A number of years ago I lived in the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. At the time I was serving in the district presidency with President Semitie Langa Qulotuto. Annually the Fijian Saints prepared for a temple visit to New Zealand: it being the closest temple to Fiji at the time. As you can imagine this was a great expense to the Saints. The members would have to save years and years to have enough money to take their family across the sea to New Zealand to receive their temple blessings.
This particular year a family by the name of Tomassi Ringamoto made the decision to go to the temple. They realized that they would never be able to go to the temple in New Zealand on their present income. The only way that they could go was for Brother Ridamoto to take a early retirement from his work and thereby applying his retirement pension to the temple excursion. The Ridamoto’s fasted and prayed and made such a decision.
I remember counseling with the district president, about Tomassi’s decision and the necessity of providing for a family. President Langa opened his scriptures and he read from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lead not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy paths.” President Langa reminded me the Lord had directed the path of Brother Ringamoto and that I shouldn’t interfere and he reminded me of the great trust the Polynesian had in their Lord Jesus Christ. I have to admit that I was embarrassed for my shortsightness
The temple excursion was marvelous. I can remember the Ringamoto family dressed in white as they prepared to have their children sealed to them. It was truly a joyful occasion. But in the back of my mind I had the thought “When they return home, there will be no employment to provide for his family.” Jobs of any kind were very scarce, but the faith of the Ringamoto’s was an example to us all. There perseverance over the next several months was inspiring. A job finally did open up. Not as good as his previous employment but it was enough to provide for his family.
In 2004 I returned to Fiji. Since the time I had lived there, the Fijian Saints were blessed with their very own temple. I visited the temple. The greeter at the temple that day was the First Counselor in the temple Presidency Tomas Ringamoto. It was a grand reunion after twenty-one years.
I was reminded of the scripture in Ether “Dispute not because ye see not, for you receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” The Ringamoto’s wanted their temple blessings and were willing to make sacrifices. However the Lord’s comprehended the end from the beginning. What the Lord needed was a future temple presidency. I learned a great lesson about trusting in the Lord that day.
We need but to turn to the account found in First Kings to appreciate this principle of the gospel of which I have chosen to speak with you about today, that is, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
In First Kings we read that a most severe drought had gripped the land, famine followed. This famine had been designed to bring the children of Israel in the Northern Kingdom to repentance. Elijah the prophet had been called to prophecy amongst them. Elijah was destitute. He was without food or water. Elijah received from the Lord what to him must have been an amazing instruction. “Get thee to Zarephath behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”[1] Now think about that for a moment. Of all the people the Lord could have directed to supply the needs of substance, He chose a widow with a dependent. The widow would have been the last one who would have had the means to do so.
The scripture account goes on “When he had found the widow, Elijah declared “fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I might drink.” And as she was going fetch it he called to her and said ‘bring me I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand.’ Her response described her desperate situation as she explained she was preparing a final and scanty meal for her son and for herself and then they would die.” How implausible to her must have been Elijah’s response. “Fear not, but go and do as thou hast said, but make me therefore a little cake first, and bring it unto me; and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel the barrel of meal shall not waste neither shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went, and did according to the saying of Elijah and she and he and her house did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not. Neither did the cruse of oil fail.”[2] Elijah trusted in the Lord’s way to resolve .
May I suggest to you three reasons why we can trust the Lord to direct our paths.
Number one, He has all knowledge. He knows all things; He is omniscient. We read in 1st Nephi 9:6 where Nephi is told to make another sets of plates. We know them as the small plates, which will bring about a parallel history of Lehi and Nephi’s dealings. It reads:
But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of man; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words, and thus it is Amen.”
I would want to put my trust in a God who knows all things, and can see all things past, present and future. All things are before Him. His ways are not my ways, neither His thoughts are my thoughts.[3] Therefore He knows what’s best for each of us. What I need to do is put my trust in the Lord, learn His will for me and then to stay the course. We learn from the Lectures on Faith that without the knowledge of all things, God could not be able to save any portion of his children.
Number two. He has all power, might and authority. King Benjamin in his great address in Mosiah chapter 4 verse 9 reads:
Believe in God, believe that he is and that he created all things both in heaven and in earth, believe that he is all wisdom, all power both in heaven and earth. Believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
Number three, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, there is no variableness in Him. We read from the Doctrine and Covenants section 3 verse 2:
For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left; neither doth he vary to that which he hath said. Therefore his paths are straight and his course is one eternal round.
