The Lord wants us to love Him enough to align our will with His.
I have been blessed to know of truly miraculous things that have occurred in the lives of faithful Saints throughout Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the Pacific. … I think it’s because those faithful people … love God as a close friend, and He takes care of them.
Our son Ben, when he was 16 and speaking in stake conference, asked the question, “How would you feel if someone promised you something every week and never kept the promise?” He continued, “Do we take seriously the promise we make when we partake of the sacrament and covenant to keep His commandments and always remember Him?”
The Lord’s guidance and instruction are essential. He helped the faithful brother of Jared by solving one of his two challenges when He told him how to get fresh air into the barges that had been faithfully built. But, pointedly, the Lord not only left temporarily unsolved the challenge of how to provide light, but He then made it clear that He, the Lord, would allow the buffetings and trials that necessitated its solving. He it would be who would send forth the winds, the rains, and the floods.
Why would He do that? And why does He warn any of us to remove ourselves from a source of danger when He could simply stop the danger from happening? President Wilford Woodruff told the story of being spiritually warned to move the carriage that he, his wife, and child slept in, only to discover that a whirlwind shortly thereafter uprooted a large tree and dropped it exactly where the carriage had previously stood.
In both of these instances, the weather could have been adjusted to eliminate the dangers. But here is the point—rather than solve the problem Himself, the Lord wants us to develop the faith that will help us rely upon Him in solving our problems and trust Him. Then we can feel His love more constantly, more powerfully, more clearly, and more personally. We become united with Him, and we can become like Him. For us to be like Him is His goal. In fact, it is His glory as well as His work.
A young boy was trying to smooth out the dirt area behind his house so he could play there with his cars. There was a large rock obstructing his work. The boy pushed and pulled with all his might, but no matter how hard he tried, the rock wouldn’t budge.
His father watched for a while, then came to his son and said, “You need to use all your strength to move a rock this large.”
The boy responded, “I have used all my strength!”
His father corrected him: “No you haven’t. You haven’t had my help yet!”
They then bent down together and moved the rock easily.
Our Savior wants us to really love Him to the point that we want to align our will with His. We can then feel His love and know His glory. Then He can bless us as He wants to.
Just a few months ago I sat with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as he assigned missionaries to their missions. As we left he waited for me, and as we walked he draped his arm around my shoulder. I commented to him on his doing the same thing once before in Australia. He said, “That’s because I love you!” And I knew that was true.
I believe that if we could have the privilege of walking physically with the Savior, that we would feel His arm draped over our shoulder just like that. Like the disciples heading toward Emmaus, our hearts would “burn within us.” This is His message: “Come and see.” It is personal, inviting, and embracing in its invitation to walk with His arm around our shoulders.
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