We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us. When what has to be has been and when what lessons to be learned have been learned, it will be for us as it was for the Prophet Joseph.
Even though seemingly unjust circumstances may be heaped upon us and even though unkind and unmerited things may be done to us—perhaps by those we consider enemies but also, in some cases, by those whom we thought were friends—nevertheless, through it all, God is with us. Even the Worthy Will Suffer Secondly, we need to realize that just because difficult things happen—sometimes unfair and seemingly unjustified things—it does not mean that we are unrighteous or that we are unworthy of blessings or that God is disappointed in us.
Of course sinfulness does bring suffering, and the only answer to that behavior is repentance. But sometimes suffering comes to the righteous, too. Art thou greater than he? Joseph was not greater than the Savior, and neither are we. And when we promise to follow the Savior, to walk in His footsteps and be His disciples, we are promising to go where that divine path leads us.
And the path of salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane. So if the Savior faced such injustices and discouragements, such persecutions, unrighteousness, and suffering, we cannot expect that we are not going to face some of that if we still intend to call ourselves His true disciples and faithful followers.
In fact, it ought to be a matter of great doctrinal consolation to us that Jesus, in the course of the Atonement, experienced all of the heartache and sorrow, all of the disappointments and injustices that the entire family of man had experienced and would experience from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we would not have to face them so severely or so deeply. However heavy our load might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before us and carried that burden with us and for us.
In our moments of pain and trial, I guess we would shudder to think it could be worse, but the answer to that is clearly that it could be worse and it would be worse.
Only through our faith and repentance and obedience to the gospel that provided the sacred Atonement is it kept from being worse. Furthermore, we note that not only has the Savior suffered, in His case entirely innocently, but so have most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures. Name an Old Testament or Book of Mormon prophet, name a New Testament Apostle, name virtually any of the leaders in any dispensation, including our own, and you name someone who has had trouble.
My point? The best company that has ever lived. Trouble has a way of finding us even without our looking for it. But when it is obvious that a little time in Liberty Jail waits before you spiritually speaking , remember these first two truths taught to Joseph in that prison-temple. First, God has not forgotten you, and second, the Savior has been where you have been, allowing Him to provide for your deliverance and your comfort.
Having paid that price in the suffering that They have paid for you, the Father and the Son will never forget nor forsake you in your suffering. See Isa. But they could, and they did. They remembered their covenants, they disciplined themselves, and they knew that we must live the gospel at all times, not just when it is convenient and not just when things are going well.
Indeed, they knew that the real test of our faith and our Christian discipleship is when things are not going smoothly. But that is when Christian behavior may matter the most. Remaining true to our Christian principles is the only way divine influence can help us. The Spirit has a near-impossible task to get through to a heart that is filled with hate or anger or vengeance or self-pity.
Those are all antithetical to the Spirit of the Lord. On the other hand, the Spirit finds instant access to a heart striving to be charitable and forgiving, long-suffering and kind—principles of true discipleship. What a testimony that gospel principles are to apply at all times and in all situations and that if we strive to remain faithful, the triumph of a Christian life can never be vanquished, no matter how grim the circumstance might be.
How I love the majesty of these elegant, celestial teachings taught, ironically, in such a despicable setting and time. As a valedictory to the lessons from Liberty Jail, I refer to the last verse of the last section of these three we have been referring to tonight. Family and friends sometimes visited, but those visits always came to an end. More frequent were visits from locals—some yelling curses, others peering inquisitively through windows.
Conditions outside the jail were also grim. Many Latter-day Saints had become selfish and contentious, and they had failed to establish the city of Zion that the Lord had commanded them to build in Jackson County, Missouri.
Some had turned against Joseph Smith. Joseph and others had been arrested on October 31, The next day, a traitorous Mormon military leader had surrendered the city of Far West to Missouri militiamen. The city would be almost empty four months later, as Saints throughout western Missouri fled to the state of Illinois.
The prisoners occasionally received letters from loved ones. The letters were also reminders of the hard times outside the prison walls. Sadness, loneliness, confusion, anger. Anxiety about hungry and homeless families. Uncertainty about how to lead hundreds of outcasts. Doubts about whether those outcasts would continue to accept their leadership. How could the Latter-day Saints—those in jail and those in exile—gain the peace and strength they needed?
How would they ever build Zion? The Lord answered. He spoke personally to Joseph. His counsel also touched the other prisoners and reached beyond the prison walls. Those words are now found in Doctrine and Covenants and In April , the remaining prisoners obtained a change of venue and were being transported to another location when one of their guards allowed them to escape, where they make their way to Illinois.
Brewster, Jr. View Larger Map. Visitors are welcome. Missionary volunteers staff the site seven days a week during normal hours. Admission is free. Liberty Jail interior cutaway. Liberty Jail , at JosephSmith. Leonard J.
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