Throughout this year I have spent a considerable amount of time studying the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I chose to do this in-depth study for two reasons. First, for several years I have increasingly felt the desire to do so and second, as many of you realize, on December 23rd we will observe the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith. I simply wished to become increasingly acquainted with the Prophet Joseph and this year seemed an especially timely occasion to do so.
My desire was to enjoy a pleasant, extended period immersed in a wide range of reliable and readily available materials. Even though my approach was rather informal, I was blessed with a wonderful flow of impressions and insights. Several weeks ago, I decided to use this experience as the basis for my message today. It struck me that many qualities and conditions relevant to Joseph Smith are powerfully transferable. That is, they have particular applicability in each of our lives today. The Lord gives us patterns and examples from which to guide our lives, and there is no question that many aspects of the life of Joseph Smith are remarkably worthy of both our understanding and our emulation.
From many observations about the life of Joseph Smith that have particular applicability in our lives, I have chosen five to share with you today.
1 - Adversity, though difficult and painful, is an essential and even elevating part of our lives
Joseph Smith experienced adversity beginning in his childhood. Most of you would be aware of a life-threatening bone infection and subsequent series of surgeries endured by Joseph as a young boy. Even though this early experience with adversity was extraordinarily difficult, it was but a beginning of what the Prophet Joseph experienced within his 38 year life span.
Certainly from the time of the First Vision forward, Joseph’s life was seldom free from adversity. Vicious verbal abuse was commonplace. Very real physical threats and dangers became sufficiently regular that even his being tarred and feathered does not stand out to us today as starkly as the extraordinary event it truly was. False arrests and malicious court trials were numerous and oppressive. Over the years many Church members, including close associates and even some members of the Twelve, became embittered for various reasons. While some of these disgruntled individuals became only complainers and murmurers, others became extremely bitter and contentious foes.
Additionally, Joseph and Emma experienced adversity together in deeply personal ways. For example, they were several years into their marriage before they had private living quarters. For many years they were continually the guests of others. Throughout all the years of their marriage, Joseph’s duties kept them from having the level of everyday companionship and routine that we might assume they enjoyed. It was required of them to regularly share their time and energies with Church members and with visitors in a myriad of ways. Most poignantly, however, the Lord even saw fit to have them jointly suffer the loss of six of their eleven children.
Now, here’s the point I invite you to consider: even in the midst of these and many other trials experienced by Joseph Smith, the remarkable unfolding of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ continued to move steadily forward. It moved forward essentially unimpeded by this parallel flow of countering events. Perhaps, in ways we do not understand, the Restoration was even strengthened by the trials and tragedies that surrounded it. For example, reflect on the reality that during the prolonged and particularly difficult period that Joseph Smith was unjustly held in the Liberty Jail, he received some of the more profound and comforting revelations ever given to him. It is likewise instructive to consider that during this multiple month imprisonment the Prophet was afforded one of the few periods in his life when he had time to deeply reflect upon the very events of which he had been a central participant.
Note what Joseph Smith wrote in 1842, as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 127:2:
And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it.
This verse provides unusual insight into Joseph Smith’s feelings. I am struck by his wording: “Deep water is what I am wont to swim in.” Clearly, at some point (likely early), the Prophet Joseph had learned to accept adversity without chafing over it and to faithfully press forward in spite of it.
So it should be with each of us. Adversity is a natural part of our earthly experience (though I certainly do not include the form of adversity that is the consequence of foolish decisions). We should learn to view adversity as something that stretches and strengthens us rather than something that constrains us. I commend to you the observation I recently heard voiced by a stake president in a nearby community. He said in effect it is not the adversity that comes to us that holds us down, rather it our resentment for the adversity that holds us down.
A touching example of Joseph Smith’s capacity to move forward in the midst of adversity involves Doctrine and Covenants 128, which was received on September 6, 1842. From verses 22 and 23 we read the following excerpt:
Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. . .
Let the mountains shout for joy, and all the valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King!
Those stirring words and the remainder of the twenty-five verses of that powerful section were written while Joseph Smith was uncomfortably hunched over in a small attic cavity of the Nauvoo home of Edward Hunter. He was hiding in this small space to avoid false arrest.
