Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Our Standing before God and Trials

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 108, which is a short section given to Lyman Sherman and his call to serve. I noticed that in verse 2 the Lord tells Lyman that his soul can be at rest concerning his spiritual standing before the Lord. I found that interesting because I have also worried about my spiritual standing before the Lord and sought blessings to see if the Lord is pleased with me and with my performance of what I understand His will to be towards me.

That got me wondering how many other people worry about their standing before the Lord. I'll bet it's a common thing for most people to wonder. If you think about it, we as people really wonder about our standing with just about everyone we have contact with it we respect them enough. The difference is with people here on the earth, we can ask them directly, or as is most common, see how they react to us and then analyze their behavior in turn. Often times we over-analyze the others behavior and worry way too much about it and feel rather foolish when we break down and confess to the person in question what has been going on in our mind.

But with God, He is not in front of us, and He generally doesn't speak directly to us. We also fall into the trap of thinking that if we have trials, we are some how not doing what is right. We have all heard the testimonies in fast and testimony meeting and in talks during sacrament meetings where people say, "I don't understand why this is/did happening to me, I am/was trying to hard to live the gospel." Such statements always make me shake my head. Such people do not understand the gospel or the scriptures.

As I am sure I have stated before, a person who has lots of trials in their lives, that are not of their own making such as addictions or trouble with the law through sinful behavior, should feel good about their standing with the Lord. The reason for this is because trials are how we grow. And if the Lord gives us trials, it is because He is pleased with where we are, and He wants to help us grow. It is actually the people that never have a trial that should be worried about their standing before God in my opinion. Because none of us, not even our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, are perfect yet and all of us can grow more in this life and be better prepared for the life to come.

So perhaps that is the answer right there. If you want to know your standing before the Lord, take a good, honest look at your life and look at your trials that you have had over the past 6 - 12 months. Take away any self inflicted trials by sin and just view your true trials. For example this past month my wife and daughter went up for a visit to some family members for what was supposed to be a 1 week visit. While they were there our car broke down and they ended up being gone for 1 full month to the day. That was quite the trial to be separated for that long for all 3 of us. Luckily for us, my wife and daughter were surrounded by family and were taken care of perhaps even better than if they had been down here with me. But it was a trial that the three of us had to go through and it made our bonds of love that much stronger. Such trials will help us grow together as a family, a necessary component if we hope to be exalted one day in the Celestial Kingdom.

We all desire to know our standing before the Lord and we can know with certainty that we are doing well when we have trials in our lives that are designed to help us grow. Now, the Lord also does not mind when we seek a blessing and desire to know His will concerning us more directly, but in a lot of cases it is just not needed. We just need to take a good honest look at ourselves. I will give you a hint though. The fact that you are even desiring to know your standing before God shows that you are in a pretty good place. People who are prone to sin a lot, do not care where they stand before God usually. Food for thought. Until tomorrow.

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