Elder Jeffrey R. Holland serves as an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the Mormon church).
As an Apostle for the Lord Jesus Christ (just like the ancient Apostle Peter, Paul, etc.) Elder Holland has the responsibility to teach of Christ and to prepare earth’s inhabitants for the Savior’s Second Coming.
All Apostles have the responsibility to teach truth as given from God. Sometimes truth is given to chasten us. Sometimes truth is given to heal us. Sometimes truth is simply given for us to rejoice in.
I’m not sure in what category Elder Holland’s following statement would fit, but it is profound nonetheless.
“There is a lesson in the Prophet Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision which virtually every Latter-day Saint has had occasion to experience, or one day soon will. It is the plain and very sobering truth that before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significant step in our lives” (Elder Holland,” Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Ensign, Mar 2000, 7).
The reality of life is that there is opposition in all things. We can read of this truth in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. An ancient American prophet named Lehi taught the same truth:
For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility” (2 Nephi 2:11).
We can read in the New Testament that the Lord uses multiple witnesses to teach of His truths (see 2 Corinthians 13:1). The ancient prophet Lehi taught of the need for opposition. Other prophets and apostles taught on the same lines. So does Elder Holland. He continues:
“I wish to encourage every one of us regarding the opposition that so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose. In his letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul was trying to encourage new members who had just joined the Church, who undoubtedly had had spiritual experiences and received the pure light of testimony, only to discover that their troubles had not ended but that some of them had just begun.
“Paul pleaded with those new members in much the same way President Gordon B. Hinckley is pleading with new members today. The reminder is that we cannot sign on for a battle of such eternal significance and everlasting consequence without knowing it will be a fight—a good fight and a winning fight, but a fight nevertheless.
“Paul says to those who thought a new testimony, a personal conversion, a spiritual baptismal experience would put them beyond trouble—to these he says, ‘Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.’ Then this tremendous counsel, which is at the heart of my counsel to you: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward” (Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Ensign, Mar 2000, 7).
What can we take from all of this?
First, we need to understand that God is more powerful than any other force in life (including our own discouragement).
Second, there is a purpose for our being here on earth. God created this world so that we can be tested away from His presence. Will we prove we love Him more than anything else? Well, of course there will be opposition to this plan. How else could we be tested? So when things get difficult, we can know that all is going according to our Heavenly Father’s intentions. And we will prove ourselves faithful to Him! To do anything less brings Him sorrow and us grief.
Third, there is a way out of all challenges, temptations, trials, and even sorrows. The way is through the Son of God, even Jesus Christ Himself. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane in a way that acquainted Him with our griefs, our shortcomings, our sins. He knows us. He paid for our sins; He died on the cross so that we might live again – both spiritually and physically. He will help us if we but ask and then are patient enough to wait for His response. The sweet spirit of peace that comes when we read such witnesses comes from God telling us of this truth – Jesus Christ died so that we might live.
Fourth, the way we find Christ during all forms of struggles is by reading His words. Those words are found in the scriptures. You can read the online scriptures or from your own personal set of scriptures. But read them and find out that !
Fifth, remember prayer. Those who are well-versed in true, humble prayer proclaim the peace that comes when they are on their knees talking or even crying out to their Heavenly Father. He loves them and hears them. He loves you. He will hear you as you call on His name through His Son Jesus Christ.
In summary, yes, there is opposition in this life. An Apostle of the Lord, Elder Holland, has proclaimed this (as have ancient prophets such as Lehi mentioned above). But within that opposition, we truly can find God when we remember:
1. God is more powerful than any other force.
2. There is a purpose for our being here on earth.
3. There is a way out of all challenges – through Jesus Christ.
4. We find Christ by reading scriptures.
5. We find Him through praying to His Father in His name.
Just as Elder Holland’s talk said, we need not cast away our confidence. Instead, let us trust in Him who is mighty. Discouragement then becomes fleeting as we join Him during this journey through life.