2 - The Lord generally uses ordinary people rather than miraculous means to achieve miraculous outcomes.
I’ll illustrate this point with familiar circumstances involving the gold plates. As I contemplated the extensive challenge faced by Joseph Smith to protect the gold plates from the many serious attempts made by others to get them from him, I wondered why the Lord did not provide a detailed plan or other means for their protection. After all, after the loss of the 116 pages, an angel came and took possession of the plates for a short season. Why then did not the Lord make use of heavenly means to transport the plates from place to place rather than give Joseph the difficult task of providing for their protection? Although, parenthetically, in the final days of translation, in a move from Pennsylvania to the home of David Whitmer in New York, the Lord did instruct Joseph that an angel would be the means of conveying the plates; but this was indeed an exception to the typical practice. Why, therefore, was the responsibility for the plates usually placed upon Joseph Smith? Did not this difficult obligation serve only to slow up the overall process of translation?
I submit that the Lord has other concerns in addition to the expediency with which His work moves forward. If expediency was the Lord’s major concern, then it would be reasonable for Him to regularly provide us with miraculous processes. Obviously, other considerations are of equal or greater concern to the Lord. I am certain that He has great interest in our spiritual growth. Thereby, His ends are more fully accomplished when each of us is faithfully struggling to do His will, using the seemingly simple means open to us. Our earnest efforts are sufficient to accomplish the Lord’s purposes–even to the degree that at times the results may rightfully be viewed as miraculous. And, in the process of faithfully exerting ourselves, we grow and develop in ways we could not have done otherwise.
Here, may I inject that during the last five years in the transition from Ricks College to BYU-Idaho, we have lived, and continue to live, the reality of this lesson. This university stands today as a miracle of heaven that came about through the faithful labors of ordinary people.
As for Joseph Smith, I have no question that he developed a high degree of reverence and perseverance toward sacred things because he had been given such difficult responsibilities for the gold plates. I have no question that Joseph Smith was able to develop the range of personal strengths and qualities he came to possess because the Lord placed many weighty responsibilities upon him.
3 - The Lord can call us in our weaknesses and yet magnify us for His purposes.
These are the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
Looking back today, we are not surprised that Joseph Smith, like any of the best of mankind, still had faults and failings. Within his day, however, there were those, too many in fact, who seemed unable to think of a prophet as but a mortal man. They were disturbed and offended that Joseph Smith continued to possess some measure of frailties and inadequacies. Some, it would seem, truly thought a prophet should be infallible and invincible. Others, ostensibly, could accept the notion that he was not infallible, but, in reality, could not accept his actual failings.
The Prophet Joseph’s weaknesses were not grave. He was not guilty of sin as some enemies of the Church would insist. It should be obvious to us that the Lord would not have allowed him to remain in his calling had he been involved in transgression. Joseph Smith’s failings and shortcomings did not prevent him from doing the work to which he had been called. He was able to both move beyond his weaknesses and to serve with great effectiveness in spite of them.
The lesson for us is twofold: first, we must recognize that those who are called to preside at both the general and local levels throughout the Church will also have faults and failings. When we see evidence of such, we should not become disturbed or distracted. We should be grateful for the patience that the Lord daily showers upon each of His children. Second, we should not doubt our own ability to serve effectively in whatever callings come to us simply because of our acute awareness of our own challenges and limitations. The Lord can and will call us in our weaknesses and yet magnify us for His purposes.
Consider these additional words from Elder Neal A. Maxwell:
We have obligations to the Lord’s prophets, past and present, which include being fair, posthumously or presently, concerning their words. Should we not distinguish between the utterances of the moment and considered opinions? Do not all of us wish for that same understanding on the part of our friends, hoping they “with the breath of kindness” will “blow the chaff away”?
We are wise to follow, therefore, the example of Lorenzo Snow rather than that of Thomas B. Marsh. Marsh let himself become so preoccupied with the imperfections in the Prophet Joseph Smith that he found himself disaffected and out of the Church for a season. Lorenzo Snow said that he had observed some imperfections in the Prophet Joseph Smith, but his reaction was that it was marvelous to see how the Lord could still use Joseph. Seeing this, Elder Lorenzo Snow—later President Snow—concluded that there might even be some hope for him!
