Exercise the Power of God

In the novel The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, the main character and famous artist Asher Lev struggled to understand the death of a dear friend. Lucien Lacamp had helped him in significant ways, and in the story he had died in a bomb that was intended for Jews at a restaurant, even though he wasn’t a Jew himself. In one scene in the book, Asher went to visit the widow and daughter of this man, and he contemplated their sorrowful situation. The widow said to him of her husband, “He was a good soldier, a good Frenchman, a good husband. Not like the others. You know what I mean?... But God took him away.” Asher recorded his thoughts this way, speaking in his mind to God: “You had to take him away? He wasn’t a Jew. The bomb was not meant for him. It was a mistake You made, wasn’t it? How? A half-blind, half-dead clerk would not make such a mistake.” He pondered others who had suffered and who had died, and continued his anger towards God, “One minute well, the next minute ill. One minute alive, the next minute dead. Lucien. Uncle Yitzchok. Poof! A fourth-level bureaucrat on the take could do better at running things. Master of the Universe, why are they so angry at the art I make? You are the cruelest artist of all!” (pg. 228-230) Certainly it may seem at times as we see the terrible suffering of the innocent that if we had all power like God does, we could better govern the affairs of the world and offer more justice and mercy than He appears to.

Indeed, we may see around us the “infuriating unfairness” in this life that Elder Renlund spoke of. He recounted, “A decade ago, while visiting Rwanda, my wife and I struck up a conversation with another passenger at the Kigali airport. He lamented the unfairness of the genocide and poignantly asked, “If there were a God, wouldn’t He have done something about it?” For this man—and for many of us—suffering and brutal unfairness can seem incompatible with the reality of a kind, loving Heavenly Father. Yet He is real, He is kind, and He loves each of His children perfectly. This dichotomy is as old as mankind and cannot be explained in a simple sound bite or on a bumper sticker.” We see the same kind of terrible unfairness in the story of Alma and Amulek at Ammonihah. They were forced to witness women and children being burned to death because of their faith. Mormon recorded, “They took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire. And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames” (Alma 14:9-10). Like Amulek, most of us wish that we could exercise the power of God to save the innocent from suffering and fix some of the terrible unfairness in the world. But, as it was for these two missionaries, sometimes the Lord chooses in His wisdom not to intervene. As we struggle with that choice, and like Asher Lev think that we could do a much better job of alleviating suffering in the world, the words of Isaiah can at least bring us perspective: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). We would play chess only one or two moves ahead—but He can see the nearly infinite possibilities of the whole game ahead of us that we cannot possibly process.

Ultimately our answer is to come unto the Savior—He who suffered all things for us—and to trust in Him. I appreciate this testimony from Elder Renlund in the same talk: “In mortality, we can ‘come boldly’ to the Savior and receive compassion, healing, and help. Even while we suffer inexplicably, God can bless us in simple, ordinary, and significant ways. As we learn to recognize these blessings, our trust in God will increase. In the eternities, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will resolve all unfairness. We understandably want to know how and when. How are They going to do that? When are They going to do it? To my knowledge, They have not revealed how or when. What I do know is that They will. In unfair situations, one of our tasks is to trust that ‘all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ Jesus Christ overcame the world and ‘absorbed’ all unfairness. Because of Him, we can have peace in this world and be of good cheer. If we let Him, Jesus Christ will consecrate the unfairness for our gain. He will not just console us and restore what was lost; He will use the unfairness for our benefit.” Though we will never in mortality understand all that the reasons why suffering takes place, we can trust that the Savior can bring healing and help and make up for the unfairness. And we can know that God has the whole plan in view as He works with each of us individually and shapes the experiences of our lives. In this novel the widow of the man who was killed at one point said earnestly to her son, “There is a plan. With all my heart and soul I believe there is a great plan.” That is indeed our hope and our faith—God has a plan for us centered in Jesus Christ, and through it we can triumph over all our suffering.