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March 27, 2017
February 27, 2019
– Jeremy
The Most Important Reason For Trials That Latter-day Saints often Forget.

The Most Important Reason For Trials That Latter-day Saints often Forget.
Far too often Latter-day Saints fall into the same trap as the Pharisees; Namely, when we see someone with a trial, we think it is a sign of their sinfulness. This idea is false. In John 9:1-3, when Jesus was asked, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” He replied neither had sinned. Jesus Christ was correcting the false cultural belief that sin is the only cause of trials.
The life of Jesus Christ itself is a testimony that bad things happen to good people. Jesus Christ did not sin. He still had trials. Why? As we look at the life of Christ, we can learn that God tests His children, even His Only Begotten Son with trials, so that we can gain experience. It is true that some trials come because of the fallen nature of the earth. And other trials come because of the fallen nature of man. But there is a deeper more important reason we have trials. And I would argue it is the most common reason we have trials; is because it is an expression of love from our Father and is meant to give us experience.

We need to replace the idea that trials are a sign of wickedness with an understanding that trials are designed by a loving God to help us become like Him. Elder H. Burke Peterson addressed this topic in a fantastic sermon in Oct 1973 entitled Adversity and Prayer. He said.“trials are an evidence of a Father’s love.” Can it be any clearer? It is within that idea that I have formulated what I call the Humility Cycle; it is the alternative path to the pride cycle. The Pride Cycle Vs. The Humility Cycle

We have all seen diagrams like this one. The Book of Mormon teaches us that this is an oft-repeated cycle. But, there is another, a more critical cycle and pathway we can choose; it is the humility cycle.

Unlike the pride cycle which is often what society is doing, the humility cycle is another option. The humility cycle comes from a study of the life of Christ and faithful Saints through the ages. Particularly the life of the late Neal A. Maxwell, an Apostle who was called to endure the ravages of cancer, that eventually took his life. The humility cycle helps us make sense of all the awful trials that the saints are often called to endure. It is comprised of four parts. 1st. Righteous living.
The first step of the humility cycle is righteous living. When we are humble and doing what is right, and life is good, it is easy. But there is little growth in ease. Our ultimate goal is to become like God. Therefore we must learn and grow. We learn through tutoring trials of mortality. It would be naive to expect righteous living to be trial free.
“Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’”
Elder Neal A. Maxwell

2nd. Testing by trials.
The Lord has repeatedly told us that He would test and try us by trials. The life of Job is an example of how the Lord often tests the righteous with hard trials. But ultimately, there is not a better example than the perfectly tested and faithful Jesus Christ. He was tested in all things by His Father, and He was faithful in all things. “My people must be tried in all things, … and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.” (D&C 136:31.) God treats us the same as Jesus Christ. We are taught by the trials we are called to endure. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it, “He tutors us in our trials.” President Howard W. Hunter further expounded the nature of our trials, “Each trial in life is tailored to the individual’s capacities and needs as known by a loving Father in Heaven.”


3rd. Humility and gratitude in trials.
It is how we act when being tested determines if we will pass the test or not. Because our trials are tests it is vital we stay grateful and humble while we endure the trials of mortality. That being said, it is far easier to say than do. Trials strong enough to forge the attributes of deity within us are also hot enough to cause pain, suffering, and intense sorrow. Thankfully Jesus Christ has descended below all things and asks us to but follow Him. We can, no we must rely upon the strength our Savior gives us while we endure the crosses of this world.
“We should thank God for our adversities and pray for guidance in meeting them.”
Dallin H. Oaks

4th. Experience Gained.
The reason we came to earth was two-fold, first to gain a body, second to gain experience. We all have bodies, so the only thing left to do is gain experience. God tutors us with trials, and the lessons we learn from these trials is the experience we came to earth to receive. Some times our trials give us experience, sometimes they give others experience, but trials faithfully endured always bring experience.
Take for example the lessons Joseph Smith learned in Liberty Jail. While Joseph was imprisoned in Liberty Jail the Saints were suffering from the worst trials and tribulations the church had ever faced; they had recently been evicted from Missouri after Governor Boggs issued his infamous extermination order that legalized the murder of Latter-day Saints. It was in this dark hour that the Prophet Joseph Smith pled to God from Liberty Jail seeking for rescue.
Sections 121 and 122 of the Doctrine and Covenants records the prayer and answer that God gave. In these sections, Heavenly Father tells him that all the trials will be for his experience and he will be exalted on high if he endures them well. This promise was not just for Joseph Smith but for all the Latter-day Saints who were suffering at the time; this same promise is for us as well. If we endure the trials that God places before us, we will gain experience, and eventually, we will be exalted on high. Understanding this is key to enduring trials and learning from them. For as Elder Paul H. Dunn taught, “There is no substitute for experience.”

Conclusion
Trials forge the attributes of deity into our souls. They are hard but worth it. And whereas it is not the natural state of a fallen man to humbly seek correction, it is the state of all those who have put off the natural man.

In one of my favorite talks Elder D. Todd Christofferson counseled us. “I would like to speak of one particular attitude and practice we need to adopt if we are to meet our Heavenly Father’s high expectations. It is this: willingly to accept and even seek correction.” We will not always understand at the moment how everything has been designed to help us, but if we accept the will of God one day, we will look back and thank God for all of our trials and the experience we learned.
I invite you to visit Mormon.org’s page about adversity and ponder the personal application of one of my favorite Mormon Messages, “The Will of God.”

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3 thoughts on “The Most Important Reason For Trials That Latter-day Saints often Forget.”
1. 
kurioso 
September 1, 2017 at 5:45 PM
Reply 

Particularly the life of the late Neal A. Maxwell, an Apostle who was called to endure the ravages of cancer, that eventually took his life.


 2. 
David Anthony 
March 15, 2018 at 3:42 AM
Reply 

Super



3. 
LidaJane 
February 28, 2019 at 8:25 AM
Reply 

I often wonder if it is the Lord that sets obstacles in our path, (i.e. tests and trials) or is it the adversary that sets about to block our progress. It is hard to fathom a loving parent purposely setting out to make life more difficult for their child by placing roadblocks in their path to see if they will stumble and fall, or climb over them. I tend to think that we are tested by our own choices, through life’s experiences, which are difficult at times, not by a loving Heavenly Father looking to see if we will pass or fail. Life is hard enough, I don’t think He sets out to make it harder. I can’t believe that the Lord would take the life of an innocent child, to “test” that child’s parents, or cause other heartaches to test our faithfulness. I think the very nature of life here on earth tests us, not a loving Heavenly Father, but, as a loving parent, I do believe he is always there to help us through the difficult times, if we but him.


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