Because of these three attributes of God we can have confidence in the directions in which God will give us as we receive revelation about our lives. May I illustrate this truth with a personal experience.
A number of years ago, as a college student at Weber State College up in Ogden Utah, I had a singular experience that strengthen my trust in the Lord. During my schooling I met Jana my future wife. After a time of dating and courtship we married. We were happy, and our first child was on the way. Like many college students’ funds were scarce: we had very little money. We were excited about starting our family. We had done all we could to prepare for the birth, however given the times we could not afford health insurance. We had saved the necessary money to cover the cost of the birth, and then trusted in the Lord that all would go well.
On November 18th our first Child was born. We were excited and happy, he had come two weeks early, but nonetheless all appeared just fine. We named him Dallan.
Two days after Dallan’s birth, we realized not all was well. There was a blockage in his intestines; this was life threatening. To receive the necessary care and surgery, Dallan was sent to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. There it was assessed that he would need surgery. Not only that, we were told there were other complications as well. I remembered as the doctor laid out the necessity schedule for surgery I asked “At would expense would this cost?” He said not to worry about that at this time, our baby’s life was the most important.
The surgery was successful, and our little infant son was soon home with us after several weeks. Shortly there after the bills began to arrive and they began to mount up into the thousands upon thousands of dollars. We didn’t know how we were going to pay them. We were students. I remember actually raising my clenched fist to Heaven saying, “Why is it Lord that thou would hedge up our way.” The only solution that I could see was to drop out of school and go to work full time in order to meet our obligations. We prayed we fasted and in the mist of this despair and discouragement the revelation came. The Lord helps them who help themselves. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
I met with Primary Children’s Hospital and they told me of an organization called “Handicapped Children of Utah.” I met with them and asked for financial help. Unfortunately, since it was late in the year, all their money had been committed to other individuals who deserving. As I began to leave the receptionist said “Why don’t I take your application, just so that we might have it on file.” I met with many other organizations and institutions which proved to be dead ends.
Two weeks later I received a phone call from the Handicapped Children of Utah. They informed us that one of their recipients had passed away and had left some money that might be available to us. They asked me to bring our bills in that they might look over those. We brought them in and the money that was available was able to cover all of our bills. I was greatly humbled by this. I was thankful.
I promised the Lord that I would do all I could to serve Him. I stayed in school and kept my promise and became a religious educator and have been so for 28 years but I still feel that I am in the Lord’s debt. I testify I wouldn’t be here, standing before you today had I not trusted in the Lord. To trust in the Lord is to rely on the Lord’s ways of doing things rather than world’s way.
The prophet Jacob declared that No man knoweth of [the Lord’s] ways save it be revealed unto him….”[4] The Lords ways and the world’s ways are not the same.
In directing how the Saints should provide for the poor, the Lord cautioned: "It must needs be done in mine own way."[5] Another revelation assures us that God's promises will be fulfilled, but "it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will."[6]
In the Kirtland period the prophet Joseph Smith was commanded to build a temple. The Lord declared that it should not be built "after the manner of the world, for I give not unto you that ye shall live after the manner of the world."[7]
President Ezra Taft Benson gave a useful explanation of the contrast between the Lord's way and the world's way: "The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."[8]
The way of the Lord is to call upon the weak things of the world to subdue the world. "Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thrash the nations by the power of my Spirit."[9]
A scriptural commentary has noted, "The Lord prefers prophets to scholars, meekness to wealth, and simplicity to the magnificence and splendor of the world. Christ was born in a stable, not a Roman palace.”[10]
It is not be the way of the world, to have a 95 year old man, Gordon B. Hinckkley, lead an organization numbering 12 million. But in the Lord’s way, through revelation and apostolic succession, He has chosen his own spokesmen and designated his own methods to further his work.
We can not learn the ways of the Lord without revelation. Elder Dallin H. Oaks has given us seven requirements for receiving revelation. These requirements are unique to the Lord’s way of learning by revelation. They have no counterparts in the world’s ways of learning. They are:
1. Faith which is the first principle of the gospel.
2. Humility. To be taught by the Holy Ghost a person must be humble.
3. Prayer. Seven days without prayer makes one weak. Prayer has a very short self-life. It is how we communicate with God.
