D&C 121:1-3
Question
This week’s passages occurred during one of the coldest winters on record in the state of Missouri. Joseph Smith and several of his brethren were confined to a dark, cold county jail known as “the dungeon” and they were receiving constant news of the Saints’ suffering. When we experience taxing trials or troubles, we are often tempted to give in to the natural tendency to cry out as the Prophet Joseph did in verses 1-3. What has helped you still connect with heaven during such times and become better, not bitter?
Scripture
1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?
2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?
3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?
D&C 121:1-3
Quote
In the depths of his anguish in Liberty Jail, the Prophet Joseph Smith cried out: “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?” Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible. Our own desires, rather than a feeling of “Thy will be done,” create the feeling of a pavilion blocking God. God is not unable to see us or communicate with us, but we may be unwilling to listen or submit to His will and His time.
President Henry B. Eyring
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