Wonderful Lives or People?

So often in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we tell faith promoting stories of how the Lord has intervened to protect, bless, and eliminate the obstacles and tragedies for those who are faithful, obedient, and trust the Lord.  I have promoted such stories in this very blog – and the idea that if someone is really, really good, nothing bad will happen to them.  Even now, I witness that Mosiah 24:14 is bona fide, and that God has eased the memory-care financial burden which is upon my back to a degree that I do not understand, because of obedience to the law of tithing.

But what about those times when the Lord does not intervene, protect, eliminate, or make a way in the midst of calamity?  Like when Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was killed by the soldiers of wicked King Herod, because Zacharias refused to reveal where Elizabeth and John were hiding.

Our family history is replete with similar tragic stories, such as:

• Joseph Goates dying and leaving Clara to make her way in the world with four children, ages nine and under.
• Clara Goates dying in the Spanish influenza epidemic leaving her four teenage children as orphans.
• Art and “D” McAllister losing the family farm during the Great Depression.
• David Evans experiencing the massacre at Haun’s Mill.

There are many, many similar stories both in the scriptures and our family history.  Stories of abuse to innocent children, or devastating heath issues which have taken family members or rendered them incapacitated for life, or financial disasters.  From an earthly perspective it can make one question and wonder whether our Heavenly Father is loving, able, and willing to protect and bless us?

One of the great blessings my mother bequeathed to me was spiritual glasses, which allows one to look through the lens of faith to see, as it were, in the dark and perceive things which were previously undetected.  Using these “faith-enhanced, eternal perspective spectacles”, while learning about and reflecting on my ancestor’s lives, I have come to see that while their lives may not have always been wonderful, those who trusted the Lord and remained faithful despite tragedies and terrible misfortunes, they turned out to be wonderful; and this is God’s purpose.  Ultimately, earth life is not about everything going our way and having wonderful lives, but rather about us becoming wonderful people – because in eternity, wonderful people do have wonderful lives.  If fact, the lives of wonderful people hereafter are beyond anything we can comprehend as stated in 1Corinthians 2:9.

So, what is the lesson?  Just because you are good, does not mean bad things will not happen to you and deprive you of what we consider to be a wonderful life.  But that is not why God created and sent us to earth – so we could enjoy a wonderful life of ease.  Our purpose, or more accurately, God’s object is that we become wonderful by continuing to trust and be obedient to Him, and love our fellowman.  This outcome is actually enhanced and becomes more evident when our lives are not wonderful and we remained faithful and centered on Jesus Christ.