4 - Inspiration and revelation generally flow only as the result of prayerful study and specific inquiry.
The First Vision was the result of Joseph Smith studying the Bible and then seeking the Lord in prayer for an answer to his question concerning which church he should join.
Moroni’s multiple visits to Joseph Smith on September 21st and 22nd in 1823 were the result of prayerful inquiry. The restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in May, 1829, was the result of dedicated study and fervent prayer. The majority of the revelations which comprise the various sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received as the result of specific study and prayerful inquiry.
Do you see a pattern here?
Let me invite you to take time to review the topical guide section of your scriptures under such words such as ask, seek, pray, and knock. In doing so, you will be led to scriptures that clearly verify that the pattern applied by Joseph Smith is the pattern that the Lord has set forth for each of us. Many of us, and I include myself, fail to apply these principles of study and prayer to the degree we should. On one occasion, in speaking of our opportunity to be led by the spirit, Brigham Young lamented that “we live far beneath our privileges.”
This is a simple yet profound and vital truth: Inspiration and revelation generally flow only as the result of prayerful study and specific inquiry. Let us each improve.
5. Extending forgiveness to another opens a door for both parties to grow and to be blessed.
Joseph Smith regularly manifested a forgiving nature and befriending posture to those who persecuted him. Let me illustrate this with two experiences. The first is a delightful experience related by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith. Mother Smith, as she was affectionately known to early Church members, compensated with spunk for that which she lacked in height. Standing only about four foot, ten inches in height, she possessed levels of courage and energy that were almost without equal.
This experience occurred in her home in Far West Missouri in 1838 on a day when Joseph just happened to be visiting her. As we pick up her story, we have Joseph, seated at a table writing a letter; Mother Smith is looking out the window and sees a group of men on horses approaching the home. You’ll get a delightful feel for both the Prophet’s mother and for Joseph as I now read directly from Mother Smith’s own account:
Presently the main body came to a halt. The officers dismounting, eight of them came into the house. Thinking they had come for some refreshment, I offered them chairs, but they refused to be seated, and, placing themselves in a line across the floor, continued standing. I again requested them to sit, but they replied, “We do not choose to sit down; we have come here to kill Joe Smith and all the ‘Mormons.’”
“Ah,” said I, “what has Joseph Smith done, that you should want to kill him?”
“He has killed seven men in Daviess county,” replied the foremost, “and we have come to kill him, and all his Church.”
“He has not been in Daviess county,” I answered, “consequently the report must be false. Furthermore, if you should see him, you would not want to kill him.”
“There is no doubt that the report is perfectly correct,” rejoined the officer; “it came straight to us, and I believe it; and we were sent to kill the Prophet and all who believe in him, and I'll ... execute my orders.”
“I suppose,” said I, “you intend to kill me, with the rest?”
“Yes, we do,” returned the officer.
“Very well,” I continued. “I want you to act the gentleman about it, and do the job quick. Just shoot me down at once, then I shall be at rest; but I should not like to be murdered by inches.”
“There it is again,” said he. “You tell a ‘Mormon’ that you will kill him, and they will always tell you, ‘that is nothing—if you kill us, we shall be happy.’”
Joseph, just at this moment finished his letter, and, seeing that he was at liberty, I said, “Gentlemen, suffer me to make you acquainted with Joseph Smith, the Prophet.” They stared at him as if he were a spectre. He smiled, and stepping towards them, gave each of them his hand, in a manner which convinced them that he was neither a guilty criminal nor yet a hypocrite.
Joseph then sat down and explained to them the views, feelings, etc., of the Church, and what their course had been; besides the treatment which they had received from their enemies since the first. He also argued, that if any of the brethren had broken the law, they ought to be tried by the law, before anyone else was molested. After talking with them some time in this way, he said, “Mother, I believe I will go home now—Emma will be expecting me.” At this two of the men sprang to their feet, and declared that he should not go alone, as it would be unsafe—that they would go with him, in order to protect him. Accordingly the three left together, and, during their absence, I overheard the following conversation among the officers, who remained at the door:
1st Officer. “Did you not feel strangely when Smith took you by the hand? I never felt so in my life.”
