When I was a young boy, I felt the best parts of the scriptures were the stories involving action, danger, adventure, and courage. I have since learned to enjoy the less action-oriented passages of scripture but I still very much appreciate the examples of strength and courage found in the scriptures.
There are some great, unforgettable scenes that immediately come to mind:
Remember Daniel, who was cast into the lion's den for standing by his beliefs? I love that story. Daniel has so much faith in God that he is willing to face hungry lions rather than betray what he believes in. I wanted to be that kind of person.
David, a young shepherd, facing down a nine-foot-tall giant warrior when no one else would--with just a simple sling, a few stones, and his faith in God. David shouts with courage, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied!" The chills still run down my neck.
Ammon, a faithful missionary to the Lamanite people, stands alone in defending the king's flocks against a band of vicious marauders. And, yes, I did think the severing of the bandits' arms was a cool part of the story when I was a child--and I kind of still do. But what an example of courage Ammon was to me.
Abinadi, realizing that speaking the truth to King Noah will lead to a painful death, continues to testify of Christ until the flames consume his body and he cries out, "God will execute vengeance upon those who destroy his people" and then "O God, receive my soul." The scriptures say that Abinadi "sealed the truth of his words by his death." Abinadi was an unflinching witness of Jesus Christ under the most painful and extreme circumstances. Would I ever be willing to do something like that?
Who can forget the bravery of Samuel the Lamanite, standing atop the city wall preaching the gospel of Christ to those who should have known better? I've never had to teach the missionary discussions with arrows flying around my body, but I am certain this wasn't very comfortable. And yet Samuel continued to teach the people even at the potential peril of his own life.
The Prophet Joseph, imprisoned and bound in chains, stands majestically and rebukes the evil-speaking guards: "Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and bear such language. Cease such talk or you or I die this instant!" Wow. I could only imagine having such courage.
I remember thinking as a young boy, "I wish I could be like these men someday. I wish I had their great strength, courage, and conviction." I had absolutely no idea how someone would gain such things and it was difficult at the time to see myself ever having these virtues because I was a somewhat anxious child. When I was in first grade, I was afraid to play kickball with the other kids because I feared I might make a mistake and everyone would laugh at me. So I timidly stayed on the sidelines and just watched the game each day. My mother learned about this and explained to me that, if I just had the courage to try, she knew I would be able to succeed. Those words of encouragement, and the promise of a substantial cash bribe, convinced me to give it a shot. As you can imagine, I quickly learned that my mother was right. Having the faith and courage to act, to try, to do something difficult rather than sit on the sidelines of life was an important lesson that I have never forgotten and have needed to revisit when facing things much more terrifying than a kickball game.
The scriptures are literally filled with examples of courage. Why? Why in the last days would we need so many examples of faith and courage? The scriptures describe our day as a time "when men's hearts shall fail them." We face "goliaths" that the ancient saints and those of Joseph Smith's time couldn't imagine. President Gordon B. Hinckley explained:
There are Goliaths all around us, hulking giants with evil intent to destroy. These are not nine-foot-tall men, but they are people and institutions that control attractive but evil things that may challenge and weaken and destroy us. Included in these are beer and other liquors and tobacco. Those who market these products would like to enslave you into their use. There are illegal drugs of various kinds which, I am told, are relatively easy to obtain. For those who peddle them this is a multibillion-dollar industry, a giant web of evil.There is pornography, seductive and interesting and inviting. It has become a giant industry, producing magazines, films, and other materials. It is available on the Internet and, if you allow, it will intrude into your home via your television. It is designed to take your money and lead you toward activities that utterly destroy.
President Hinckley continues:
The giants who are behind these efforts are formidable and skillful. They have gained vast experience in the war they are carrying on. They would like to ensnare you.
It is almost impossible to entirely avoid exposure to their products. You see these materials on all sides. But you need not fear if you have the slingshot of truth in your hands. You have been counseled and taught and advised. You have the stones of virtue and honor and integrity to use against these enemies who would like to conquer you. When they challenge you, you can hit them "between the eyes," to use a figurative expression. You can triumph over them by disciplining yourself to avoid them. You can say to the whole lot of them as David said to Goliath, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."[1]
In a like manner, President Boyd K. Packer recently warned:
These are days of great spiritual danger for this people. The world is spiraling downward at an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better.
I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now.
