Sometimes in life we are hit with some tough questions that we simply don’t know the answers to—questions like Why didn’t God make broccoli taste like chocolate and chocolate taste like broccoli? I would be a much healthier person if only that premortal choice had been made.
There are questions in this life to which we may simply never have answers. Perhaps we have all prayed for miracles that have never come to fruition and some that never will in this life. There are things in Church history which we don’t comprehend and the choices of others that befuddle and confuse us. Yet we strive to remain faithful, always trusting in a God who knows all and sees all. He will not abandon us in our quest for truth and understanding.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once said:
“Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes… In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do no know.”
Holding on to this thought has helped many through their crises of faith.
What do we do with the questions we don’t have answers to? Imagine a large library full of books. It contains shelves and shelves of knowledge and wisdom that exceeds anything we could ever have on our own. The information contained therein can be valuable and beautiful, each book filled with ideas and thoughts on any topic imaginable. Some books are fiction and some are non-fiction, some are analytical and others entertaining. We choose which books and which information we will consume every day. Sometimes there is a book which contains thoughts and impressions which are not our own and do not coincide with our current beliefs or standards and yet we may choose to read on. It is then our choice to take that opinion and merge it with our own, or we can simply choose to re-shelf the book and leave it alone.
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The trouble comes when we cannot leave something alone. We find an insatiable need to quench our knowledge on a topic of concern and often allow ourself to “look beyond the mark.” We read online articles and opinions, and research spiritual ideas in secular modes and expect to find God’s answers. What if in choosing to look through the lens of the world, we lose our ability to discern heavenly truths?
Perhaps there are answers we will never understand until the next life. Can we be ok with that? Can we shelve those questions and have faith in a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of our questions and gives us peace anyway? He can and will give peace when answers don’t come, but only if we ask and then trust. He helps us move forward in faith regardless of the holes in our understanding, remembering that all His truth can be a perfect whole in this life and will be in the life to come.
Janette Beverley is a lover of life, family, music, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She has a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy, and has five amazing children and one equally amazing husband.
Janette is excited to be writing for LDS Blogs and sharing her love and passion for finding the miraculous among the mundane, the awe-inspiring among the obvious, and the uplifting among the underestimated.
To read more of her work, you can visit Janette's personal blog here.
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