Joseph's Sleepless Night

When the angel Moroni came to visit the boy Joseph Smith on the night of September 21, 1823, Joseph did not sleep at all. Joseph recorded, “I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies.” Before he ever went to sleep Moroni then appeared and delivered his message. After this first appearance of the angel Joseph described, “I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling greatly at what had been told to me by this extraordinary messenger; when, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered that my room was again beginning to get lighted.” Then again after the second visit Joseph recorded, “So deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard.” The angel came one more time, after which Joseph recounted, “Almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night. I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of the day” (JSH 1:29, 44, 46-48). So he then went about to begin his normal manual labor required of him on their farm, having not slept at all that night.

                Joseph’s fatigue soon caught up with him because of the night’s visions. He recorded, “In attempting to work as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything” (JSH 1:48). Understandably, he was exhausted and simply didn’t have the strength for any physical labor. Not only had he been up all night, but he had been deeply engaged in a powerful spiritual experience that surely took all of his mental and emotional strength to endure. So it is no wonder that he collapsed in the field from fatigue. What is surprising and perhaps instructive, though, is what happened next. He recounted that he woke up to another appearance of the angel who told him everything he had said the night before, and Moroni commanded him to go tell his father. After doing this, his father sent him to the hill three miles away where the plates were buried. So Joseph immediately walked this distance, met the angel again as he was shown the plates and other items, and then of course had to walk back home. How could he have the strength to do this when he had just been unable to even cross the fence he was so tired?

              I believe that this story is an example of how the Lord magnifies us and gives us strength when we are on His errand. Joseph did not have the strength to work in the field, but the Lord gave him the power to go to the plates and do what was needed there at the hill. I believe that this is instructive for all of us—when we are about the Lord’s work He will give us an extra measure of strength, despite our physical fatigue, to accomplish what He requires of us. This is the principle He taught in the oath and covenant of the priesthood: “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:33). Though this is specifically referring to obtaining the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, surely its application is more broad that that: as we magnify our calling that the Lord gives us, He will sanctify us with His Spirit and our bodies will be physically renewed. In other scriptures the Lord has similarly promised us strength when we are about his work, such as when He said of OIiver Cowdery: “And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men” (Doctrine and Covenants 24:12). If he would preach the gospel as required of him by the Lord, he would have great strength. Surely this promise applies to each of us—as we seek to magnify the calling the Lord has given us, we will be given the strength to do all things He requires of us.