WAITING UPON THE LORD: THY WILL BE DONE
Good afternoon brothers and
sisters. I am grateful for this
opportunity to speak to you today… Honestly!...
Giving a talk is truly a great opportunity to study a subject; to
reflect upon it; to learn what the Lord wants you to learn and to share it with
others. Our subject, Waiting Upon the Lord, goes hand in hand
with these thoughts because when we are sharing the gospel with others, we are
“waiting upon the Lord.” Sharing His
message is what He would have us do.
The Savior, after spending some
time in the Garden of Gethsemane, came unto his disciples and found them
asleep. He then said unto them “What,
could ye not watch with me one hour?” When we look at the 2000 years since the
Savior was born and compare that to one hour, that one hour equates to about
the life expectancy of man. In essence,
the Savior is asking us to watch with Him throughout our lives. He is asking us to wait upon Him. He is asking us to serve Him until the
end. What a great example, is Elder
Hales in waiting upon the Lord. Elder
Hales, due to health issues, was unable to speak at the April 2011
conference. However, in his 80th
year, when most of us would be retired from our labors, does what it takes to
continue serving the Lord in his capacity as an Apostle. He has spoken at the last two conferences
since that time even though he has had to do it from a chair and while on oxygen. He is a great example of how all of us should
be waiting upon the Lord.
It is not always easy or even
desirable from a worldly or carnal viewpoint, to wait upon the Lord but that is
part of our challenge or test here on earth; to overcome the flesh and to
nourish the spirit instead. In my
backyard, there are two trees. They are
called Kentucky Coffee trees. They grow
a pod with beans in them that resemble coffee beans. As a matter of fact, I have heard that in
tough times, some people have actually used them as a substitute for coffee
beans although they say it is a poor substitute. I wouldn’t know… If the trees in my backyard could speak, I
would imagine all the other trees making fun of these two trees. You see, right now, all of my trees have leafed
out and put on their green coats.
However, the coffee trees are still devoid of any greenery. I would even imagine that Williams, Nybos,
and Smoots, whose yards are next to these trees, are wondering why I haven’t
cut these dead trees down. However, soon
these trees will begin to put forth their leaves. They are always the last to do so and they
will be the first shed their foliage when winter approaches. But when these trees are fully leafed out
during the hottest months of the year, they are the most beautiful and they
provide the most perfect cool shade to sit beneath. Of all the trees in my yard, they are my
favorite because they serve my needs the most both visually and physically. I love my fruit trees but they are fickle
unlike the coffee trees which are constant and will be throughout their lives
and most likely mine. These two trees
follow perfectly the plan that the Lord set out for them. They appear undesirable for a good part of
the year but the rewards are great when they achieve their full potential each
summer.
Elder Hales explains to us that
the Savior began his ministry in the premortal existence by pledging his full
support to our Heavenly Father’s plan.
He told our Heavenly Father, “Thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” He came to earth and in his youth, he “went
about His Father’s business.” At the age
of 30 He forsook a worldly life and eventually He suffered, He bled, and He
died for us. Certainly not a life that
most of us would choose for ourselves but today He sits on the right hand side
of our Heavenly Father in glory and good part of the world calls Him their
Savior and professes love and honor for Him.
Our willingness to serve the
Lord, even though most of us will never be called upon to do so, should extend
to giving everything we have, even our lives if necessary. One of the most inspiring stories from my
family is that of my third great grandfather and grandmother, John and Ellen
Parkinson. They were of the earliest
converts to the church in England. As I
research records, I find John waiting upon the Lord through missionary work in
and around Preston, leaving his family for brief periods of time to serve
mini-missions; helping to spread the gospel to his fellow countrymen. It is obvious that John and his wife wished
to serve the Lord. They also wanted to
follow the prophet’s desire that the saints come to Zion. They saved their money; they then sold their
successful shoe repair business to relocate to Utah with their nine children. Unfortunately, they linked up with the Martin
Handcart Company and all but four children perished. John and Ellen gave up their lives to follow
the prophet; to wait upon the Lord and to what end? It was not an easy task that was asked of
them but I am sure that they too sit on the right hand of our Lord and today
there are thousands of faithful members who have descended from their four
surviving children who may not have had the chance to be raised in the gospel
had John and Ellen ignored the call to come to Utah.
Elder Hales states that he has
often wondered why those who faithfully try to do the will of the Father are
subject to trials and tribulations. He
says that as we ask these questions, we realize that the purpose of our life on
earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences and
we do this by waiting upon the Lord. He
knows that no matter how difficult our circumstances, “all these things shall
be for our experience, and our good.”
On the other hand, when we don’t
wait upon the Lord by doing His will, consequences can follow. I would like to illustrate this by comparing
what happens when blueprints are not followed.
