We Will Prove Them Herewith

In the most recent general conference, President Eying spoke about being proved and strengthened by the Lord. He gave several examples of those who have been tested by the Lord while also being strengthened and sustained, and the first was from his own life. He related, “Long ago I sought to learn physics and mathematics in my college years. I felt overwhelmed. I began to feel that I was trying to learn something that was beyond me. The more I felt overwhelmed, the less I felt the strength to keep trying. My discouragement led me to feel that my efforts were almost fruitless.” He was the son of the great scientist Henry Eyring, so he perhaps felt extra pressure to be able to also succeed in a similar field. President Eyring continued, “I felt weak. As I prayed, I felt the quiet assurance of the Lord. I felt Him say to my mind, ‘I am proving you, but I am also with you.’” So he went to work, and later he reflected on this difficult experience: “I learned that my struggle with physics was actually a gift from the Lord. He was teaching me that with His help, I could do things that seemed impossible if I had the faith that He would be there to help me. Through this gift, the Lord was working to prove and strengthen me.” We know that indeed the plan from the beginning was to prove us as Abraham learned: “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). I believe these words were given to Abraham when he was in Egypt, and so it was before Isaac was even born. Could Abraham have imagined how the Lord was going to prove him those many years later? Perhaps as Abraham walked that long road to the Moriah he reflected on these words he had heard from the Lord when he learned about the premortal world. His experience was indeed a terrible type of proving, and the Lord words in our dispensation are not reassuring! “Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:4).  

               When asked what it means for the Lord to prove us, as He promised to Abraham that He would do, most of us would probably answer “to test.” But after sharing his experience, President Eyring said this, “The word prove has several meanings. To prove something is not simply to test it. It is to increase its strength. To prove a piece of steel is to place it under strain. Heat, weight, and pressure are added until its true nature is enhanced and revealed. The steel is not weakened by the proving. In fact, it becomes something that can be trusted, something strong enough to bear greater burdens.” I love that idea that to prove means not just to test but also to make stronger. The Lord wants to test us here in mortality but, like that piece of steel, He wants to make us stronger. We didn’t come to earth just to find out who we already are, but we came to become something better and stronger. President Eyring explained how this proving and strengthening will come to us, “The Lord proves us in much the same way to strengthen us. That proving does not come in moments of ease or comfort. It comes in moments when we feel stretched beyond what we thought we could bear. The Lord teaches that we are to continue to grow and never tire in our efforts, that we never give up, that we keep trying.”

My son recently started doing track at his junior high, and it reminds me of the time when I used to run when I was about his age and did a couple of 10K races. Running is all about endurance, but as you endure and continue you can’t help but get stronger. The apostle Paul was one who was certainly tried and tested by the Lord, and he encouraged us to never give up in our efforts to follow the Savior by using the idea of running: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). We must keep running the race that is set before us by the Lord, whatever that race looks like for us individually. Paul encourages us to continue with our eyes towards the Savior, the author and finisher of our faith. As we endure with faith in Him, we will inevitably find that not only have we been proven but we have been strengthened in the process.