Our Walls

President Hunter gave an interesting analogy between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the things that inhibit us from missionary work.  In 1990 he said, “As the walls in Eastern Europe … and many other parts of the world come tumbling down, the corresponding need for more missionaries to fulfill the divine commission to take the gospel to all the earth will certainly go up! Are we ready to meet that contingency?  To satisfy the new demands being made upon us in this great missionary work of the last days, perhaps some of us… need to take stock to determine whether ‘walls’ that we have built in our own minds need to come down.  For example, how about the ‘comfort wall’ that seems to prevent many couples and singles from going on a mission? How about the ‘financial wall’ of debt that interferes with some members’ ability to go, or the ‘grandchildren wall,’ or the ‘health wall,’ or the ‘lack of self-confidence wall,’ or the ‘self-satisfied wall,’ or the ‘transgression wall,’ or the walls of fear, doubt, or complacency? Does anyone really doubt for a minute that with the help of the Lord he or she could bring those walls crashing down?” (see here)  While he was specifically focusing on the barriers that prevent couples from serving missions, surely the analogy relates to all of us as member missionaries who have ‘walls of our minds’ that prevent us from sharing the gospel as we should. 

               The scriptures show several examples of physical walls that were conquered by the power of the Lord.  Of course the most famous story is that of the people of Joshua and the walls of Jericho.  The Israelites surrounded the city walked around the city for six days until finally on the seventh day, “The people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city” (Joshua 6:20).  The Lord showed he was more powerful than the earthy barrier.  Other stories show specifically how walls could not hold in some of the great missionaries of old.  When Alma and Amulek were locked up in prison in Ammonihah they cried in faith unto the Lord so that “the earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the earth….  And Alma and Amulek came forth out of the prison, and they were not hurt” (Alma 14:28).  Later in the Book of Mormon we read of the disciples of Jesus who were “cast into prison; but by the power of the word of God, which was in them, the prisons were rent in twain” (4 Nephi 1:30).  The walls of the prison could not contain them because of the power of the word of God.  In the New Testament Peter and John likewise were miraculously delivered from the walls of prison when “the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:19-20).  The walls of the prison could not contain them because the Lord needed them to keep preaching His word.  Perhaps the most dramatic example of “walls” being moved is the brief description we get of Enoch’s power among the people of his day: “And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him” (Moses 7:13).  Mountains were his walls, and the power of God was so great in him that these enormous walls could not hold him back. 

               These stories I think can give us the courage to face the “walls” that stop us from doing missionary work or simply making spiritual progress in general.  As President Hunter testified, the Lord can “bring those walls crashing down” for us through our faith.  Jehovah told us through the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:16).  Perhaps we can understand the “walls” spoken of here as our trials and struggles and fears that God can help bring down through the power of Christ and His atonement.