinded.
With no organized Church unit in Gabon, Gabin began to hold unofficial meetings on Sundays and family home evenings on Mondays at his home. Some friends and a few family members attended with interest. Gabin would teach from the Book of Mormon and they would watch the 2004 general conference sessions over and over.
He eventually met a young woman named Fleur, fell in love, and was married. Gabin taught her the missionary lessons, and she attended his Sunday meetings and family home evenings on Mondays.
In early 2014, eight years after having returned to Gabon, Brother Gabin came across an online article indicating that Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve had recently dedicated Gabon for the preaching of the gospel and had organized the first branch. Gabin was stunned. For more than eight years he had been the only member of the Church in Gabon that he was aware of, and suddenly he learned that there was a branch of the Church in his home city.
He wrote to the mission president and a few days later received a visit from a senior missionary couple. After their initial greeting, Gabin said to the senior brother, “I have a few questions. First, where can I pay my tithing?” For more than eight years, Gabin had carefully kept his tithing money in a small box.
"Second," he asked, “where can I buy more temple garments? Eight years ago, I brought one pair of temple garments with me, and every night since I have been carefully hand washing them so that I could have them to wear the next day.”
Sister Mendene was taught the missionary lessons and shortly afterward was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church.
After years of not knowing what happened to our friend Gabin, I was in Gabon as a member of the area presidency to hold meetings for Church members and others who were interested in learning the gospel. During one of the meetings, as I was speaking at the pulpit, the door to the room opened, and to my joyful surprise, in walked my friend Gabin from Gabon.
In 2015, Gabin and Fleur came to South Africa, where they were sealed together in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.
In 2016, the Libreville Branch was divided and Gabin Mendene was called to serve as president of the Libreville 2nd Branch.
Fleur is the Primary president. This faithful, patient man from Gabon is a pioneer of the Church in Africa.
Gabin Mendene learned to walk by faith. In spite of all the challenges, he simply kept moving forward in faith, not knowing the end from the beginning, led by the Spirit. [14] He walked to the edge of his light, and then took a few faith-filled steps into the darkness. Gabin had learned that sometimes we have to simply righteously move forward. We hang on, we hold on, we pray on—trusting that the God of this universe will also respond to our earnest, pleading prayers as our personal Father in Heaven.
Foundation of Faith
Some years ago, we decided to add an addition to our house in California to accommodate our growing family. I consulted with a friend who was a builder about how we could best do this. He explained that we would need to make sure that we put the foundation on bedrock to ensure that it was solid and stable. This would require that we dig down deep enough until we found the solid rock which would support the house.
We engaged the contractor, and the day came when the large excavators showed up to start digging. Down they dug, deeper and deeper as they removed the unstable topsoil, searching for the stable bedrock. In one corner of the new foundation, they fairly quickly found the desired bedrock, but in the opposite corner they continued to dig the foundation trench—4 feet, 8 feet, 12 feet, and finally at a depth of 15 feet, they struck bedrock. With the solid, stable rock now fully exposed, the workers could build the forms which would hold the concrete and steel needed to support the weight of a two-story house.
This became the foundation of our new home, which provided many years of comfort, safety, and shelter for our family. In spite of storms, winds, and the occasional California earthquake, our home was built on a sure foundation.
From the Book of Mormon, we read:
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. [15]
If building on the rock of Jesus Christ is the key to being able to withstand the storms of life and live by faith, how exactly do we do that? How do we build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ so that we have this sure foundation? What exactly do we do to build on such a foundation of faith?
The answer is actually quite straightforward. We build our foundation every day in small and simple ways. Our foundation is established every time we read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. We build our foundation with each personal prayer, every time we partake of the sacrament, each time we attend the temple, and every time we minister to our fellow brothers and sisters. Each time we repent, we are laying the foundation of our spiritual home on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.
The Church or the Gospel?