Brothers and sisters, we clearly have some significant challenges ahead of us. However, we also have an unprecedented opportunity to prove ourselves by standing courageously for what is right in the face of evil, just as our heroes in the scriptures did. I am convinced that the Lord doesn't want a passive people. He wants us to appropriately stand up for the things we believe and to be good examples, even in the face of resistance and ridicule. We need to be humble, but people should not wonder where we stand on important moral issues.
I always realized that this life was a test. That is what I was taught by my parents and in Primary. What I did not realize when I was younger is that this life isn't just a test it is the ultimate personalized test. It is designed to push on our weakest areas and, and at times, tax even our personal strengths beyond their mortal capabilities and limits. Yes, I believe we will all be tested beyond what we are personally capable of enduring on our own. But what about the scripture promising we "will not be given more trials than we can bear?" I have come to believe the true meaning of this verse is "you will not be given more trials than you can bear with God's sustaining power holding you up." True courage and strength doesn't just come from within, it comes from God.
No matter how wealthy we are, how smart we are, or how physically strong we are, we will face trials that will be too much for us to handle without God's help. We may believe we are ready for anything, but life will show us otherwise. It will "school" us. There is only one anchor we can rely on to pass our test--and it is not ourselves. We must totally rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ to see us through the trials of life. We cannot learn what we must learn, we cannot endure what we must endure, and we cannot become what we must become without Christ's loving guidance and sustaining support--made possible by His infinite Atonement. Faith in oneself is good but insufficient. The great secret behind the test of life is that it cannot be passed on our own. We either do it with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost by our side or we don't do it at all.
Despite the fact that the Holy Ghost will always be with us as we journey through life, there are some times when His companionship cannot be as easily felt. There are times the Spirit withdraws a bit, as it did with Christ himself, allowing us to face darkness and despair on our own for a time--so that we may learn.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in her poem entitled "Gethsemane," expressed it this way:
All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden's gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say:
'Not mine but thine'; who only pray:
'Let this cup pass,' and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane.
When Joseph Smith asked about the purpose of such devastating experiences in life, the Lord replied, "All these things shall give thee experience, and be for thy good." I will not pretend to understand why suffering seems to be the only way to learn certain things and to gain certain experience, attributes, and capabilities. Candidly, this is something I am still trying to understand for myself. However, I do have a firm testimony that it is necessary and there sometimes is no other way to learn certain things that have great celestial importance. As the Lord explained to Joseph: "Thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high."
I married Shawna Lynch, an alumna of Ricks College, in 1992.
We had four children together and adopted a child from North Carolina. Three of our five children were born significantly premature. We spent many long, harrowing weeks in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit watching our babies fight for their lives. They say, "there are no atheists in foxholes." Well, I can tell you there aren't many atheists in the NICU either.
Constant prayers and priesthood blessings got us through that experience. During one particularly frightening moment, my daughter suffered a brain hemorrhage (which is relatively common among premature babies) and I gave her a priesthood blessing to stop the bleeding in her brain. I was terrified but much to my relief, the blessing worked and the bleeding stopped. I look back now, years later, and think to myself, "How did I survive those experiences?" It was so frightening and beyond anything I felt equipped to deal with on my own. The answer, of course, is that the Lord was sustaining me. I was so grateful that I was able to rely on His priesthood power when there was nothing more I could do to help the situation. I learned much from these trials--such as the need to depend more on God and how precious and fragile life can be.
Elder Neil L. Andersen once stated:
These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger, but they have the potential to diminish or even destroy your trust in the Son of God and to weaken your resolve to keep your promises to Him. These trials are often camouflaged, making them difficult to identify. They take root in our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our sensitivities, or in those things that matter most to us. By definition, trials will be trying.
He continues:
How do you remain "steadfast and immovable" during a trial of faith? You immerse yourself in the very things that helped build your core of faith: you exercise faith in Christ, you pray, you ponder the scriptures, you repent, you keep the commandments, and you serve others.
Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened.
One of my favorite movies is Shadowlands. It is the story of C.S. Lewis and what he learns from the loss of his wife, Joy, to cancer. As a Christian apologist, "Jack" as he was referred to, he would give lectures and speeches about the goodness and fairness of God. He would defend the idea that bad things sometimes happen to good people, and that this was consistent with the existence of a loving God. However, when his beloved wife was taken from him, Jack underwent a deep crisis of faith. It was no longer an academic issue for him. Jack had experienced true loss and his former arguments fell by the wayside. In one of my favorite scenes, Jack is talking to one of his friends about his experience:
Jack: What's happening to me, Warnie. I can't see her anymore. I can't remember her face.
Warnie: I expect it is shock.
