Prior to this verse, Jacob writes about the great spiritual gifts and power his people experience. Among other things, they have such faith they “truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” (Jacob 4: 6.)
Great gifts, great spiritual power, and great position or calling can be disorienting. These things can confuse those who possess them into thinking they are more than they are. As a result, the Lord in His mercy provides us all with reminders to help keep our perspective. These reminders come from our infirmities, struggles, weaknesses and problems.
We see this pattern over and over. The greatest are afflicted with weaknesses. They must suffer, so they can understand properly the grace of God. Without weaknesses, they would mistake their gifts for personal greatness.
Enoch was one of history’s greatest seers. He was caught up to heaven itself, and there had an audience with God. He saw the things of many generations, and was promised the power to overcome the elements. We read in Moses 7: 13: “And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him.” The power of God given to Enoch to command the elements was like the power given to Jacob. Enoch, whose words could move mountains, was clearly relying on the Lord for this power. On his own, his weakness of speech was clear. In his own words, Enoch describes his speech deficiencies as follows: “he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?” (Moses 6: 31.)
Similarly, Moses was able to part the sea with the power of God, but was also inept of speech. He describes himself in the same unflattering words as Enoch: “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” (Exo. 4: 10.)
Paul suffered from an undefined “thorn in the flesh,” which many scholars believe to have been epilepsy. Paul wrote to the Corinthians the following: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor. 12: 7–9.) He was the recipient of “many revelations” but still suffered under this burden or infirmity. Like Jacob, Paul tied his infirmities to the Lord’s grace. Part of the Lord’s program was to remind Paul that he was dependent on the Lord by allowing him to suffer these physical weaknesses. It stopped Paul from being “exalted above measure” or, in other words, being filled with pride. He petitioned three times to let this burden pass. Just like Christ’s petition to let His cup pass, the answer to Paul was: “no.” The weakness was needed. It was important. It would help to remind him of God’s great power and his dependence on the Lord.
Jacob ties weaknesses to becoming aware of our dependence upon God. This is the way men keep perspective, while gaining great favor from the Lord.
It is no accident that men who preside over the Church as the President of the High Priesthood are invariably elderly. The longest serving, living Apostle assumes the office of President once his predecessor dies. This means the one assuming the role of Church President will be advanced in age. With advanced age comes physical infirmity.
The current President is Gordon B. Hinckley. He is in his late 90’s, and has suffered from cancer for some time. His frail frame is a familiar sight to the Saints. Before him, President Howard W. Hunter briefly assumed office, and was physically incapacitated the entire time. Before him, President Ezra Taft Benson suffered from age-related illnesses and was unable to speak in General Conference for several years before his death. And before President Benson, President Spencer W. Kimball served for nearly thirteen years, while suffering a variety of physical ailments. If we take just the last four Presidents, the overall age related health issues rendered them frail and often too infirm to serve publicly. President Hinckley was 84 years old when he became Church President.President Hunter was 86. President Benson was also 86. President Kimball was 78. The average age was 83.5 years when they first began to serve as Church President. There is no reason to expect this pattern to change.
The common assumption of the Saints is that the office of President of the Church is the greatest calling a man can hold. That being the case, it is apparent from recent history, the office-holders begin service when elderly, physically struggling and often infirm. Church Presidents are honored by the Saints, who stand whenever the President enters a room. The custom is to sing “We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet” as a form of anthem for Church Presidents. The honor and esteem in which the Saints hold the President knows almost no bounds. Catholic esteem for the Pope cannot be any greater than Latter-day Saint reverence for the Church President.
Yet, when men assume this office they know they are dependent upon God. Unlike the Papacy, which does not get conferred upon men above 80, the President of the Church is almost always older than 80 when he assumes office. This is not an age when most would consider starting a new career. When any man starts this new position, he will be keenly aware of the same thing Jacob taught in this Chapter’s verse: “Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescension unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.” Despite the veneration given by the Saints, the President will know he is merely a man, weak and dependent upon God. The wisdom of the Lord is on display. Nothing in the sycophant’s praise can mislead an elderly, infirm and aged man from knowing he is a weak vessel.
