You know, when I think
about all the revelation, the translation, the
restoration of the priesthood, it has happened in
this particular place. To me, it is a demonstration
that the heavens are open, that our Heavenly
Father gives us what we need and does
it in miraculous ways, in simple ways. But He does it over and over. Heavenly Father is
unfailingly willing to help us to know His will. And He'll reveal it to
us whenever we're ready. They're giving away all the
secrets of the universe. They are. It takes an inquiring mind,
one who's really anxious to know what the truth is. And if you'll ask God
with a prayerful heart, with real intent,
which means you intend to do whatever the
consequences are, that He will manifest
the truth of it unto you. And I've had that
experience in my own life.
In my earlier life I
was a cardiac surgeon. And in the frontiers
of that work, there were many occasions
when I didn't know what to do. So I just kept asking in prayer. And I came across that passage
in the Doctrine and Covenants that says for every kingdom
there is a law given. And there's no
kingdom without a law. So I thought, Well,
maybe if I just understood the law
a little better, I could understand
how to manipulate. Well, for example,
there's a law of gravity that says if you'll turn
your garbage can over, the refuse will fall out
and go into the collector. But there's also
another law that allows us to fly in
an airplane, where a big heavy object
like a jumbo jet can take off with a load
of passengers because of the law of foil and lift. So this concept of law, divine
law, is so very helpful. It allows a surgeon
to make an operation and know the wound will heal. It allows a woman to
make a cake and know that the result will
be good because she is obedient to these laws. So there's a law irrevocably
decreed, before the foundation of the earth, that whenever a
blessing's received from God, it's because of
obedience to the law upon which that
blessing is predicated. I think of--when you
mention that, President, I think of Joseph and Oliver. When they're reading
the Book of Mormon, they come across that
passage about baptism. They knew that there was a
law that needed to be obeyed. But they didn't know
quite how to do it. So they went to ask. And when they went to
ask, what happened? The restoration
of the priesthood so they would have the
authority to do baptisms. And every time Joseph
followed the law of the Lord, he was given the help that he
needed, given those blessings.