2nd Officer. “I could not move. I would not harm a hair of that man's head for the whole world.”
3rd Officer. “This is the last time you will catch me coming to kill Joe Smith, or the ‘Mormons’ either.”
1st Officer. “I guess this is about my last expedition against this place. I never saw a more harmless, innocent appearing man than the ‘Mormon’ Prophet.”
2nd Officer. “That story about his killing them men is all a ... lie—there is no doubt of it; and we have had all this trouble for nothing; but they will never fool me in this way again.”
Now, I would like to conclude by recounting a more tender experience of Joseph Smith’s ability to forgive and to befriend others.
It involves William W. Phelps, who joined the Church in Kirtland and became a faithful and loyal member. With the passage of time, however, and as the result of improprieties and pride, Brother Phelps fell away from the Church. He eventually became bitter and hostile toward Joseph Smith. The timing of his hostile feelings was unfortunate as it occurred at the point Joseph Smith was taken prisoner in Far West, Missouri, during the incredibly turbulent period of persecutions that took place there in 1838 and 1839.
Sadly, Brother Phelps fell to a lower point yet. He joined other disaffected members in giving false witness against Joseph Smith in the contrived court trials that eventually resulted in the Prophet and other leaders being unjustly sent to Liberty Jail. What possibly could have been the feelings of Joseph Smith in realizing that Brother Phelps, along with others who had once been his trusted friends, had so totally and so unjustly turned against him?
That becomes the backdrop against which we now consider two letters. The first was sent to Joseph Smith approximately two years after he had been freed to join with the Saints in Illinois. It was sent by William W. Phelps who was now feeling the magnitude and seriousness of what he had done. In his letter he willingly confessed his sins and fervently begged for forgiveness from Joseph Smith and the others that he had so deeply offended. Joseph Smith did not hesitate to write his reply. His letter to William W. Phelps will stand for generations to come as a pattern of how we should freely and fully forgive others. His response, in part reads as follows:
Dear Brother Phelps: …
You may in some measure realize what my feelings, as well as Elder Rigdon’s and Brother Hyrum’s were, when we read your letter—truly our hearts were melted into tenderness and compassion when we ascertained your resolves. …
It is true, that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior—the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. …
However, the cup has been drunk, the will of our Father has been done, and we are yet alive, for which we thank the Lord. And having been delivered from the hands of wicked men by the mercy of our God, we say it is your privilege to be delivered from the powers of the adversary, be brought into the liberty of God’s dear children, and again take your stand among the Saints of the Most High, and by diligence, humility, and love unfeigned, commend yourself to our God, and your God, and to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Believing your confession to be real, and your repentance genuine, I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice over the returning prodigal. …
“Come on, dear brother, since the war is past,
For friends at first, are friends again at last.”
Now brothers and sisters, please join with me in attempting to imagine three things. First, imagine how difficult it must have been for Joseph Smith to have so readily forgiven Brother Phelps. Second, and harder yet, imagine how inconceivable it would have been for Joseph Smith to have chosen not to have forgiven Brother Phelps. How the heavens must have rejoiced as he penned his letter of forgiveness. And last, try to imagine what might have become of William W. Phelps if Joseph Smith had declined to extend forgiveness.
Many of you would not know what subsequently became of William W. Phelps and how Joseph Smith’s letter freed him from his burden and allowed him to return to serving the Church. As he returned, he did so with a fervency and with faithfulness that few can equal. It became his privilege and blessing to speak at Joseph Smith’s funeral service. Eventually, using the skills that in earlier years had allowed him to write the words to such beloved hymns as “The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning” and “O’ God the Eternal Father,” he composed the words to “Praise To The Man.”
I testify that extending forgiveness does in fact open doors of great blessings, both to the one who offers the forgiveness and to the one who receives it. I further testify that as we examine the lives of those the Lord has called to lead His Kingdom, we will be taught and will be given additional patterns from which to guide our lives. God is our Eternal Father. Jesus Christ, His Son, is our Savior and Redeemer. Joseph Smith is the chosen Prophet through whom the gospel was restored. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Kingdom of God here upon the earth today. Of these things I testify and do so in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.