Exerting All Our Powers

In President Nelson’s invitation last general conference to prepare for this coming conference—now just five days away—he said this: “General conference next April will be different from any previous conference.”  Well, that is certainly true already!  With the conference not open to the public and only those speaking attending each session, clearly it will be unique and we will all be watching only from our homes.  Surely that will not be the only unique aspect of the conference, though, and we look forward to a spiritual outpouring as we celebrate the Restoration and the 200^th anniversary of the First Vision.  One of the suggestions that President Nelson gave to prepare was this: “You may wish to begin your preparation by reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.”  In that spirit, I have chosen this last week preparing for conference to focus my posts on the 1838 Joseph Smith History account in the Pearl of Great Price and what it teaches us about the Restoration and the gospel.

               What stood out to me as I read the first 20 verses again today was the struggle that Joseph had to persevere through.  I think our biggest problem obtaining spiritual knowledge and revelation from heaven is that we give up too soon; the Lord wants us to work through difficulty and show some perseverance and stick-to-itiveness amidst our struggles before the light comes.  Joseph wrote of his “great uneasiness” that he personally felt at this time how his feelings were “deep and often poignant” as he didn’t know what to do.  He wrote how he “felt some desire” to be united with a particular sect, but he was confused and it was “impossible” for him to “come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong” (v8).  Joseph described, “My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant” (v9).  This was a turbulent time for him in his spirit, and he further recounted, “In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?” (v10)  In this time he said he “was laboring under the extreme difficulties“ (v11).  The tone of all these passages indicates that Joseph was deeply distressed, he was agitated in spirit and didn’t know what to do.  We all might experience similar agitations and questions and times when it is difficult for us to obtain answers.  Joseph at this point could have thrown in the towel and given up; he could have reasoned, “Well, if they can’t figure it out, I won’t either” and put his questions behind him to no more trouble his soul.  But he didn’t—he persevered in his distress, determined to find God and His truth. 

               That perseverance continued to be an important factor in Joseph’s ability to get the answers to his questions.  He searched the scriptures, found the passage in James, and “reflected on it again and again,” finally determining to go and pray in the woods to ask of God (v12).  Even then, he still had to show his determination when at first his attempt was thwarted by an unknown being: “Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.”  He would not let even this stop him, describing, “[I was] exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me” (v16).  Only them did the light and answers come, and one of the messages for us in our own seeking is that we too must exert all our powers to call upon God and seek answers from Him.  Joseph’s story teaches us that we must not give up seeking the Lord despite our uneasiness or poignant feelings or the tumult of opinions around us—rather, we must exert all our powers to call upon God and He will answer in His own way and His own time.