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What If Your Trial Is Shaping You? Answer - It is!! · ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Todd Talk, Spirit by Design.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Todd.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're not, but I am.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're stepping into one of the most difficult and most inspiring stories in all of Scripture.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, I'm here to help you design your spirit life.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Design the life that will set you up ready for Christ's second coming on earth.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where we're gonna start with.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm titling this one, When the Storm Doesn't End, what Job Teaches Us about Faith, Suffering, and Becoming Like Christ.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: If that doesn't give you the end before the beginning, I don't know what else does.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But have you ever asked, why is this happening to me?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried to do what's right.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why isn't God blessing me?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: How long do I have to endure this?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know I have.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Many, many times.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sitting in my room, deployed, alone, wondering why am I going through this?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we struggling?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this happening to me?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever carried those questions like I have, you're in good company.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest men who ever lived asked many of those same questions, and his name was Job.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard of him.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: There was this kind of big deal.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's an entire book titled Job in the Old Testament.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was kind of a big deal.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to discover that the book of Job is not primarily about suffering.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he suffers a lot.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the book is actually about becoming.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's about learning to trust God when we don't understand him.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that is why it's so important.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's about discovering that faith isn't measured when life is easy, it's measured when life gets hard.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is revealed when heaven seems silent.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean God's not listening.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying not yet.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So who was Job?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: The scriptures introduce Job with these remarkable words in Job 1.1.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: That man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's the English translation.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, the word perfect doesn't mean flawless.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean perfect like Jesus Christ was flawless.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It means that he was spiritually mature, complete, wholehearted.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Joel, Job, not Joel, Job loved God.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: He sacrificed for his family, he served others, he obeyed the commandments.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: In today's language, we would probably say, here's someone who attends church every week, studies the scriptures daily, pays an honest tithe, serves others, loves his family, and sincerely tries to follow Jesus Christ.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone deserved an easy life, it was Job, right?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: At least he would think so.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But those whom the Lord qualifies, those whom the Lord has plans for, he tests and he tries.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Job's story immediately destroys one of Satan's oldest lies.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That if you're righteous, nothing bad will happen.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel never teaches that.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ himself was perfect, and he suffered more than anyone who has ever lived.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: So what we see from Job, what we learn from Job is that everything can change overnight.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Within a single day, Job loses or lost.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: His wealth, his livestock, his servants, his business, every one of his children.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot to lose.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but that is a lot to lose.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Can you even imagine that?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Receiving that many devastating phone calls all in one afternoon.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think most people, if they'd have a nervous breakdown, if not go cathetonic.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But then comes the shocking response in scripture.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Job said, The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what Job does not say.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, I understand.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, I like this.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't pretend it doesn't hurt.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he worships.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: He turns towards God, not away.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Many times we see heroes depicted as when they're losing and struggling, they curse God until they get humbled.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not Job.
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  SPEAKER_00: No, he worships.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's extraordinary.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our greatest act of faith is refusing to stop worshiping while we're waiting for answers.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: President Russell M.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nelson has taught, the Lord loves effort.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the greatest effort is simply remaining faithful one more day.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes surviving spiritually is victory.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: When you're first learning to fly and you fly through clouds the first time, you can get disoriented.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty pretty easy to do.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your senses tell you that you are straight and level or up is up.
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  SPEAKER_00: And really, it's all the reverse.
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  SPEAKER_00: Everything inside your body screams that you're upside down when you're actually straight and level.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your senses lie to you.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're taught to trust the instruments.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've used this analogy before.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Trust the instruments.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, spiritually, the scriptures, our covenants, our prayers, our spiritual feelings, meaning the personal revelation we receive, our patriarchal blessings, and the living prophets become our flight instruments.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Feelings, I'm not talking about spiritual, personal revelation, change.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Feelings change.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Truth does not.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Many people think Satan's goal was to kill Job.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: His goal was something far worse.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted Job to curse God, to lose faith, to become bitter.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Satan understood something.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't stop God's plan.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe he could convince Job to walk away from it.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The same battle exists today.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: The adversary doesn't always try to destroy us physically.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: He simply whispers, God has forgotten you.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your prayers aren't working.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're alone.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Give up.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're not good enough.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's looking for you to commit suicide.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's looking for you to commit spiritual suicide.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's looking for you to transgress.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because God doesn't care about me.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Those lies have destroyed far more souls than tragedy ever has.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your greatest battle is protecting your relationship with God.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Everything else can be rebuilt.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Money, careers, health, possessions, but if Satan separates us from Christ, he wins.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Elder David A.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: David A.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bednar taught that faith means trusting God enough to accept his will, even when we don't understand his timing.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of his most memorable teachings comes from his address that we might not shrink.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: He asked, Do you have the faith not to be healed?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: That question changes everything.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Real faith isn't demanding God remove every storm.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's trusting him inside the storm.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's trusting that his will be done.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Not the easiest thing when we want, what, want, what, what?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So after seven days of silence, Job's friends began speaking.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ironically, they were better comforters when they said nothing.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of mourning with him, they began explaining why this must be his fault.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: How often do we do the same?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Someone gets cancer, loses a child, loses their job, experiences depression, and people immediately start explaining why.