Being Desperate

At the latest CES devotional for young adults, Sister Wendy Nelson spoke about an interesting topic: being desperate.  She spoke about some of those that had sought Christ’s help in times of great distress and made this observation: “What did these people have in common? They were desperate!  Desperate for the Savior to heal them, help them, cleanse them, guide them, protect them, and save them!” She went on to suggest that we all have times when we are similarly desperate for help, and that “desperation can actually be a good motivator.”  She even went so far as to say, “I pray that this year you will have some moments of anguishing desperation that will propel you further along the path to becoming the man or woman you were born to be” (“Becoming the Person You Were Born to Be”, given Jan. 10, 2016; see here).  It certainly seems odd for someone to express their hope that you would have “anguishing desperation,” but as I’ve thought about her message I know that she is right.  I realize that the moments I have sought heaven the most have been those when I needed help the most. 

                Ultimately I think what Sister Nelson is hoping for us is that we will more earnestly seek the Lord in our lives.  Trials and tribulations for which we need help can certainly be powerful motivators for us; for example, Mormon lamented, “And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him” (Helaman 12:3).  For many it takes serious difficulties and afflictions for us to remember the Lord and seek Him as we should.  We realize in those times of trials that there is no chance for help but from God.  All of us have moments like Jairus who fell at the feet of the Savior “and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed” (Mark 5:22-23).  Pain and suffering and great challenges can help us realize that the only chance for relief is from heaven.  Certainly the Lord wants us to come to Him in those moments, and His promise is sure that help will come to those who seek Him: “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). 

                But must we wait for such sore trials to seek heaven and come to know God?  Certainly not—but I think that we must have that same kind of desire and longing for the Lord if we want real divine communication.  There is still a need for a kind of desperation.  Not all great revelations in the scriptures came because of afflictions, but certainly few great spiritual experiences came to the apathetic or ambivalent.  Nephi’s incredible revelations of 1 Nephi 11-14 came not really out of trial but because he was “desirous” to see the things his father saw and he went seeking the Lord in faith (1 Nephi 10:17, 1).  He was “desperate” in a sense not because he had to be but because he earnestly yearned for a spiritual confirmation of Lehi’s revelations.  Joseph Smith was the same way in 1820—there was no great physical affliction that spurred the First Vision, but his desire to know God’s will was so overpowering that he searched and pondered the scriptures, and of the passage in James “reflected on it again and again” as it did “enter every feeling of [his] heart” (JSH 1:12).  He was desperate to get an answer, and he did.  Enos was the same way: the words his father Jacob had taught about eternal life “sunk deep into [his] heart” and his “soul hungered” for the Lord.  Because of that sincere desire he was willing to seek the Lord in “mighty prayer and supplication,” ultimately receiving the witness from God that he desired.  His desperation did not come out of great physical troubles but from a yearning to hear the voice of God. 

                We certainly don’t seek the kind of trials that make us desperate for the Lord’s help.  They will come as the Lord sees fit, but we should seek to develop the burning desire to continually hear the voice of the Lord and come to know Him.  There is no requirement of personal trouble needed to reach heaven; but, as Moroni tells us, pondering and praying and remembering the Lord coupled with faith and a sincere heart and real intent are indeed prerequisites for receiving “the power of the Holy Ghost” to guide us (see Moroni 10:3-4).  In short, you have to want it.