Remember This

I guess that I wrote about this last time, too, but it is something that keeps coming up in my life: hard times do not mean that God does not love you, and they don't even mean that you have done something wrong. They are just hard times.

Remember this?

15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was ^aseized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick ^bdarkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

16 But, exerting all my powers to ^acall upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into ^bdespair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of ^clight exactly over my head, above the brightness of the ^dsun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. (Joseph Smith-History)

Or what about this?

19 And now, when Moses had said these words, ^aSatan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the ^bOnly Begotten, worship me.

20 And it came to pass that Moses began to ^afear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of ^bhell. Nevertheless, ^ccalling upon God, he received ^dstrength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of ^eglory.

21 And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, ^adepart hence, ^bSatan.

22 And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and ^agnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.

23 And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of ^awickedness it is ^bnot had among the children of men.

24 And it came to pass that when Satan had departed from the presence of Moses, that Moses lifted up his eyes unto heaven, being filled with the ^aHoly Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and the Son;

25 And calling upon the name of God, he beheld his ^aglory again, for it was upon him; and he heard a ^bvoice, saying: Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have ^cchosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many ^dwaters; for they shall obey thy ^ecommand as if thou wert ^fGod. (Moses)

Why do we go through sorrow and discouragement? I don't know, and I'm sticking to my answer. But just two more:

Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for others.

Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Come What May and Love it," Saturday Afternoon Session of October 2008 General Conference)

And from the Ensign this month; the article that gives this quote from Elder Cannon is titled "The Blessing of the Blackberry Bush," and it is by Donnell Allan:

Elder George Q. Cannon (1827–1901): “The Saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would otherwise inevitably overtake them. If He deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by-and-by.”1 1. “Beneficial Results of Continued Obedience to the Teachings of God’s Servants,” Millennial Star, Oct. 3, 1863, 634.

You might also check out Elder Holland's "A High Priest of Good Things to Come," which is a General Conference address he gave in October of 1999.

To all these I add that I have felt for some time that "[God] does not willingly afflict his children;" I believe that He loves us as much as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ. I believe that every bit as much as he would send an angel to help Jesus in Gethsemane, or as much as he would sorrow because (for whatever reason) the Savior could not feel his father's presence as he suffered on the cross-- as much as these were true for the Savior, they are true for us. I believe that God weeps for our sorrows, that he sorrows for our difficulties, he laughs at our silliness, and he rejoices, more than we would ever realize, at our successes. He is not without body, parts, or passions. That is, as Joseph Smith would say, an old sectarian notion, and it is false. God is intimately involved in our lives. He is not an abstract logical proposition; he is a person, and the part of him which is beyond our mortal comprehension is that part which cares with every fiber of His being about how well we are doing.