My friend at work was telling me about a chocolate shop the other day, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about that delicious yumminess since :) I love chocolate, and it comes in so many different varieties. Dark, milk, white; with or without nuts, fruits, caramel, and the list goes on and on. I must admit, though, there are a few flavors that don't really float my boat. Everyone has them. They come in those assorted boxes of chocolate that are passed around like wildfire during valentines season and Christmas. It's always a bit nerve wracking having to pick one without knowing what's inside. Will it be heaven on earth for your mouth, or one to put back in the box after you've nibbled off a corner? Not that I've ever done that :)Well, life's a lot like that box of chocolates. Sometimes there's a guide on the back helping us choose which ones we'd like to try. Other times it's a complete shot in the dark. I guess I've been feeling like I've been taking more shots in the dark lately and my choices seem to follow the 50-50-90 rule: If there's a 50% chance of getting it right, 90% of the time I get it wrong. It seems the more I try to do what's right, the more lost I feel. In the musical Wicked, Elphaba sings "No good deed goes unpunished. No act of charity goes un-resented." While that might be slightly cynical, it often feels like everything I try to do doesn't turn out. There are trials in my life that I wish I hadn't picked up out of that chocolate box. I wish, after I nibbled off a piece, that I could be done with them and put them back in the box.
Fortunately life doesn't work like that. Why fortunately? Because if it did, we would never grow! There's no way I would continue working through a trial if I didn't have to. Trials are no fun; nobody really wants them. But they're the best ways to learn and increase in faith.
Trials, in one way or another, test our faith. Why does God want to test our faith? He already knows us so well that He can predict our actions, but He wants us to know ourselves. Only when we are tested do we come to learn who we are. If we coasted through life, we'd never know how strong our faith could be. Peter said, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations (trials): That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:6-7) Peter is saying that even when we are burdened by many trials and our faith is tested, we should rejoice because overcoming those trials, especially ones that pull us through a refiner's fire, make us acceptable to Christ.
Alma, in talking with his son Helaman, said, "I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 36:3) Alma is saying that God will not take away our trials, but He will support us in our trials and afflictions so that we may eventually return to him.
However, Heavenly Father does not always help us right away. Sometimes He tests our faith in order that we may grow. Moroni states, "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6) Sometimes, when I'm in the midst of a trial, it's hard to see the end, the point, the reason why. But Moroni is saying that instead of arguing your situation with God, have faith that He knows what He's doing and that everything will work for your good if you continue making correct choices.
One of my favorite examples of this principle is the story of Zion's Camp. This takes place in 1834, when the newly founded Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was gathered in 2 places; Kirtland, Ohio where Joseph Smith lived, and Independence Missouri. Mobs combined to drive the saints living in Independence (Zion) out of Jackson County Missouri. The saints had tried to regain their land through legal means, but were unsuccessful. Finally, Joseph Smith was told in a revelation to raise a camp of 500 men to march down to Jackson county and redeem Zion. Exciting, right? :) It's like a story out of the Book of Mormon: righteous men fighting for their wives, religion, land, and freedom just like Captain Moroni.
Well, despite it being a commandment from God that 500 men go, only about 200 finally followed Joseph down to Missouri. Now you would think, this whole camp thing being the Lord's idea, that He would have made it a nice jaunt down to Missouri, followed by a quick smack down on the wicked Missourians. Not so much. Just the trek itself was filled with sickness, murmuring, and bad conditions. And when the party finally reached the Fishing River in Missouri, Joseph received a revelation stating that the Lord was revoking His promise to redeem Zion and that it would have to wait for a season. (D&C 102 and D&C 105).
I must admit my first reaction to hearing that would probably have been along the lines of "What gives?!" (in 19th century slang of course). Why would the Lord ask them to come all that way- about 1000 miles- through trials and suffering and then change His mind? The reason was that the people were not sufficiently prepared to redeem Zion and they needed to learn more before they could return. (D&C 105:9-10)
So was there a point to the trial they underwent? Absolutely! God told Joseph, "But inasmuch as there are those who have hearkened unto my words, I have prepared a blessing and an endowment for them, if they continue faithful. I have heard their prayers, and will accept their offering; and it is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a trial of their faith." (D&C 105:18-19) The lesson we need to learn from this is that God knows what we need to learn from our trials, and He gives us trials that will increase our faith if we hearken to His words. The outcome might not be anything we expected, but it is what we need. For example, Zion's camp never redeemed Zion; in fact it remains unredeemed in that sense to this day. However, from Zion's camp came the next several prophets of the church, apostles, seventy. The majority of leadership in the church for the next 50 years were members of Zion's camp. The world might call it a failure (and wikipedia does- I looked it up), but to God it was the proving ground for the leaders the church would need to take it across the plains into the Salt Lake Valley.
Christ said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Yes we will have trials in this life. They may not be what we would choose for ourselves, but they all will help us come to the Savior if we hearken to His counsel and have faith. Life may be like that box of chocolates: we never know what's going to come at us next. But we know that mixed in with those trials, are the blessings of that perfect piece of chocolate- eternal life. And I know that if we keep trying, someday we'll receive it.
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