Jack: I am so afraid of never seeing her again thinking that suffering is just suffering after all. No cause, no purpose, no pattern.
Warnie: I...I don't know what to tell you Jack.
Jack: Nothing, there is nothing to say. I know that now. I've just come up against experience, Warnie. Experience is a brutal teacher but you learn. My [goodness] you learn.
Eventually, Jack comes to understand the importance of the extremely painful but necessary lessons he learns through the loss of his wife. The truths that Jack uncovers are that suffering is a master teacher and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only true "balm in Gilead." He ends up with a much deeper appreciation for the purposes of God and spends the rest of his life sharing his testimony of these things with others.
I would now like to share a brief video in which Elder Quentin L. Cook talks about the purpose of trials in our lives and how to deal with them.
["Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time" (3:24)]
I love how Elder Cook focuses on serving others when we are feeling sorry for ourselves. I believe service to others who are suffering is one of the best remedies for self-pity and depression.
The most devastating experience I personally have lived through was Shawna's death in 2005.
Her passing was totally unexpected and a tremendous shock to myself and my kids. Overnight, I found myself a single father with five children. It was a surreal experience that changed me forever. This event took me to the "valley of the shadow of death." Even in the very depths of despair and depression, I found the Lord waiting for me in my personal Gethsemane--fully understanding, loving, compassionate, and willing to strengthen my feeble arms and knees. I had been through the worst thing I could possibly imagine--the loss of my spouse and the loss of my children's mother. But, despite the abject horror of the situation, the Holy Ghost told me everything would be okay and I believed Him. It was during this experience that I learned a very important lesson: There is nothing to fear in this life if we are doing our best to live the principles of the gospel. There is nothing to fear.
It is possible to have personal peace during the most extreme, difficult, and trying of circumstances. The scriptures refer to this phenomenon as "peace that passeth all understanding." The world is simply not capable of understanding the concept of experiencing peace during such times--this is why it passes their understanding. They just don't get it because it isn't logical. The only people who can understand it are the followers of Jesus Christ who have experienced such peace during the most trying of times.
Just as I experienced such peace in my extremities, you can too. Such knowledge allows us to "fresh courage take" even if things don't seem particularly hopeful at the moment. I know that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost will be there for each of us in our personal hour of need. True courage comes from trusting in the Lord no matter what we are presently going through. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf explains, "No matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you."
You may have noticed the beautiful woman sitting by my side. Gratefully, I am no longer a single father.
The Lord helped me find a very special woman who had been prepared to join our family and help us to heal from the loss we had experienced. Amy's arrival has been a "tender mercy" from the Lord for both my children and me and we are extremely grateful for her presence in our lives.
I would now like to share with you a video where President Eyring speaks of the same things I am trying to share with you today. ["Mountains to Climb" (5:06)]
In preparing my thoughts, I remembered back to when I was your age in college. I had many questions, concerns, and uncertainties about my future:
- What should I major in?
- What vocation should I pursue?
- Am I going to be able to find the right marriage partner?
- Should I go to graduate school?
- Will the economy prevent me from finding a good job?
- When is the right time to start a family and how will we make ends meet?
Yes, I worried about these things long ago. However, with hindsight, I now realize that these were not the things I should have been worried about. These are things that I believe will ultimately take care of themselves if we are faithful. In due time, the Lord will help us to be able to answer such questions. He will open up paths of opportunity for us if we are faithful and attuned to the Spirit. The truth is that our path in life is unlikely to be whatever we think it will be today. The Lord has unique experiences in store for each of us--both joyful and heart-wrenching. There is no way to know what these will be.
So, while we cannot have absolute stability, predictability, or certainty in this life, we can know that the Lord will guide us and be there with us throughout our journey. This knowledge can give us the courage and faith to press forward even though we can't see very far down our personal pathway to the future. We can also prepare for the future by building up a store of personal testimony and faith, just as Noah built the ark in anticipation of a rainy day. The one thing I can promise you is that, because earth is essentially a school, you will have the learning experience of a lifetime--with both wonderful and difficult lessons.
When we eventually get to meet our heroes from the scriptures on the other side of the veil--Daniel, David, Ammon, Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, and Joseph Smith--I believe we will be able to feel very comfortable in their presence because, like them, our courage and resolve will have been tested to the fullest. I hope all of us will be able to declare, like Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
I testify of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in, we truly have no reason to fear. He will be with us, no matter what. If we do all that we can, the Lord will make up the difference and all will be well in the end. Of this I bear witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Notes
[1] Overpowering the Goliaths in Our Lives, January 2002