“Fear Not, I Am with Thee”
The Lord will comfort all of those who try to follow Him.
My beloved brothers and sisters, I am grateful to be with you in this worldwide conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The hymn we just heard sung by the choir speaks of promises which will become more important and more precious in the time ahead for all of us and for those we love.
My message today is that the promises in that hymn are true. The lyrics, taken from the 41st chapter of Isaiah, have become a comforting guide for me, and they can be for you and for those you love in the trials which we individually face.
Let us listen again to those promises:
In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, … so thy succor shall be.
Those promises become more precious as we move through the challenges in our lives and in the lives of those we love. It is important to realize that the promise is not for the removal of challenges. My wise mother taught me that when I was a little boy. I had asked her, “Mother, why is life so hard?”
She smiled and said firmly, “Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.”
Years later I realized that as she spoke those words to me, she was passing through tests of her own and rising up through a lifetime of terrible medical trials. As a girl, she had been diagnosed with diseases that would cause lifelong health challenges. But because she knew the words “Fear not, I am with thee” were true, the Lord’s promise was fulfilled for her.
You might reasonably wonder why a loving and all-powerful God allows our mortal test to be so hard. It is because He knows that we must grow in spiritual cleanliness and stature to be able to live in His presence. To make that possible, Heavenly Father gave us a Savior and the power to choose for ourselves by faith to keep His commandments and to repent and to come unto Him.
The Savior not only understands and has felt grief, but He has “borne [your] griefs, and carried [your] sorrows.” He knows you perfectly. He knows your heart.
The combination of trials and their duration are as varied as are the children of our Heavenly Father. No two are exactly alike. But what is being tested is the same, at all times in our lives and for every person: Will we do whatsoever the Lord our God will command us?
As my mother went through her last days of life, she became bedridden. The only picture she had placed on her bedroom wall was of the Savior. It hung where she could see it as she lay in her bed.
My father had a cot placed next to her in the hospital room so that he could help her immediately during the nights. After she died, my father walked through the floor of the hospital ward to thank and to shake the hand of every nurse who had helped her.
Now, I tell that story to offer evidence that the Lord sends faithful disciples to help Him keep His promise to succor others in their distress. As President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”
The remainder of my message today is to thank those who have responded to the call to be the Lord’s servants to fulfill His promises to be with His children in their troubles. I wish to thank those who have helped Him and encourage others to join Him in keeping His promise today and in the hard days ahead.
I would like to share examples of what so many of you have already done and are doing to help the Lord fulfill His promise to succor those in need in His earthly kingdom. Many of you offer such consecrated service in a variety of ways.
You have prayed in faith consistently for your family members or friends to know who the Lord would have you help for Him. As a face or a name has come into your mind, you have reached out to them. Even your simple attention was a comfort. That you felt prompted to reach out to them was evidence to them that the Lord knew and loved them.
Many of you have recognized a discouraged missionary as an invitation to lift a servant of Jesus Christ. Wherever they serve, missionaries are being stretched and they are praying for strength. Whatever they are assigned to do, they are in need of encouragement.
Your kindness to them, even for a few seconds, or simply a warm smile can be a strengthening of their faith that the Lord is watching over them. When you speak to them, you will find words to build their faith that the Lord knows them and is aware of their circumstances.
Many of you have prayed regularly for the Lord’s servants in His Church in whatever calling they might hold. Every one of them is praying every day and every night to know what to do to better serve others and for strength to carry on.
You are an important part of the Lord’s answers to their prayers for assurance. As you show your appreciation and confidence in them that they have been inspired, they will feel evidence that God called them, knows them, and has guided and blessed them. They will be strengthened in their feeling of the Lord’s approval.
Another great opportunity can come when you invite the Holy Ghost to help you find ways to help the Lord comfort those who are pleading for it. The Book of Mormon prophet Alma taught: “As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; … willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”
We know that the Lord will comfort all of those who try to follow Him. And He offers us the great blessing and trust to help Him keep His promise to succor Heavenly Father’s children in their tests along their mortal journey toward home.
That is a reason we shed tears of joy and take courage whenever we hear the words “Fear not, I am with thee,” and we are touched that He offers us the trust of helping and loving others.
I testify that this is His Church and that He keeps His promises, both through the Holy Spirit and through His loving, true, faithful disciples, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.