4. Keeping the commandments. This leads to righteousness which leads to revelation.
5 and 6. Repentance and good works. He the repenteth brings about good works. and
7. regular reading of the scriptures. Scripture study brings the Spirit into our lives.[11]
The Savior affirmed the importance of learning by revelation and described how this occurs. He asked his disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus responded, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."[12] In the acquisition of sacred knowledge, in this case to know that Jesus is the Christ, reason must yield to revelation.
This principle was taught in the 6th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It involves Oliver and Joseph Smith. It’s April of 1829 Oliver Cowdery has just come down to Harmony, Pennsylvania, he felt that he had an important mission to help Joseph Smith scribe the translation of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith accepted Oliver Cowdery to be his scribe: he felt that the Lord had prepared him for the service. After they had been translating for several days, Oliver felt overwhelmed with the translation process. Oliver wanted a second witness about the truthfulness of the work and the translation. He had lost confidence of his first witness, therefore he was asking for a second witness. We begin reading in the 20th verse of section 6.
Verily, verily I say unto you if you desire a further witness cast you mind upon the night that ye cried unto me in your heart, that ye might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter, what greater witness can you have then from God.
The Lord had asked Oliver to cast his mind from the night that he had received a witness of the truthfulness of these things. That incidence that occurred for Oliver back in Palmyra, New York when Oliver was working as a school teacher and living in Joseph Smith Sr.’s home. We learn from the Papers of Joseph Smith volume 1 page 10 what it is the Lord had shown unto Oliver Cowdery and had given him a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, quote:
The Lord appeared to Oliver Cowdery, and showed unto him the plates in vision what the Lord was about to do through me his worthy servant. Therefore he was desirous to come unto me to translate.
Oliver had received a vision, he had been shown the plates and it was made known unto him of the truthfulness of the work of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and that he upon it, he had a witness, it was a powerful witness, by the time he had met Joseph Smith, traveled down to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and commenced the translation he had lost confidence in his first witness and he was asking for a second one. The important principle to learn here is that the Lord wanted Oliver to remember his first witness; he wasn’t willing to give him a second manifestation.
As a student you are at the crossroads of many important decisions. You seek for answers through revelation about you career path, going on a mission, or marriage. You want to trust in the Lord with all you heart that he might direct your path. You will pray and you will get an answer, there will be a distinct impression upon you and you will feel at peace. As you go down the chosen path, two months into your engagement or it could be a year or two into your major you’re pursuing it—along the way you might lose confidence in what you’re doing. You like Oliver Cowdry, want a second witness. You’ll want to know if the course you are on is correct and true. You will pray for a second witness and like Oliver Cowdery the Lord has already given you a first witness of confirmation.
You can make the mistake of interpreting that is the will of the Lord. That you are not going in the right direction, when in fact the Lord had already given you an answer, but you had lost confidence in His answer. It is my suggestion to you that when you receive that first impression when you first pray about something to write it down. Make it an important part of your journal and when you begin to question your course of action I would ask you go back and read that entry again. This will help you to gain confidence in the Lord and to trust in him with all your heart.
When putting our trust in the Lord the Proverb warns, “Lean not to thine own understanding.”
In modern revelation the Lord has told us to "seek learning even by study and also by faith."[13] Seeking learning by study, we use the method of reason. Seeking learning by faith, we must rely on revelation. Obedient to heavenly decree, we should seek learning by reason and also by revelation.
In seeking learning by study and reason, we examine the accumulated wisdom of various fields of knowledge, we employ empirical techniques to gather new evidence, and we use the powers of reasoning placed in us by our Creator. These are the normal ways of seeking knowledge of the things of the world. Millions of men and women are involved in this kind of search for knowledge in every imaginable field of learning from the most basic practices of agriculture and personal hygiene to the currently most advanced techniques of medical science and space exploration, to cite only a few examples. Modern civilization owes an incalculable debt to the search for knowledge by study and reason.
The correct relationship between study and faith in the receipt of knowledge is illustrated in Oliver Cowdery’s attempt to translate ancient records. He failed because he “took no thought,” but only asked God.[14] The Lord told him he should have “stud[ied] it out in [his] mind” and then asked if it was right.[15] Only then would the Lord reveal whether the translation was correct or not. And only on receiving that revelation could the text be written, because “you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”[16] In the acquisition of sacred knowledge, scholarship and reason are not alternatives to revelation. They are a means to an end, and the end is revelation from God.
