Why is adversity necessary to fulfill the Lord’s eternal purposes?

Pres. Harold B. Lee said, “All who live upon this earth are to be tested by the winds of
adversity.” No stranger to adversity, Harold B. Lee lost his wife, Fern Tanner Lee, and
his daughter Maurine Lee Wilkins to death during the 1960s. He also suffered severe
health problems throughout his years as a General Authority. He acknowledged in
general conference in 1967: “I have had to submit to some tests, some severe tests,
before the Lord, I suppose to prove me to see if I would be willing to submit to all things
whatsoever the Lord sees fit to inflict upon me, even as a little child does submit to its
father.

But Pres. Lee offered comfort in the face of affliction: “The one who confidently looks
forward to an eternal reward for his efforts in mortality is constantly sustained through
his deepest trials. When loved ones die, he doesn’t despair. He lives above his world and
never loses sight of the goal of his salvation. The path to exaltation is rugged and steep.
Many stumble and fall, and through discouragement never pick themselves up to start
again. The forces of evil cloud the path with many foggy deterrents, often trying to
detour us in misleading trails. But through all this journey, there is the calming
assurance that if we choose the right, success will be ours, and the achievement of it will
have molded and formed and created us into the kind of person qualified to be accepted
into the presence of God.

How does adversity help us become more like God?

There is a refining process that comes through suffering. I think, that we can’t
experience any other way than by suffering. We must be refined. We must be tested in
order to prove the strength and power that are in us.

One who has a testimony of the purpose of life sees the obstacles and trials of life as
opportunities for gaining the experience necessary for the work of eternity.

If face to face with death, such a one will not fear if his feet have been “shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace” and those who lose their loved ones will have the
faith of Moroni, the captain of the army, who declared, “For the Lord suffereth the
righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked;
therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but
behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God.” (Alma 60:13)

The purpose of our being here is clearly spelled out in the Lord’s revelation to Moses. He
said, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
man.” “Eternal life of man” means a return back to the presence of God the Father and
His Son to live eternally with Them. Now, He didn’t say it was His purpose that all His
children should live here upon the earth in the lap of luxury, with wealth and ease and
they should have no pain and sorrow. He didn’t say that. For sometimes, as Isaiah put
it, from out of the briar bush may come forth a beautiful myrtle tree. What may seem
for a moment to be tragic may be for one of the great blessings from God.

How can we find inner strength and peace in times of trouble?

Every soul that walks the earth, you and I, all of us – whether rich or poor, whether
good or bad, young or old – every one of us is going to be tested and tried by storms of
adversity, winds that we must defend ourselves against. And the only ones who won’t
fail will be those whose houses have been built upon the rock. And what’s the rock? It’s
the rock of obedience to the principles and teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the
Master taught.

The most important thing in life isn’t what happens to you, but how you take it. That’s
the important thing. In closing of the Sermon on the Mount, you remember, the Master
gave a parable. He said:

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him
unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

What was he trying to impress? He was trying to say that the winds of adversity, the
floods of disaster, the difficulties, are going to beat upon every human house upon this
earth; and the only ones who will not fall – when you lose a loved one, in any other
disaster – the only thing that will hold us through all these storms and stresses of life is
when we’ve built upon the rocks by keeping the commandments of God.

Wait patiently on the Lord in the season of persecution and deep affliction. The Lord
said, “Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea,
rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks”.

In D&C 98:1-2, “Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the
ears of the Lord of Sabbath, and are recorded with this seal and testament – the Lord
hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.”

What can we say to those who are yearning for an inward peace to quiet their fear, to
ease the aching heart, to bring understanding, to look beyond the sordid trials of today
and see a fruition of hopes and dreams in a world beyond mortality?
The Master indicated the source from which ultimate peace would come when he said to
his desciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Keep the commandments of God, for therein is the one course that brings that inward
peace of which the Master spoke when He bid farewell to His disciples: “These things I
have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” So may each of us, in the
midst of the turmoil, find that heavenly assurance from the Master who loves us all,
which puts to flight all fears when, like the Master, you also have overcome the things of
the world.

Where is there safety in the world today? Safety can’t be won by tanks and guns and the
airplanes and atomic bombs. There is only one place of safety and that is within the
realm of the power of Almighty God that he gives to those who keep his commandments
and listen to His voice, as he speaks through the prophets.

Peace be with you, the peace that comes in the way that the Master said, by overcoming
all the things of the world. That God may help us to understand and may you know that
I know with certainty that defies all doubt that this is his work, that he is guiding us and
directing us today, as he has done in every dispensation of the gospel.

Let us be reminded brothers and sisters that death is not the opposite of life, but a part
of it. Death leaves a heartache that is difficult to heal. But the love that we shared
leaves a memory that no one can steal.

I know that families can be together forever. I pray that we may do our part during the
journey, and be with, and leading, the caravan of the Church as it enters the final
chosen place, His presence. In the name of thy son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Friend,
Amen.