3/19/2017 - Section 3:1

March 19, 2017

Section 3:1

Lord’s Work Will Go Forward, 116 Lost Pages, Answers to Prayer, Lord Knows Much More Than We Do, Faith in the Lord Not Man, Repentance, Lord’s Vision,

The Wentworth Letter was written by Joseph Smith in 1842. I think that this event (having the 116 pages stolen after repeatedly asking the Lord to change the ‘Do Not Allow Martin Harris To Take The Pages To Show To Those Of His Extended Family” answer) might have been one of the things that taught Joseph Smith and helped to form the knowledge on which he based this paragraph of the Wentworth Letter: “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, til it has penetrated every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

That lesson took Joseph through deep agony. Lucy Mack Smith writes of Joseph’s reaction when Martin Harris finally came to Joseph with his confession that he could not find the 116 pages. Sister Smith wrote that Joseph, clenching his hands said “….All is lost! All is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned—it is I who tempted the wrath of God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer which I received from the Lord, for he told me that it was not safe to let the writing go out of my possession.” And then she reports that he wept and groaned, and walked the floor continually….”The next morning he set out for home. [Joseph had been with his father’s family in Manchester] We parted with heavy hearts, for it now appeared that all which we had so fondly anticipated, and which had been the source of so much secret gratification, had, in a moment fled, and fled forever.”

In this instance, Joseph—in this ‘pestering’ the Lord-- thought he had established enough safety precautions with Martin Harris. Joseph wrote of this saying that Martin was not satisfied with the first two ‘no’ answers that Joseph received: “Still he could not be contented, but insisted that I should inquire once more. After much solicitation I again inquired of the Lord, and permission was granted him to have the writings on certain conditions; which were that he show them only to his brother, Preserved Harris, his own wife, his father and his mother, and a Mrs. Cobb, a sister to his wife. In accordance with this last answer, I required of him that he should bind himself in a covenant to me in a most solemn manner that he would not do otherwise than had been directed. He did so…notwithstanding, however, the great restrictions which he had been laid under, and the solemnity of the covenant which he had made with me, he did show them to others, and by stratagem they got them away from him and they never have been recovered unto this day.” (History of the Church 1:21)

I can see the desire Joseph had to respond positively to Martin Harris’s pleas. Martin had helped—and would help—Joseph so much. Martin’s wife was against what he was doing. Joseph so wanted to help Martin in the struggles that had been created within his family. In Sacrament meeting today, either Sister or Brother Gillins quoted one of the apostles saying: we cannot force our will upon God. His vision sees much farther than ours. It is a good reminder to me that to walk in faith is not always easy, and not always pleasant. But it IS always the safest way. In 2009 during another reading of the D&C 3:1 (The works and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.) I wrote in the margins: “The Lord WILL use us—just keep plugging away and doing our best”-- and I still feel that way. It is true that I don’t have the vision the Lord has, but I do have His commandments and his promises, and I am trying my best to follow His appointed paths—for that is where he has promised us a fullness of joy.