I have had the privilege to meet a number of spiritually gifted Saints. Almost without exception they suffer, as well. More than one spiritually gifted woman has ministered to a husband whose final, lingering illness required years of self-sacrifice. Emotional, physical and financial sacrifices took a terrible toll in these women’s lives. While enjoying great spiritual connection to God, they were reminded by their circumstances of their mortal weakness. One gifted man I know with the power of healing given to him suffers from diabetes. His gift can be used for others, but he cannot get relief for his own illness. He has no doubts the gift he enjoys comes from the Lord, and he is weak. One young woman receives profound insights and revelation, but has suffered catastrophic physical injuries. In fact, the injuries she sustained have helped to bring about the gifts. These are but a few. All those I know with gifts have some suffering associated with their lives. They all bear weaknesses. They all can join with Jacob in declaring: “Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescension unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.”
This is a profound principle, applicable to any life. Anyone who has a connection with God, will have to endure physical, emotional or financial reminders of their weakness and dependence upon Him. This is part of the Lord’s great love for those whom He blesses. It is what we agreed to before birth. Lehi taught: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.” (2 Ne. 2: 11.) Opposition accompanies the gifts from God. The purpose is to allow us to keep perspective. We are not allowed to see only heaven. We must also see hell.
Moses encountered the Lord on the Mount. Immediately after the great audience he had on Sinai, we find Moses struggling with Satan:
And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee? For behold, I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me, and I were transfigured before him. But I can look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so, surely? Blessed be the name of my God, for his Spirit hath not altogether withdrawn from me, or else where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me? And I can judge between thee and God; for God said unto me: Worship God, for him only shalt thou serve. Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not; for God said unto me: Thou art after the similitude of mine Only Begotten. And he also gave me commandments when he called unto me out of the burning bush, saying: Call upon God in the name of mine Only Begotten, and worship me. And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan. And now, when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. (Moses 1: 12–20.)
This is not a random event. It is the opposition at work and to have an audience with God you must endure a confrontation with the Adversary. These things come in pairs and to view the things above, you must also view what is beneath.
Joseph Smith did not just encounter the Lord in the Sacred Grove. He was required also to endure the attack of Satan:
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 seized 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 darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call 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 despair 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 light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. (JS-H 1: 15–17.)
This is a divine pattern. Joseph warned us we could not merely contemplate the heavenly heights. To be saved we must also contemplate the darkest abyss. He said:
[T]he things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity-thou must commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart! None but fools will trifle with the souls of men. (DHC 3: 295.)
This is the process by which men and women come to know God. They move in both directions at once. As their minds expand upward, they must deal with the struggles and opposition associated with gaining insight into God’s will. This is the great difference between scholarly knowledge and Divine insight. In the one, it is possible to obtain a lifetime’s study without ever encountering the opposition of evil. But in the other, as you encounter God, you will have to suffer from demonic opposition. Devils don’t bother you at the library. They do, however, on the way to the Temple.
A Savior who would not save Himself is best understood by gifted people whose gifts cannot relieve them of their own sufferings. He is seen most clearly by the ones who hold authority; receive honor and respect, but who are powerless to reclaim their health and vigor. The irony of heavenly success coupled with earthly disappointments and sorrows is the theme from the Book of Job to the modern revelations in Liberty Prison. How can one be both blessed and chosen, and cursed and spit upon? It is ironic. Yet it is the way of the Savior.
The “Suffering Servant” passage of Isaiah 53 is not just a description of the Savior. It is also a description of those who follow Him. All who would be part of His kingdom must understand what it means to be men and women of sorrow and acquainted with grief. They must know what it means to have others turn their faces from them, in judgment and dismissal. For without receiving a part in His sufferings in this life, we cannot expect to have a part with Him in the eternities. He asks us to: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11: 29.)
In a weekly ordinance, the Saints take the sacrament to remind them of the Lord’s suffering body and shed blood. We eat and drink to remind us of His great sacrifice. We sometimes overlook the symbolism this ordinance contains where we join Him in His broken body and spilt blood. Whether we are called upon to lay our lives on an altar suddenly or gradually, all our lives must be laid on the altar. “We should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light” the Gospel to others. (D&C 123: 13.) We have a weekly symbol to remind us of the terrible price He paid. And in that same rite we are also told to internalize it, make it a part of our own lives, and to expect nothing less will be experienced in our flesh and blood. We all have a yoke to wear and we will all die.
