Obtaining Faith

"Once, in a concentration camp during World War II, the Jewish people imprisoned there decided to put God on trial for failing to live up to his promises to protect them. Officiating at the trial were three rabbis, who appointed a lawyer for the people and a lawyer for God. There was much evidence introduced and many days of deliberation. Finally the verdict was read, and God was found guilty.

"When the trial was over, the people were quiet. They looked at the rabbis and one person asked, 'What do we do now?'"

"The only answer that made sense to the people, the only answer in the face of reality, was that they must pray." (Doorways to the Soul, Eliza Davy Pearmain, p. 94).

Have you ever had a time when you feared God had failed you? This story causes one to think about what it really means to have faith. What is faith? We are taught that faith is to hope in things that are not seen, which are true (Alma 32:21). --Faith that the Lord is real and that He is our Savior. Why do we need to have faith in the Savior? What do we believe the Savior can do for us that we can’t do for ourselves? Real faith in the Savior, I believe, means that we have faith that the Lord will redeem us. What does ‘redeem’ mean? Redeem means to buy back, to change, to rescue, to restore, to turn, to deliver, to make worthwhile, to set free. Do we believe the Lord can and will redeem us?

How do we obtain that kind of faith? Helaman 5:41 says, "You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ!" If we lack faith, we are to pray for faith! A story in the times of Joseph Smith is illustrative: When Joseph and the would-be three witnesses—David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris—knelt to obtain the privilege of seeing the plates, they prayed for a long time but nothing happened. Joseph said, "Something is wrong." Martin said that he thought it was him, that he just didn’t have the faith. Joseph told him to go off alone and pray for faith. Martin said, "The Lord won’t give me faith until I have faith." Joseph said, "No, Martin, the Lord will give you faith when you pray for faith."

Sometimes that’s one of my main pleas—that the Lord will "help mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24)—that He will help me where I lack, that I may have the faith I need to accept His will. Elder Bednar reminds: "Each of us needs God’s help in surrendering our will to Him." I believe that sometimes faith isn’t supposed to be easy to come by. I believe the Lord wants us to recognize that even for the gift of faith we need His redemptive power.

Originally posted 10/26/08