Trust = Deliverance

I totally just remembered that I haven't blogged yet today. Oops. Anyway, luckily for me, we just read a scripture in family scripture study that really struck a chord with me and kind of applies to some things I've been blogging about lately.

And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
Alma 38: 5

In other words, if I'm reading this right, the extent to which you trust God is the extent to which you'll be delivered from your trials. Can that be right? Yes, and No, and then Yes again.

At first, of course! The Book of Mormon contains many stories in which people put their faith in God and were delivered from bondage. God always blesses those who put their faith in Him. So, as long as we trust God completely, we'll be free from all trials and troubles, right?

Wrong. It's often the case that righteous people suffer as much, if not more than unrighteous people. The people of Alma the Elder, who were oppressed by Amulon, trusted in God, but they were allowed to suffer for a time before their deliverance, to say nothing of Job! Meanwhile, the formula of Trust = Deliverance is proven false once again in the case of the Israelites. They had very little trust in God and in His prophet, Moses, but God delivered them from Pharaoh anyway.

However, trust can lead to deliverance in some cases. The people of Alma the Elder were delivered, according to the Lord's timing. Maybe we just need to be patient. But more than that, we need to be wise. There are some afflictions that are unavoidable, but a staggering number of the problems in our lives are caused by our own actions. God can guide us and help us avoid those kinds of problems, but only if we listen to Him and trust the counsel He gives us. Maybe that's (part of) what Alma the Younger meant when he told his son, Shiblon, that if he trusted in God, he would be delivered. Maybe God is already telling us what to do to escape our current problems and avoid future ones.

Also, we should give God credit for more than we see. I'm reminded of a blog post in which I related the escape of Prince Philip from the Forbidden Mountain in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. I spoke of how the three good fairies used their magic to eliminate several problems that would have hindered, if not killed Prince Philip, had those problems not been removed. But since those hazards were removed by the fairies with no effort needed on the prince's part, it would have been possible for Prince Philip not to have noticed those challenges and never have known that they were ever there.

So it may also be with us. We sometimes hear of times when people have followed promptings, not knowing the full reason for or result of their choice. It's possible that God uses such promptings to deliver us from afflictions that we don't see coming. Who knows how many trials we avoid by keeping God's commandments and heeding His spirit's promptings?

So, our lives will never be completely trial-free, even when we put our trust in God completely. However, I do believe that we save ourselves a lot of pain and anguish when we choose to follow the Lord's guidance, even when the reason for a particular piece of counsel isn't clear. God does deliver those who trust them, in His own way and in His own time, whether we realize it or not.