The Secret of the Earthly Pilgrimage

“Who indeed knows the secret of the earthly pilgrimage? Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die?  Who knows what keeps us living and struggling, while all things break about us?…  Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand.  But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all struggle, is beyond all human wisdom.  Oh God, my God, do not Thou forsake me.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, if Thou art with me….”  That moving passage is from the famous 1948 South African novel Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton (chapter 10, paragraph 7).  I rediscovered the book recently and have been listening to it, and those words come from the priest Stephen Kumalo as he struggles to find his wayward son in Johannesburg.  This powerful language evokes the anguish of a soul struggling with the loss of his loved one, and underlines the truth that, in the end, we simply cannot understand all that happens during our mortal journey. 

                In the restored gospel we humbly acknowledge that God has indeed provided many answers to the deep questions of the soul.  As the prophet taught in the last general conference, “Our Father’s plan for our happiness and our salvation is shared by our missionaries throughout the world….  Men and women everywhere… recognize its truths, and they plant their feet on the path that will lead them safely home. Their lives are forever changed.”  This plan of salvation that he referred to teaches us about our purpose on the earth.  We learn from the Book of Mormon that “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God”—that this life cannot be understood but by comprehending its continuation after death that takes us back to God (Alma 34:32).  Perhaps that most beautiful passage of modern scripture about this purpose in life is this: “Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.  Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.  And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life” (D&C 101:36-38).  Meaning in this life comes from seeking the face of the Lord, from developing faith in Jesus Christ, and from enduring our allotted struggles with trust in God.

                And yet, despite the incredible light that the Savior restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, including hundreds of pages of scripture teaching us about our purpose on earth, we simply will not fully understand all that happens around us and to us in this life.  Just as we will not find a “fulness of joy” until after this life, so we will not have a fulness of knowledge and understanding in this life either.   The Restoration of the gospel with all of its light and truth did not eliminate our need to “walk by faith” and to put our trust in the Lord in all the experiences of our lives (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Like Stephen Kumalo articulated, “the purpose of our lives, the end of all struggle, is beyond all human wisdom”—in other words, we will have struggles of the greatest magnitude in our lives that we will not fully understand.  As Paul taught “we see through a glass, darkly,” and in our challenges we may like Job cry out in search of God: “Oh that I knew where I might find him!...  Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (1 Corinthians 13:12, Job 23:8-10).  The gospel doesn’t tell us exactly why we face the difficulties that we do—from why a “child suffers with an incurable illness” to why one “loses [a] job” or why a “spouse betrays [another]” to user Elder Nelson’s examples—but it does promise that we can triumph over them all—being refined “as gold”— through our faith in Jesus Christ  Meaning and peace and joy in our life comes as we “diligently focus on the Savior,” even if we don’t know why the Lord lets some things happen.  We can indeed make it through “all things through Christ which strengtheneth” (Philippians 4:13).  As Kumalo expressed, “God be thanked that there is a beloved one who can lift up the heart in suffering.”