In the early 50s, a bridge was needed for the crossing of the Schoharie
Creek not far from Albany, New York. The
engineering firm of Madigan-Hyland Consulting Engineers was hired to design the
bridge. Those who designed the bridged
were schooled in the design of bridges and the external factors that affect
them. They had an understanding of what
needed to be done to create a bridge that would last for a century or more. One of the design features of the bridge was
the foundation. It called for excavating
a hole, placing the concrete foundation in it and then backfilling that hole
with large boulders called rip rap. Rip
rap will not erode away like dirt will under the forces of flowing water. The contractor took a short-cut; he did not
follow the plan and he backfilled the hole with erodible soil. On top of that, he took out the sheet-piles
that held the water out of the hole while the foundation was being built which
left the erodible soil exposed to the forces of flowing water. Rip rap was placed on the surface which for
three decades helped to keep the soil beneath from eroding away however
hurricane Irene caused an unusal heavy rainfall to rush down the creek. This heavy flow was enough to get under the
surface rip rap and erode away the soil that held the foundation and piers in
place. The result was that the bridge
collapsed taking ten lives with it.
The Lord is the great architect
or engineer of our lives here on earth and in the eternities. We are the contractors that follow his
design. When we fail to follow the
blueprints or we purposely decide to take shortcuts, we leave ourselves exposed
to the elements around us. We set
ourselves up for collapse. However, when
we follow His plans, when we wait upon Him, we will not only be afforded the
blessings that he has in store for us but we will also bless the lives of the
many people who will cross our bridges that we have built in behalf of Him.
One of the great examples from
the scriptures of obedience and of doing the Lord’s will is that of the Prophet
Nephi. After spending some time in the
desert, moving away from Jerusalem, Lehi is commanded to send his sons back to
Jerusalem to retrieve the brass plates.
Now, this was probably not an easy journey nor was it probably a safe
journey as is evidenced by Sariah’s concern for her sons “for she had supposed
that (they) had perished in the wilderness.”
Perhaps there were wild beasts or poisonous critters along the way. Perhaps there was very little water and what
little there was, was difficult to find.
Perhaps there were bandits or perhaps those who Lehi was warned about
endangering their lives were out looking for them. In any case, Sariah was sufficiently worried
for their safety to temporarily lose sight of trusting in the Lord and making
complaint to her husband Lehi. I am sure
that you mothers, today, can sympathize with Sariah as you send your sons and
daughters all over the world to serve the Lord.
You fathers are not exempt, either, from these feelings. I remember sending our oldest daughter,
Casey, on her mission to Croatia. It was
not easy to see her go and it was not always without worry especially when she
would write to us to tell us that the local “mafia” guy was watching out for
her and her companion by telling others that they were “off limits.” But, I trusted in the Lord and He does work
in mysterious ways. Back to Nephi,
though, we can speculate that this was neither an easy task nor an easy
journey. He knew it would be difficult
and he probably knew that Laban was a danger to him and his family. However, when Lehi, his father, told him of
the Lord’s command to go get the brass plates from Laban, Nephi, without
hesitation, says “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” Nephi is an example of someone who watched
for one hour with the Savior. He is an
example to all of us.
There is one more person that I
must mention who serves as a great example to me in how to wait upon the Lord
and that is my dear wife, Daniele. When
she was sixteen, she entered the waters of baptism because she had gained a
testimony of the gospel. I was fortunate
enough to be there for that baptism.
Being a teenager and a member of the Church in France is not always an
easy path to follow. You have very few
friends who believe as you do; who have the same morals as you do; who
understand you and your choices. Some
fall away and some are strengthened in these circumstances. Daniele was one of those who found a way to
strengthen herself in her testimony.
Shortly after being baptized, she made a commitment to the Lord to serve
Him. She gave up much of her social life
to do so. She trusted the in the Lord
that He would take care of her and strengthen her and lead her to a future that
would support her in her faith. I
suppose that that is where I entered the picture. Since that time, I have watched her grow in
the gospel. I have watched her become a
rock and a foundation to our family and to others. The Lord has truly blessed her because of her
commitment to serve Him. I love her and
look up to her as an example of this principle.
Elder Hales says: Every one of us
is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine. Let us therefore be kinder to one another and
kinder toward ourselves. Let us remember
that as we wait upon the Lord, we are becoming saints through His atonement …
submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all
things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us, even as a child doth submit
to his father.
The other day during the Women’s
Conference at BYU, … yes I go to girl’s camp every year and I attend Women’s
Conference in a work capacity … Elder Anderson said that it will not be the
physical trials that challenge us the most but it will be the spiritual trials
that will challenge us the most. He said
there is a war going on for our souls with Satan on one side trying to claim us
as his own and Christ on the other side.
We can overcome those spiritual trials by committing ourselves to the
Savior; by serving Him; by waiting upon Him.
As we come unto Christ, he will come unto us. He will lift us up. He will stand by our side. He will strengthen us. He will give us the needed armor to withstand
the fiery darts of the adversary.
The Savior set the perfect
example for us when He, in the Garden of Gethsemane, alone and suffering,
shrank not to drink the bitter cup and said unto His Father, “Thy will be
done.” I pray that we may devote our
lives to Him and that we will watch with Him by waiting upon Him.
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