Of course, the adversary is the destroyer of faith. He would like us to have less faith, to be negative, critical, and judgmental. Occasionally we hear members complain about “the Church”—as in, “The Church did this” or “The Church did that” or “I don’t agree with the Church’s position on this” or “I don’t like what the Church teaches about that.” It has been helpful for me to substitute the words “Heavenly Father” in instances where we might be tempted to use “the Church”—as in, “Heavenly Father did this” or “Heavenly Father did that” or “I don’t agree with Heavenly Father’s position on this” or ”I don’t like what Heavenly Father teaches about that.” My experience is that it takes on a new meaning, a different connotation, when we stop to realize whose Church it is and why we believe that it is God speaking, not man.
In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord himself declares that this is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” [16] It is true and living because we are led by living prophets—fifteen men with apostolic authority who speak unitedly in the name of the Lord. The Savior himself taught that “whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” [17]
Dear brothers and sisters, trust the First Presidency and the Twelve. Trust that God will provide for His Church through His chosen apostles. Have faith that we are directed by a loving Heavenly Father that seeks to bless His children in every possible way.
President Russell M. Nelson’s Faith
Our current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, is a man of great faith. He exemplifies living by faith. He recently made these faith-filled statements:
I am optimistic about the future. It will be filled with opportunities for each of us to progress, contribute, and take the gospel to every corner of the earth. Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. [18]
My Testimony of the Brethren
Dear friends, this is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is led by the Savior Himself through ordained apostles. It is my privilege to work closely with these senior leaders of the Church. One might think that as I spend more time with them and as I see them in many different settings, that I would begin to see them as mere human beings with faults and shortcomings. While it is true that they are “regular” people, my personal experience has been that the more I work with them and spend time with them, the more convinced I am that they are true apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and that they have keys and knowledge and understanding to bless all of our Heavenly Father’s children. I declare my witness that they are prophets, seers, and revelators and that they speak for God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. What they teach, unitedly, is the mind and will of the Lord today.
The Ultimate Faith Statement
I suppose that the ultimate statement on living by faith is found in the Book of Mormon where Moroni asks us simply to “come unto Christ and be perfected in him.” [19] Trust in Him. Believe in Him. Rely on Him. Walk with Him. Walk by faith, not by sight. As we do, we establish our foundation faithfully on the bedrock of Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. [20]
Close
Dear brothers and sisters, may we move forward in faith and follow the living prophet. We can do this. We can live by ever greater faith. We can walk forward, not always knowing the end from the beginning. I invite you to live with greater faith. I invite you to trust more. Hope more. Go forward, never backward. I invite you to pray to our Father that you might be filled with greater faith. As you act in faith, I promise that God will manifest himself clearly in your lives.
I declare my witness that faith is an essential part of God’s plan for you and for me. I testify that He is our Father and is real. He hears and answers our prayers. To be sure, in his own way and time, but he always answers. I testify that Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior and that this is His Church. I pray that you and I will each have greater faith, that we will walk forward in faith. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
[1] See Articles of Faith 1:4.
[2] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 2010, 129.
[3] 2 Corinthians 5:7.
[4] Alma 32:21.
[5] 2 Nephi 28:30.
[6] Boyd K. Packer, “The Edge of the Light,” BYU fireside address, 4 March 1990; adapted in BYU Today 45, no. 2 (March 1991): 22–24, 38–43.
[7] Personal notes—Elder Kevin S. Hamilton.
[8] Ether 12:6; emphasis added.
[9] 1 Nephi 3:7.
[10] 1 Nephi 4:6.
[11]Saints, chapter 5, “All Is Lost.”
[12] Doctrine and Covenants 3:1-9.
[13] Doctrine and Covenants 10:1-3.
[14] See 1 Nephi 4:6.
[15] Helaman 5:12.
[16] Doctrine and Covenants 1:30.
[17] Doctrine and Covenants 1:38.
[18] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign, May 2018.
[19] Moroni 10:32.
[20] See Hebrews 12:2.