Seeds and Adversity

Last Sunday I taught Lesson 9, God Will Provide Himself a Lamb, which contains the story of Abraham's near sacrifice on the altar of Elkenah and Isaac's near sacrifice at the hand of his father. I teach the 16 to 18 year old youth in our ward and we had a wonderful discussion.

After reviewing Abraham's near sacrifice, we talked about what Abraham may have learned from the experience. I then shared two of my favorite quotations:

Napoleon Hill: "Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."

Harriet Beecher Stowe: "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

As we continued our discussion about Abraham and Isaac, these two quotations became a theme for the lesson. Abraham faced adversity when he lay upon Elkenah's alter, yet his faith did not waiver. He hung in there with faith in God and as Ms. Stowe indicates in her quote, when it seems that you cannot hold on a minute longer, that is the time and place the tide will turn. The tide turned for Abraham and he was saved. What if he had denied God to save his life? Things would have been much different for him and his posterity. The great blessings he received would have been given to another. Within that challenge lay the "seeds" of a much greater benefit, the Abrahamic Covenant and all that it entailed.

This was true one again as Abraham obediently took Isaac to the altar of sacrifice. The tide turned again at the last moment, Isaac was saved and Abraham passed the test. He knew that he was willing to do whatever God asked and he was blessed for all eternity.

These principles were also true many times in the life of Joseph Smith. As Joseph spent the winter of 1838-39 in Liberty Jail he remained faithful during a difficult time. He called out, "O GOD, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" (D&C 121:1). It was a dark time. Joseph, Hyrum, Sydney, and other Church leaders were in jail. The Saints were being driven out of Missouri in the cold of winter. Yet this adversity carried with it the seeds of greater benefits. When things seemed darkest, the tide turned. Joseph received the great revelations contained in Sections 121-123. The Saints were watched over. Ultimately, they all joined together in Nauvoo and built a great city.

After discussing Abraham and Isaac, we discussed the idea that Isaac's sacrifice was a similitude of the Savior's great atoning sacrifice. We then compared it to Mr. Hill's and Ms. Stowe's quotations. The Savior faced great adversity in his life. Indeed, no one ever faced what the Master faced in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Yet within that great adversity lay the seeds of a much greater benefit: the resurrection of all mankind and eternal life for those who follow the Savior's path.

The adversity faced by the Savior during his last hours of life was indescribable. As he hung on the cross, he was required to carry out his sacrifice alone. "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:45-46). At the darkest moment in all history, the Lord was alone. Yet he carried his mission to conclusion and the tide turned and the seeds of adversity bore fruit for all mankind.

I reminded the young people in my class that adversity does bear the seeds of great things as demonstrated throughout the scriptures and that when our challenges are the toughest and it is difficult to hang on, that is when the tide will turn.