Val's Email Sunday School: Learning to Trust God

In the reading this week the entire chapter of Ether 12 seemed devoted to faith. This makes me think a lot. It’s a great chapter, but it makes me think that a lot of us might be missing what faith is. If faith is the first principle of the gospel, and faith is the power by which miracles are wrought, and you don't get a miracle until after the trial of your faith, and even the faith of a grain of a mustard seed could move mountains, then it seems like a lot of us might be in short supply. Usually when we have talks or sermons on faith, I feel like we talk a lot about what it is and what it does. I’d like to talk a little bit about how I think we can get more, or “build” faith.

Alma 32 discusses this a lot. We’re told to “experiment” upon the words. Why would experimenting on God’s words give us faith? The reading said that faith is things which are hoped for, which are not seen, which are true, but what does this really mean? In a book I was reading this week called “The Second Coming of the Lord” by Gerald Lund, he stated at one point that we should put periods and not question marks after what the Lord says. This was very powerful to me, and much easier said than done.

What would putting periods after what the Lord says instead of questions marks look like? Well, it looks like trust. We believe what he has said, instead of being disbelieving or wondering how, or thinking things are impossible. If God, who cannot lie, has declared something (whether in your patriarchal blessing, in scriptures, or in a blessing) then you accept it as truth, and think and live as if it’s a certainty. I believe this is what faith is. I believe that we build faith, or trust in God, through learning and through experience. A troubling movement in the world today is a deviation from enlightenment values and the scientific method. The scientific method, hypothesis with experimentation, and experiments that are replicable for other people and across time are necessary for determining truth and building trust and faith in God.

When we read the scriptures, we can see evidence of God making and keeping promises to people in the past. We can also see promises that he’s given to his children that are scattered throughout the scriptures. There are lots, but we won’t go into many here. Just one simple example is the law of the tithe (Malachi 3:10), and how God promises that he will open the windows of heaven such that we won’t have room enough to receive the blessings. Simple promises like that, when tested, should give you a pretty clear indication of whether or not that promise is true. If you test the promise and find that it is true, then your faith, or trust in the Lord and what he’s said, should become more solidified. The goal is to reach the point where God has proven himself to you (yes, we aren’t supposed to trust blindly and he even says in that Malachi scripture on tithing that we should “prove me now herewith”), that you will do anything or trust him no matter what, like Job, even when you don’t understand. Again, easier said than done, and maybe it takes a lifetime to learn that lesson, but that’s the ultimate goal.

If we put periods after what God says because we trust him and believe what he says because our experience has proven it to be correct, then we can trust bigger things solely on his word. We can trust that he is coming, we can trust that the United States will be preserved as a land of liberty, we can trust that all things work together for the good of those who love God, etc.

Sometimes our faith or trust in God falters and there are provisions in place for that too. “118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” This appears to say that we won’t all have faith, or maybe not at the same time. And at these times we are still taught to seek wisdom, knowledge, and experience. In my mind this is saying that all truth is good, and all truth eventually and ultimately leads to the same place and other pursuits of truth are just as valid and neccessary as religious study. Also it makes me think of inspirational stories of other people and their testimonies which can help us in our times of struggle. 

So, in closing, put periods at the end of God’s statements and promises, not question marks. As we experiment and prove that God’s can be trusted, our faith grows. Faith and trust is where peace lies. “You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”