Being Faithful In Times of Adversity
See Priesthood manual 4
Lesson 24 page 78
Look up D&C 121-123
What is the historical setting?
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2, LIBERTY JAIL
The Prophet Joseph Smith languished within [LIBERTY JAIL's] four-foot-thick walls from December 1, 1838 until April 6, 1839. Sharing this incarceration were his brother Hyrum, who served as his second counselor in the presidency of the Church; Sidney Rigdon, his first counselor; and three other brethren--Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin.
They were held on a variety of unsubstantiated charges stemming from the "Mormon War", which had culminated in their betrayal and the fall of the LDS settlement of Far West, Missouri, a few weeks earlier. As they awaited trial, they suffered severe privation. Confined to the lower level or dungeon portion of the building, they slept on the straw-strewn stone floor with little light and scant protection from the Missouri winter. Alexander McRae described the food they were served as "very coarse, and so filthy that we could not eat it until we were driven to it by hunger." He also recorded that several attempts were made to poison them.
Notwithstanding these trying physical conditions, Joseph Smith's greater suffering seemed to come from his anguish for the thousands of Latter-day Saints, including his own family, who were being driven from the state under the executive order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs calling for the extermination of the Mormons.
The question: D&C 121:1-6
Answer: D&C 121:7-8
D&C 122
D&C 123: The Missouri Petitions.
Adversity May come to the righteous
Who was Job?
Job 1:1
1 THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
What happened to Job?
Job 2:1-10
See also D&C 122:5-7 The suffering of Joseph Smith.
Story of the Breaking of the Teton Dam in Idaho from manual.
It was 5 June 1976, a peaceful Saturday morning in Idaho. With very little warning, the Teton Dam broke and spilled 250,000 acre-feet of water that became a rushing, crashing wall of destruction. Whole communities were destroyed and homes, farms, businesses, machinery, and automobiles washed away. The flood left a trail of devastation. Seven thousand people lost their homes and poseessions.
Read comments by Boyd K Packer.
Boyd K. Packer related that he "had heard someone ask, 'What did we do wrong to deserve such a disaster?' 'The answer is,' he said, 'probably nothing. If you attachtradgedy or suffering or disaster to sin only, how do you explain the suffering of Christ? Fine people, livingworthily, can be subject to disasters such as you have faced here. The difference will be in how you face it.'" (David Mitchell, "Thousands of Saints Left Homeless by Idaho Flood," Ensign, Aug. 1976, p.74).
Why does God not always protect the righteous from adversity?
See Alma 14. Believers burned while the missionaries, Alma and Amulek, watch.
How do we react to adversity?
1 Peter 2:19-23.
Why was Christ willing to bear our suffering?
The comparison: People of Limhi vs. People of Alma
Question? Limhi: Chap 21-22 Alma: Chap 23-24
What was the situation? Left behind after Alma departs the land. Because of the actions of Noah's Priests the Lamanites come upon them. They submit to the prophesies of Abinadi and become enslaved. Alma and his people have departed from the land of Limhi. Alma refuses to be King but organizes the Church. Amulon and the Priests of Noah had joined the Lamanites. They were lost and sought the help of Alma. Afterwards the enslaved them.
How did they seek deliverance? 21:5-6 23:26-27
Who were the oppressors? 20:23-26 24:9
How did they react to continued oppression? 21:12 24:10-12
They seek deliverance. 21:13-14
How does the Lord Respond? 21:15 24:13
What happens to their burdens? 21:15 24:14-15
What was their feeling towards others? 21:21 24:16
Relationship to the Church? 21:32-34 23:16-18
How did they seek deliverance? 22:1-2 Did not. It was offered by the Lord
Who was consulted? 22:1-2
What allowed them to escape? 22:10 24:19
Where did they go? 22:13 24:20-21,25
What happened to the pursuing Lamanites? 22:15-16 24:23
Read Mosiah 23:21-24.
What blessings come from Adversity?
Moses 6:31
Some adversity is beyond our control. What benefit come from properly responding to our trials?
Ether 12:23-27 (Weak -> Strong)
D&C 122:4,9 What are the promised blessings for faithfulness?
D&C 122:7 last phrase (experience is for thy good)
Quote by President Romney Conference Report, Oct. 1969, p.69.
"I have seen the remorse and despair in the loives of men who, in the hour of trial, have cursed God and died spiritually. And I have seen people rise to great heights from what seemed to be unbearable burdens."
"Finally, I have sought the Lord in my own extremities and learned for myself that my soul has made its greatest growth as I have been driven to my knees by adversity and affliction.
D&C 136:31."
Lectures on Faith 6:5,7-8
5. For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor, and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also -- counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ -- requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when those sufferings are ended, he will enter into eternal rest, and be a partaker of the glory of God.
7. Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth's sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life.
8. It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtain faith in God and favor with him so as to obtain eternal life, unless they, in like manner, offer unto him the same sacrifice, and through that offering obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him.
What are some of the trials we may face?
It is not so much what our trials are as how we deal with them. Do we seek the Lords help? Do we follow the guidance and counsel that we receive. Are we humble?
Close with testimony.
1999 Karl Kowallis
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