If we seek to learn of the things of God solely by reason alone, we are certain to stop short of our goal—eternal life. We may even wind up at the wrong destination. Why is this so? On this subject God has prescribed the primacy of another method. To learn the things of God, what we need is not more study and reason, not more scholarship and technology, but more faith and revelation.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always encouraged its members to pursue and excel in all fields of learning, acquiring knowledge by study and reason as well as by faith and revelation.
Elder Boyd K. Packer gave this perceptive of reason and revelation in a university environment:
"There are two opposing convictions in the university environment. On the one hand, 'seeing is believing'; on the other, 'believing is seeing.' Both are true! Each in its place. The combining of the two individually or institutionally is the challenge of life. . . .
"Each of us must accommodate the mixture of reason and revelation in our lives. The gospel not only permits but requires it. An individual who concentrates on either side solely and alone will lose both balance and perspective. History confirms that the university environment always favors reason, with the workings of the Spirit made to feel uncomfortable. I know of no examples to the contrary."
Elder Packer then pleaded for "the fusion of reason and revelation, [which] will produce a man and a woman of imperishable worth."[17] I believe that to be the case at BYU-Idaho, Provo, Hawaii, and LDS Business College they have successfully fused reason and revelation in the classroom, the laboratory, the halls and across the campus.
President Gordon B. Hinckley exemplifies the attitude reason and revelation. He has said, “I believe in myself, I do not mean in an egotistical way but I believe in my capacity, my capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are a part. To grow and develop and do things that we may know that are possible. I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world. It may be very small, but it will count for the greater good.”
The Proverb also says “in all thy ways acknowledge Him.”
There is no better way to acknowledge our God, then through prayer. Prayer is the communication link that we would have with our loving Father in Heaven. Since we are His children and He is our Father of which He loves us very much. He knows our needs, He knows your needs and He wants you to communicate with Him through prayer.
Acknowledging the hand of the Lord in our lives is very important. Always give thanks to your Heavenly Father for all the good that comes into your life. You should “Live in thanksgiving daily for the many mercies and blessings which He doth bestow upon you.” As you take time to remember your blessings you’ll recognize how much your Heavenly Father has done for you. Express you’re thanks to Him often in a heartfelt prayer. Make your prayers meaningful. The Prophet Mormon warned “that if anyone shall pray and not with real intent of heart, it profiteth him nothing. For God receiveth none such.”
To make your prayers meaningful you must pray with sincerity and with all energy of heart. Be careful to avoid vain repetitions when you pray. Give serious thought to your attitude and the words you use. To the Nephite’s the Savior said “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name which is right, believing that ye shall receive behold it shall be given unto you.” Heavenly Father hears your prayers, He may not always answer as you expect but He does answer in His own time according to His own will. Because He knows what is best for you, He may sometimes even answer “no,” even when your petitions are sincere. Answers to prayers can come in many different ways. They often come through the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. The may come in circumstances of your life or through the kinds acts of those around you. As you continue to draw near to your Heavenly Father through prayer, you’ll recognize more readily His merciful and wise answers to your pleadings. You will find that He is your refuge and strength, a very pleasant help in troubled times. You’ll notice when you read your scriptures that sometimes you will feel answers to your questions or you might be listening to General Conference. Again answers come through prayers by those around us and particularly by our prophet, seers, and revelators also love us and desire for us to do the will of God.
The proverb concludes with “in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path.
One particular promise the Lord made through President Thomas S. Monson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, is a story worth repeating. It is the story of the how those who live behind the Iron Curtain obtained a temple. It is a story of how the Lord directed the path of President Monson It is the story of a people who trusted in the Lord and applied reason and revelation to bring about the Lord’s purposes. President Monson was assigned to go beyond the wall to Eastern Germany in 1968. He reported:
“When I made my initial visit beyond the wall there was a time of fear on the part of our members as they struggled in the performance of their duties. I found the dullness of despair upon the faces of many passerby’s and bright and beautiful expression of love emanating from our members. In Goerlitz the building which we met in was shell shocked from the war, but the interior reflected the tender care of our leaders in bringing the brightness and cleanliness of an otherwise shabby and gloomy structure. The Church had survived both the war and the Cold War which followed. The singing of the Saints brightened every soul. I was touched with their sincerity. I was humbled by their poverty. They had so little.
