If Thou Endure It Well by Neal A. Maxwell

Author:Neal A. Maxwell [Maxwell, Neal A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adversity, Endurance, Essays, Talks, Gospel Living, Patience and Longsuffering, Self-help, Inspirational
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 1996-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

Trying the Virtue of the Word of God

When you understand the Gospel plan, you will comprehend that it is the most reasonable way of dealing with the human family (Brigham Young). 1

We talk about our trials and troubles here in this life: but suppose that you could see yourselves thousands and millions of years after you have proved faithful to your religion during the few short years in this time, and have obtained eternal salvation and a crown of glory in the presence of God; then look back upon your lives here, and see the losses, crosses, and disappointments, the sorrows . . . you would be constrained to exclaim, "But what of all that? Those things were but for a moment, and we are now here. We have been faithful during a few moments in our mortality, and now we enjoy eternal life and glory, with power to progress in all the boundless knowledge and through the countless stages of progression, enjoying the smiles and approbation of our Father and God, and of Jesus Christ our elder brother." (Brigham Young.) 2

Many times in human history the hopes of mankind have surged expectantly only to crash against the reefs of despair. Where for one reason or another there is ignorance of man's cosmic context and God's plans, hope wanes. Whether one is in search of peace or the end of disease and hunger, mortal plans and hopes tend to go awry. Alma found that "to lead [his] people" and to have a "powerful effect upon the minds of the people" the "word of God" was more powerful than "anything else" (Alma 31:5).

As often as not, when the passionate search for meaning is pursued along other paths it is muffled or simply overridden by demanding and consuming external events. Yet the quiet search for meaning continues like a vast and relentless river, sometimes roiling, sometimes meandering. When unrequited, however, the search for meaning carries away the unanchored topsoil of human hope. Thus in many places in the Lord's vineyard there remains no deepness of earth in which the gospel seed can grow. (See Matthew 13:5.)

Into this milieu came the Lord's "marvelous work and a wonder" (Isaiah 29:14). As likewise prophesied, however, the Restoration is also "strange work" by worldly standards (D&C 101:95; 95:4). Its revealed truths are simple and stunning. They bring meaning and identity to mankind—the very things for which so many mortals crave; for as the prophet foresaw, "they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it" (Amos 8:12). The truth restored about life's purposes and man's identity can indeed, if accepted, prove to be "more powerful . . . than anything else."

Thus the Restoration is a latter-day rescue effort to nourish those who are parched, thirsty, and hungry—who need the living water and the bread of life but know not where to find it

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