Suffering's Purpose in Our Lives

This is one of the topics that I have really spent a lot of time thinking about. Everyone at some point in their life has to come face to face with a difficulty that they are not strong enough to deal with. My feelings about why this happens come in four parts. The first reason is that I don't know. I really don't know why some things have to happen, or why they do, but they always do happen.

The second reason is that often we are actually guilty, and we try to convince ourselves that we haven’t done anything wrong to merit hard times. That I think is false, and also what the Lord tried to teach the Saints in Missouri in D&C 101 and 103. You can’t try to bend the rules (or break them) and expect nothing to happen. In fact, I am grateful for a God that doesn’t let us always break the rules and do about it. Imagine if He waited to teach us that what we are doing is wrong till when we die?

The third reason is that our characters have to be tested. Basically every novel, movie, or story ever written with a happy ending had a large portion of the plot dedicated to the main character going through a horrible ordeal filled with misunderstandings, lies, and painful testing. Why should we be any different if we want eternal lives? The right thing is always the right thing, no matter how many people do it or not. One of my favorite explanations as to why we go through suffering, according to Arthur Wentworth Hewitt is “because [God] loves us so much more than He loves our happiness. How so? Well, if on a basis of strict personal return here and now, all the good were always happy and all the bad suffered disaster (instead of often quite the reverse), this would be the most subtle damnation of character imaginable.” Another quote by Spencer W. Kimball explains that “[i]f pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency. . . . There would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood.”

The fourth reason is so that we can receive the blessings of the Atonement. The Savior was perfect and without fault, and yet in order for Him to be perfected He had to go through the awful ordeal of Gethsemane. We can be made perfect in our suffering, and learn to love God and rely on His Son if we remain faithful to Them in our sufferings.

Patriarchal Blessings and the D&C

The fascinating thing about Patriarchal blessings and the Doctrine and Covenants is the overwhelming similarities they share. I know that the Lord answers all of us in individual ways and helps each child on a personal level. Both are written for meaningful study and application. They are to be read and re-read and additional insights are gained over and over again when you pray and sincerely seek knowledge from them.

There are a few differences worth mentioning, before I go into further depth with the similarities. While the D&C is for all to benefit by, Patriarchal blessings are meant only for the person who received the revelation. You can share insights gained and important principles, but not overly freely and typically not in the context of your individual blessing. They are also different in that certain commands given to you in a blessing are not for other people to fulfill or perform, whereas most of the commands in the D&C are for everyone to accomplish.

I had an interesting thought that never had come to me before that I want to share. A Patriarchal blessing and the revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants are given through a priesthood leader as direct revelation for those over whom they have stewardship. Think about that, the Lord shares with someone (His authorized servant) sacred knowledge about the way things can be for you (and in the case of apostolic revelation, for the whole world) if you and I are faithful. The blessing of Priesthood leaders is so easily overlooked that we can take it for granted if we don’t think about what flows from having them here.

Patriarchal blessings also show how Joseph Smith probably received most of the revelations: I have heard Patriarchs mention how they receive inspiration, and it is not word for word. They say they have impressions, thoughts and feelings that they then have to convey in the best language they can summon. I would be surprised if Joseph the prophet, Joseph F. Smith, or any patriarch received many revelations from God that were completely worded for them. I feel that some specific parts are given, and key words may be brought to mind, however, God grants them to understand what it is He wants them to teach and then these wonderful men do their best to accurately word what they have received from God.

These are wonderful guides for our life that fill it with knowledge and understanding of the Plan of Salvation. Even more importantly, we learn our individual plan of salvation that God has had for us from the beginning if we read both and are faithful, which is the word I would choose to summarize the intent of both: to be faithful.