My heart filled with sorrow because they had no patriarch. They had no wards or stakes they were just branches. They could not receive temple blessings neither endowments nor sealings. No official visitor had come from Church headquarters in a long time. Members were forbidden to leave the country. Yet they trusted in the Lord with all their hearts. In all their ways they acknowledged Him. This was evident in their prayers. I stood at the pulpit,” said Elder Monson, “and with tear-filled eyes and with a voice choked with emotion I made a promise to the people. If you will remain true and faithful to the commandments of God, every blessing any member of the Church enjoys in any other country will be yours.
That night as I realized what I had promised, I dropped to my knees and prayed. Heavenly Father, I’m on Thine errand, this is Thy Church. I’ve spoken words that came not from me, but from Thee and Thy Son. Wilt Thou therefore fulfill the promise and the lives of these noble people. There coursed through my mind the words of the great Psalm, “Be still and know that I am God, the heavenly virtue of patience then was required.”
And little by little the promise was fulfilled. First patriarchs were ordained, then lesson manuals were produced in their native language. Wards were formed, stakes were created, chapels and stake centers were begun, completed and dedicated. And then the miracle of miracles. A holy temple of God was permitted, designed, constructed, and then dedicated in Freiburg. Finally after an absence of fifty years approval was then granted for full time missionaries to enter the nation for local youth to serve elsewhere in the world. Then like the wall of Jericho, the Berlin Wall crumbled, and freedom with it’s attended responsibilities returned.”
Elder Monson continues, “All of the parts of the precious promise of the twenty seven years earlier were fulfilled save one. The tiny Goerlitz branch where the promise had been made still had no chapel of its own. Now even that dream became a reality. The building was approved and completed, dedicated in1995 27 years after the promise. Sister Monson and I along with Elder and Sister Dieder Uchtdorf held a meeting to dedicate the Goerlitz chapel. Same songs were sung as were rendered twenty seven years ago. The members knew the significance of the occasion, marking the total fulfillment of the promise. They wept, they sang songs of the righteous were indeed a prayer unto the Lord and had been answered with a blessing upon their heads.
In conclusion I share a final contrast between the ways of the Lord and the ways of the world. It is an incident recorded in the Gospel of John. During his journey across Samaria, Jesus rested at Jacob's well. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and he asked her for a drink. When she marveled that a Jew would speak to a Samaritan, he told her that if she knew who he was, she would ask him for living water. Seeing that he had no implement to draw water from the deep well, she asked him how he could obtain any water to give her.
Before reminding ourselves of Jesus' answer, we should note, He need not ask for water at the well, for tithes and offerings at the Church, or for personal service in any other work of his kingdom. He asks us for these things, just as he sought a drink from the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, so that he can bless us with something of far greater importance to us than that which we give. That is the Lord's way.
In answer to the question how he could give the Samaritan woman living water without any way to draw it from the well, Jesus answered: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."[18]
Jesus taught us how to obtain the living water. The teaching he gave the Samaritan woman reminds us, even as we are involved in acquiring the worldly skill and knowledge and methods to draw water from earthly wells, that what we obtain from Jacob's well gives only temporary relief. The water of Jacob's well, however significant in satisfying temporary earthly desires, is insignificant in value beside what we can obtain from Jesus' words and from his atoning sacrifice. And when we seek to obtain or share that living water, we must do it in the Lord's way by “Trust[ing] in the Lord with all thine heart and lead not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy paths.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] I Kings 16
[2] Ibid
[3] Isaiah 55:8-9
[4] Jacob 4:8
[5] D&C 104:16
[6] D&C 88:68
[7] D&C 95:13
[8] Ezra Taft Benson, "A Witness and a Warning," Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988, 64
[9] D&C 35:13
[10] Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millett, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon 1 Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987, 208
[11] Dallin H. Oaks, "The Lord’s Way," Salt Lake City, Utah, Deseret Book, 1991, 33-36.
[12] Matthew 16:15-17
[13] D&C 109:7
[14] D&C 9:7
[15] D&C 9:8
[16] D&C 9:9
[17] Quoted in H. Curtis Wright, "The Central Problem of Intellectual History," Scholar and Educator 12 (Fall 1988): 53
[18] John 4:13-14