5/18/2018 - Section 98:1-4

May 18, 2018

Section 98:1-4

Faith in Hard Times, Adversity Living Through, In the Strength of the Lord, Missouri Saints, Church is Not Full of Perfect People,

This section was given a short time after the first serious mob action against the saints in Missouri. They had lost property and they had been physically hurt. They were frightened and they were angry. An interesting fact is that Joseph was still in Kirtland, nine hundred miles from Missouri. It is highly unlikely that news of the mobbing could have reached him by the time this revelation was given.

I think one of the great challenges of life comes as we yearn toward eternal goals, but live with mortal understanding. That is the very condition here on earth that demands that we must live by faith. The Lord follows this violence with the following advice: “fear not….let your hearts be comforted….waiting patiently on the Lord….prayers have been heard” And then the most difficult good news—the Lord calls it his promise-- in v 3: “all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory”

“…five hundred men rushed into Independence waving a red flag and brandishing guns, dirks, whips, and clubs. With oaths and curses they searched for the leading elders of the Church, threatening to whip the ones they captured with from fifty to five hundred lashes. Negroes owned by members of the mob laid waste the crops of the Saints. Dwellings were demolished by the mob as they threatened: ‘We will rid Jackson county of the Mormons, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must. If they will not go without, we will whip and kill the men; we will destroy their children, and ravish their women.” It was t this time that 6 men: Edward Partridge, William Phelps, Isaac Morley, Sidney Gilbert, John Whitmer & John Corrill offered themselves as a ransom for the lives of the saints.

It was after these frightening events that the Lord gives the calming instructions, that I included above, to these people who had lived through such horrible and frightening times.

There is reason that the story of Job is in the Old Testament. We must have faith when life is pleasant and satisfying, and, I think, it is even more important that we must have faith when life brings us sorrow, heartache, sickness, violence, worry, anxiety, loss, unrelenting stress…. For if we have faith, we will also have comfort and strength (maybe not full understanding) but comfort and strength to make it through those most difficult paths.

It is so touching to me that while all the saints were affected, those six men offered themselves as ransom in an effort to spare all the others additional heartache and loss and pain. I remind myself that this group of ‘saints’ were a mixture of righteous, humble people and those members who were selfish, haughty, and unrepentant of their flaws. These six great men showed us what true charity is—what true strength—what true faith is.  In the strength of the Lord I can do all things.