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Job teaches us that not every hardship is punishment.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's preparation.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's refinement.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know when I went through my refiner's fire, that's exactly what it was.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Refinement.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Burning out the old me.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I could become spiritually stronger than new me.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's simply mortality.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Things happen.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 12 15 teaches us to weep with them that weep.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say explain, judge, analyze, correct, criticize, etc.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: It says weep with them that weep, mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that need comfort.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the scriptures teach.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Christ like charity looks like sitting quietly beside someone whose heart is breaking.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: President Irene has often reminded us that the Holy Ghost will tell us how to comfort others.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Many times, comfort comes through presence, not explanations.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Words are not necessary.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: One reason I love Job is because he stays honest.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: He asks different difficult questions.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: He mourns, he cries, he wrestles, yet he never abandons God.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a difference between questioning God, which he does.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: He questions him on many things.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Faith allows honest questions.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Pride refuses honest answers.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, there's a profound difference between questioning God and questioning whether God exists.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: He is there.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is listening.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Psalms are full of questions.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah asked questions.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Joseph Smith asked questions.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nephi asked questions.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus Christ cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Questions aren't evidence of weak faith.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Running away from God because of those questions, that's the danger.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: How many people do you know that say, I used to be a member of the church?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: But then I had these questions and I didn't like or didn't understand the answers.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they leave the church.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: That makes Satan happy.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Near the end of Job, God finally speaks.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Something remarkable happens.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't explain everything.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he reveals himself.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: He asks Job, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, Job, you don't know everything, but I do.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: That lesson applies to every disciple, you and me.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God answers our questions, sometimes he answers with his presence, and ultimately his presence is the greater gift.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the answer is silence while waiting for us to learn.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: God's presence is better than immediate answers.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: That presence can be the gift of the Holy Ghost, the comforter, surrounding you and comforting you in times of stress.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we pray, Lord explain.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And instead he says, Walk with me.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I like the story of the foot or the poem Footprints in the Sand, where there are two sets of footprints, the Lord walking beside you.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when we look back, there are times, the hardest times in life, where there's only one footprint set of footprints.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the writer asks, Lord, where were you in these darkest times of my life?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You were not walking beside me.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord answers, Son or daughter, those are the times that I carried you.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The entire story of Job points us towards Jesus Christ.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Both were innocent, both suffered greatly.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Both were mocked.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Both trusted the Father.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Both submitted completely to God's will.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus did something Job could never do.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: He descended below all things.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because of him, our suffering is never meaningless.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: President Boike Packer taught, the atonement leaves no tracks, no traces.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: What is fixed is fixed.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Christ didn't merely sympathize with suffering, he has experienced it perfectly.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews reminds us, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: No one understands your pain better than Jesus Christ.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, Job was restored.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: He received twice as much as he had before.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Many readers stop at that point, but I think that's the least important part.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: The greatest blessing wasn't more livestock, it wasn't greater wealth, it wasn't longer life.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: The greatest miracle was the person that Job became.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: He knew God differently, deeper, personally.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Job declares, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye hath seen thee.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: In Job 42, 5.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: That may be the greatest verse in the book.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Trials transformed secondhand faith into firsthand knowledge.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: So what lessons?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are five lessons that we can learn from Job.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson one, righteous people still suffer.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Gospel never promised a storm-free life, it promises a savior for every storm.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Two, don't let suffering define God.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Your circumstances change, but God's character does not.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: 3.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Stay faithful before understanding.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Understanding usually comes after obedience, rarely before.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: 4.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Comfort people more than you correct them.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: The ministry of Jesus was filled with compassion first, instruction second.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And number five, your trials can become your testimony.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: The deepest disciples often have the deepest scars, not because God abandoned them, but because he refined them.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, I've been through a refiner's fire.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of them.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that my faith is stronger.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: The testimony of Christ is stronger than it ever was before that happened.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe today your trial isn't losing livestock.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a struggling marriage or rebellious child, financial stress, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, loneliness, feeling forgotten?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Any of the above?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Job reminds us God has not abounded you.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: He may be shaping you into someone eternity requires.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: This week, here's your challenge.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of asking, why is this happening?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Lord, what are you trying to build me into?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: That single question changes suffering into discipleship.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I testify that Jesus Christ lives.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: He knows betrayal, hurt, pain, all things that we and all suffering, all illnesses, pains, afflictions of every kind that you and I could possibly go through.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: He knows loneliness, grief, physical pain, emotional anguish, anxieties.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: He knows it all.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And because he descended below all things, there is no sorrow he cannot reach, and no burden too heavy for his grace.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like Job, there will be seasons when we cannot see the horizon.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: In those moments, keep flying by the instruments of your faith.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Trust your covenants, read your scriptures, and trust them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Trust the living prophet, and above all, trust the Savior.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: One day you will look back and realize that the greatest miracle is not merely that God carried you through the storm, it was that he used the storm to make you more like his son.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember, design your life by the Spirit.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor yourself in Jesus Christ and keep becoming the disciple he knows you can be.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, have a blessed day.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now if you like this, share it with your friends.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: If this is beneficial to you and others, share.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get the word out and help other people build a more spiritual life.