In our lives we have all faced moments of adversity. Some are easy to overcome and others are more difficult. Whether we find the adversity we face to be something we can handle, something we are struggling with, something of our own making or something caused by another person, we can always rely on the Lord to help and guide us through whatever trials we face.
In 1833 the Saints were driven from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri, and moved to Clay County, Missouri. That home only lasted 3 short years before the Saints were again forced to move. They moved 60 miles north and established Far West, Missouri, and several other smaller settlements.
While in Far West, the Saints faced prosperity and adversity. Many converts joined the Saints and bolstered the population and two temple sites were dedicated: one in Far West and one in Adam-ondi-Ahman. Because of the continued persecutions from neighboring communities, neither temple was ever built. Another affect of the persecution and struggles the Saints faced was that Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were among many that either left the church or were excommunicated.
Over the year 1838, mob violence escalated and several Saints were killed. As a result of incorrect information given by non-members and former members, Governor Boggs issued an extermination order against the Saints on October 27. Three days after that, a mob of 200 attacked Haun’s Mill and killed 17 men and boys. The next day, about 50 church leaders, including Joseph Smith, were arrested and incarcerated. None of the charges against them were based in truth. Most of those church leaders were released within three weeks, but Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, along with four others, were kept in jail. These six were held in three different jails, the last being Liberty Jail, until April 1839.
Conditions for Joseph Smith and the others in Liberty Jail were very bad. They received very little food and the food they did receive was dirty or rotten. They did not have beds, just some straw and some threadbare blankets. And some of the men were not able to stand up during their incarceration because the ceiling was so low.
While the prophet and the others were in jail, the Saints left Missouri. They weren’t allowed to leave in peace, though. The mobs still harassed the Saints while they were trying to leave. The mobs beat, robbed, tortured, assaulted and murdered many people before the Saints were able to get out of the state.
The prophet received several reports of the suffering the Saints went through during this time. His heart broke for the people and he prayed many times to the Lord for help and guidance. As a result, the Lord gave Joseph Smith several revelations, which the prophet relayed to those who were organizing the evacuation of the Saints from Missouri. Sections 121-123 of the Doctrine and Covenants are comprised of portions of these revelations.
In D&C 121:1-6, Joseph Smith prays to the Lord and asks for His help.
D&C 121:1-6
1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?
2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?
3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?
4 O Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven, earth, and seas, and of all things that in them are, and who controllest and subjectest the devil, and the dark and benighted dominion of Sheol—stretch forth thy hand; let thine eye pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion toward us.
5 Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs.
6 Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever.
In these scriptures, you can see and feel Joseph Smith’s anguish and his heartache for what the Saints are suffering. He asks the Lord to have compassion on the Saints and then to come forth and avenge His people for the wrongs done against them.
- What comes to mind or how do you feel when you read these verses?
- Reading these verses, I am struck at the strength of Joseph Smith’s testimony. He doesn’t ask WHY the Lord is withholding His help. Joseph knows the Lord has His reasons. But he does ask how long the Lord is going to let the Saints continue to suffer and then asks for the Lord to have compassion on them and to avenge them.
- I think it is very telling of Joseph Smith’s character that he does not ask the Lord to take revenge on the mobs and those inflicting the persecutions on the Saints. He instead asks the Lord to avenge them. ‘Revenge’ is personal and denotes retaliation while ‘Avenge’ is to punish someone for wrong-doing. I also think it is important to note that Joseph does not seek ways he or the Saints can avenge themselves. He instead goes to the Lord and asks the Lord to avenge them because he knows the Lord’s justice is pure and righteous.
After Joseph prays to the Lord for help for the Saints, the Lord speaks to him and gives him words of comfort as well as a gentle rebuke.
D&C 121:7-10
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
10 Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.
In these verses, the Lord comforts Joseph by telling him that the suffering he is going through won’t last long and that he will be blessed if he endures it well. He also reminds Joseph that he still has people who stand by him and support him and then tells Joseph that he will see these people again. The rebuke the Lord gives is gentle. He reminds Joseph that there was someone who suffered much worse things and that Joseph does not have it as bad as it could be.
- If you were Joseph and received these words from the Lord, how would you feel?