When, therefore, you encounter a burden in life, it is all part of the process of becoming like Him. He bore burdens, and so must you. They are given to provide perspective. They are gifts. All our burdens are intended to raise our understanding, encourage our humility, teach us our gifts come from God, and to stretch us into something greater. Even weaknesses and failings are gifts from God. He tells us so: “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble.” (Ether 12: 27.) Your weaknesses come to you from God. They exist to teach you something. They shouldn’t be indulged, they should be overcome. He will help you to overcome them, if you permit Him to do so.
All lives are important. Some seem larger on the world’s stage than others. The most important lives, however, are generally obscure. Women who bear the burden of preserving mankind, who suffer to bring new lives to this estate, and then care for these children until they can fend for themselves, are history’s greatest servants. They are also the greatest in the eyes of God. For God prefers the servant to the master. While men vie for recognition and position, filled with jealousies and resentments, women serve themselves into exaltation. The pettiness of popular acclaim has deceived men into thinking they are more approved by God if they can occupy the “chief seats.” Christ disabused us of that long ago. His parting public commentary still rings through the pages of time as a harsh reminder of how ill-informed our ambitions are:
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matt. 23: 2–13.)
After reading these words only a fool would have the ambition to be an occupant of the “chief seats.” From the very beginning, however, there have been ambitious men who crave recognition. Joseph Smith warned against this: “He spoke of the disposition of many men to consider the lower offices in the Church dishonorable, and to look with jealous eyes upon the standing of others who are called to preside over them; that it was the folly and nonsense of the human heart for a person to be aspiring to other stations than those to which they are appointed of God for them to occupy; that it was better for individuals to magnify their respective callings, and wait patiently till God shall say to them, ‘Come up higher.’” (DHC 4: 603.) And as President Spencer W. Kimball reminds us, this problem is not limited to those who seek public acclaim; it includes those whose lack of humility leads them to reject those who are called to preside in the Church:
To satisfy his own egotism, to feed his pride, to justify vain ambition, a man took a stand against the authorities of the Church. He followed the usual pattern-no apostasy at first, only superiority of knowledge with mild criticism of the brethren. He loved the brethren, he said, but they had failed to see things he saw. He was sure his interpretation was correct. He would still love the Church, he maintained, but his criticism grew and developed into ever-widening areas. He could not yield in good conscience; he had his pride. He spoke of it among his associates; he talked of it at home. His children did not accept his philosophy wholly, but their confidence was shaken in the brethren and the Church. They were frustrated and became inactive. They married out of the Church and he lost them. He later realized the folly of his position and returned to humbleness and activity, but he had lost his children. (Kimball, Spencer W. Faith Precedes the Miracle. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1972, p. 306.)
The very reason men must be called of God, and cannot volunteer, is to prevent an aspiring spirit to succeed. However, when men are called, particularly to the Presidency of the Church, they are entitled to our prayers, faith and confidence.
We should be content; content with the troubles and difficulties of life, and with our failures as well as our successes. We should be appreciative of those who are called to preside in the Church, whether we are called to be among them or not, or whether we think them qualified or not. We should prize the troubles and weaknesses which come our way. All these things are perfect. No matter how imperfect they may seem on the surface, they are nonetheless perfect. They will give you the experience you need to become more like God. You can never be like Him if you never experience frustration, disappointment and rejection. After all he was not only rejected and despised; He was also crucified by those who claimed to follow Him. We should show charity toward all others, including those who are unable or unwilling to receive our charitable support. All these things are for your experience and development. Our education would be incomplete if we were not permitted to experience what Jacob teaches in this verse. God does show us all our weaknesses, so we can know the favors we receive from Him come as a result of His graciousness. We gain our bearings from our weaknesses. We gain strength to endure and overcome them from His grace. It is all a great symphony woven together to bring us closer to God, and to understand His great plan.