- Being a flawed person, I’d be a little frustrated that the Lord wasn’t swooping right in and protecting everyone from all the suffering and adversity. But at the same time, there would be so much awe and gratitude at hearing the voice of the Lord. I would feel peace at knowing the persecution would not last forever and I would feel a little ashamed at being reminded that there have been others who have suffered more than I ever will.
- Reading these words of the Lord, what can we learn about Him?
- We can learn that the Lord does listen to our prayers and He wishes to comfort and encourage us through our difficulties.
The Lord’s response to Joseph Smith lasts for the remainder of section 121 and continues into Section 122. When speaking about these revelations, B. H. Roberts said that they “made Liberty jail, for a time, a center of instruction. The eyes of the saints were turned to it as the place whence would come encouragement, counsel—the word of the Lord. It was more temple than prison, so long as the Prophet was there. It was a place of meditation and prayer. … Joseph Smith sought God in this rude prison, and found him” (B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:526).
This shows that no matter where we are and what is going on, we can look to the Lord and ask for his guidance, comfort and help.
Through our lives, we have all faced trials and had to go through difficulties and persecutions. Take a moment and think about a few of these that you have gone through. Now read D&C 122:5-8.
D&C 122:5-8
5 If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
6 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
When we read that Christ “descended below all things” it may seem a little vague. When looking for a clearer definition, I came across the words of Jeffrey R. Holland.
Handout #1 – To begin to meet the demands of the Atonement, the sinless Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane………..there to bear the agony of soul only He could bear. He “began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy,” saying to Peter, James, and John, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, unto death.”Why? Because He suffered “the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” He experienced “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great [was] his anguish.”
Through this suffering, Jesus redeemed the souls of all men, women, and children “that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” In doing so, Christ “descended below all things”—including every kind of sickness, infirmity, and dark despair experienced by every mortal being—in order that He might “comprehend all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, in Ensign, March 2008, 32).
By the experiences of His life, living in poverty and being persecuted for being who He was all the way through the Atonement, the Savior was able to undergo every pain, sorrow, heartache, sickness, loss, regret, persecution and suffering that any person on earth ever has or ever will experience. Because of what He went through, the Lord has a perfect understanding of every trial and temptation we will ever go through in this life.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell has given some good counsel on the suffering of the Lord.
Handout #2 – “As part of His infinite atonement, Jesus … has borne the sins, griefs, sorrows, and, declared Jacob, the pains of every man, woman, and child (see 2 Nephi 9:21). Having been perfected in His empathy, Jesus thus knows how to succor us. … Nothing is beyond His redeeming reach or His encircling empathy. Therefore, we should not complain about our own life’s not being a rose garden when we remember who wore the crown of thorns!” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 89; or Ensign, May 1987, 72).
- Are there any trials we go through where we cannot be comforted and uplifted by the Lord?
- No. The Lord will always comfort and strengthen us when we ask Him for His help. He’s always there, waiting for us to turn to Him, no matter what we are going through.
- How can knowing of the Lord’s sufferings and sacrifice help us be more faithful in our trials?
- Several years ago, back in college, I finally had a true understanding of my part in the Atonement. We’re always taught that Christ suffered for all the sins and suffering in the world, but it’s not expressly talked about a lot that WE are the ones who made that suffering as severe as it was. The sins we commit are another drop of blood from the Savior’s pores. They are another second of pain. I finally realized that every mistake I make adds to the suffering of my Savior. Knowing that by my own actions I am adding to the pain the Savior felt made me want to do better. I still make mistakes and do stupid things, but when I’m faced with a big trial, it’s so much easier to make the right choice when I look at it in the perspective of which choice will cause the Savior to suffer for me.
- When we are faced with trials, how can we more fully partake of the comfort and strength that is part of the Atonement?
1 Peter 5:6-10
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
If we ask the Lord in humility for His help and guidance and do our best to overcome our trials, the Lord will comfort and strengthen us and after He has deemed it sufficient, He will remove the trial from us.
One of the things I struggled with for a while was that whenever I asked the Lord to help me with something, I would wonder why He wasn’t taking that struggle away from me or making me immediately feel strong enough to overcome. I had done what the Lord had asked by being humble enough to ask for help and felt I wasn’t getting the help I thought I deserved. My attitude, though, was completely wrong. I was being humble enough to ask for help, but with the arrogance that it was going to be in MY way and in MY time.
The humility the Lord is asking for is not just the humility to ask for help, but also the humility to submit to His time. The Lord has a plan for us and the trials and suffering we go through may not make sense to us, but the Lord knows what He is doing and He knows what we need to go through to achieve the greatest growth and understanding.
In order to grow and achieve the potential the Lord knows is within us, we need to go through trials and face adversity. When we took part in the council in heaven, we knew and understood that this was going to be part of the experience we went through here on earth. We knew we would face hardships, go through unhappiness and be tested to our limits. We knew all this…….and we also knew the reward that awaits us when we succeed.
Joseph Smith was one of those who has received an excessive amount of trials in his life. He said in D&C 127:2 that “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 “I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation.” Through all the trials the prophet faced, the Lord was there comforting him, counseling him and teaching him about adversity.
There are several scriptures with the counsel and teaching the Lord gave to Joseph Smith.
D&C 98:12 For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.
- In this scripture, what does the Lord teach about the purpose of adversity?
- The Lord uses adversity to test our understanding of gospel principles. As in school, He tests us on the things He teaches us in order to help us better understand the concepts and their practical application.
D&C 98:14-15
14 Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy.
15 For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.
- In this scripture, what does the Lord teach about the purpose of adversity?
- The Lord uses adversity to test our willingness to be obedient to His covenants and commandments. When we are faithful and obedient, we prove to Him that we are worthy of His sacrifice and are worthy to return and live with Him. When we are not faithful and obedient, we must repent in order to receive the blessings of the Atonement and then again become worthy to return to live with Him.
D&C 101:1-2
1 Verily I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance—
2 I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions;
- In this scripture, what does the Lord teach about adversity?
- There are times in our lives where we have made the wrong choice and must deal with the consequences of that action. We have all gone through times in our lives where we have sinned, whether it be yelling at our kids, saying unkind words to our spouse, getting angry over something silly or held a grudge and not forgiven someone. Some of the consequences of those actions are that we lose trust, we hurt the people we love and we damage friendships. There are other, more serious, sins that have deeper and more far-reaching consequences. The Lord lets us face adversity because of our sins in order to teach us what we could face in the eternities if we continue in our transgressions.
D&C 122:7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
- In this scripture, what does the Lord teach about adversity?
- Adversity is there to help us grow and reach our potential. It’s like when we start a new job. We can read training manuals all day and have a complete understanding of the rules and procedures of the job, but we won’t really be able to DO the job until we actually start working. Our trials are our on-the-job training and, like on-the-job training, the more we go through trials, the better we become at overcoming them.
- Knowing some of the purposes for the adversity we face in our lives, how can this helps us to endure our trials well?
- Knowing that the trials we face are coming from a place of love by the Lord makes the trials make more sense.
There are many people in the world who think trials are only given to those who have displeased the Lord or sinned in some way. Years ago people believed that children with disabilities were only given to parents who had sinned grievously and that those suffering from serious illnesses had sins they hadn’t repented of.
While it is true that some trials and adversity are a result of sin, sin is not the only reason for adversity. When we subscribe to the idea that God only gives hardships and suffering to those He is punishing, we transform God from a loving Father in Heaven who wants to help us grow and return back to Him into a vengeful and angry God who only seeks to punish those He is displeased with.
What we must remember is what Lehi told Jacob in 2 Nephi 2:11.
2 Nephi 2:11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball gives another explanation for the purpose of adversity.
Handout #3 – Some adversity comes as a natural consequence of the frailty and corruptibility of the mortal body. Some comes because of accidents, because of our own choices that aren’t necessarily transgressions, and because of other people’s choices—things that God can protect us from but sometimes does not because “the basic gospel law is free agency and eternal development” (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle [1973], 96).
Elder Richard G. Scott also gave another purpose for adversity in our lives.
Handout #4 – Adversity can also come “to accomplish the Lord’s own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing” (Richard G. Scott, in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 18; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 16).
Some may think that by being faithful and obedient that we won’t or shouldn’t have to go through adversity or hardship. A former President of the Church spoke some wise words on that topic.
Handout #5 – While serving in the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Harold B. Lee said that “living the gospel of Jesus Christ is no guarantee that adversity will not come into our lives; but living the gospel does give us the strength and faith and power to rise above that adversity and look beyond the present trouble to the brighter day” (quoted by A. Theodore Tuttle, in Conference Report, Oct. 1967, 15; or Improvement Era, Dec. 1967, 47).
Everyone on the planet will face adversity in one form or another. Each of us goes through the adversity that the Lord knows will help us grow the most.
While the Lord has given us adversity to help us grow and reach our potential, it is still difficult to go through at times. For these times, the Lord has given much counsel in the Doctrine & Covenants to help us.
D&C 24:8 Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; butendure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.
In this, the Lord reminds us that He is always with us and will always be there to support us.
D&C 98:1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything givethanks;
When I’m going through a trial, the last thing on my mind is to take comfort in the trial and to be thankful for it. But something we should keep in mind is that the Lord won’t give us anything we can’t handle and we should take comfort in the knowledge that God knows we can handle the situation He has given us. We should also be thankful for the knowledge that God knows we can overcome the trial He has presented us with.
D&C 98:11 And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by everyword which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.
Sometimes when I face a trial, I’ve struggled and wondered what the point is. In this scripture, God is telling us the point. The point of every trial and difficult situation we go through is to be obedient to the commandments of God. He knows that we need reminders of this and gives us many throughout the scriptures.
D&C 122:9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shallremain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.
At times in my life, I’ve struggled with making the right choices because I’ve worried a lot about what people will think of me. When I moved away from Utah, I moved away from a strong Mormon base where I never really had to worry about certain things because we all had the same morals and background. In Oklahoma, hardly anyone I knew was Mormon. I made friends with a lot of non-Mormon girls and one night they all wanted to go to a bar after bowling. I didn’t really want to go, but they told me I could be the designated driver, so I figured it would be okay and I wanted to help my friends out. Being there, though, was not a good experience. The atmosphere was awful and one of the girls got really antagonistic and forceful about trying to get me to drink. It was a really uncomfortable and not so fun night. I didn’t drink or do anything bad while I was there, but I did go and put myself in a bad situation. Reflecting back on that night later, I realized that I was more concerned with accommodating my friends and making them happy than for sticking up with my belief that I shouldn’t be in a place like that. The worst they would have done was make fun of me. The potential for what I could have done was much worse. We must always remember that God will be with us always if we make the right choices and that His blessings are much better than the approbation and approval of people here on Earth.
The blessings the Lord has promised those who are faithful in their trials are great. He has promised to stand by us, to strengthen us, to lift our burdens from us, to heal us and to give us glory and joy in our obedience. He has also promised that the trials we go through will be for our good and will help us reach our full potential.
I really like D&C 58:2-4 and what it says about those who keep the commandments and are faithful to the Lord.
D&C 58:2-4
2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.
This scripture is such a help during tough times. It is a reminder that we have to be tested before we can be blessed and that we have to be true and faithful in order to receive those blessings. It is also a reminder that it is not long until we shall receive the greatest blessings of all. I really like how it says that for those who keep the commandments, “the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.” That is such a wonderful promise from the Lord. Knowing that what is waiting for us in heaven is much greater than the difficulty of any trial we face should be a strength to all of us when we face a difficult situation.
To end, I’d like to share a quote by Elder James E. Faust while he was in the Quorum of the Twelve.
He said: “In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. … It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1979, 77; or Ensign, May 1979, 53).
Most of my life I have not been thankful for my trials and at times I’ve been angry at God for things I’ve had to go through. But as I look back on my life and the things I’ve been through, I realize that I wouldn’t be where I am now or on the path I’m on if it weren’t for the adversities the Lord has given me. The Lord knows what He is doing and only gives us trials to help us grow and become closer to Him. I am thankful the Lord is working to help me get back to Him and I am thankful that He is there to help me every step of the way. Facing life without the Lord would be so depressing and overwhelming, but He is there to help us and guide us because He loves us and wants us to be back with Him.
Related articles
- Gospel Doctrine Lesson 24 – “Be Not Deceived, but Continue in Steadfastness” (welcometoerinsworld.wordpress.com)
- Gospel Doctrine Lesson 26 – “Go Ye Into the World and Preach My Gospel” (welcometoerinsworld.wordpress.com)
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