When We Don't Get Revelation

Yesterday, in Young Men's meeting, we talked about personal revelation. We talked about how to receive it and how to recognise it. We talked about how great a blessing it is. But because God doesn't always grant us personal revelation in every circumstance, we also talked about what it might mean when that happens.

We often go to God with our questions. Often, we're asking for directions for our lives. When we ask God what we should do and don't seem to get an answer, that could mean a handful of things. It could mean that we're not really in tune with God at that moment, and there's something that we need to repent of. It could mean that God has already given us the answer to our question, either directly or through His prophets, and we simply need to look it up. Another thing it could mean when God doesn't give us direction is that He wants us to make the decision ourselves.

God gave us agency, the freedom to choose, and He sent us to Earth to use it. We are here, in part, to practice making decisions and to learn from the decisions we make. This education doesn't come easily when we let God make our decisions for us. We might learn from the "choices" we end up making, but we won't learn how to make good choices for ourselves.

My favorite of the possible reasons why God might not give a person personal revelation regarding an important decision is because He trusts that person to make a good decision. We don't always know exactly what we should do, but as we suffer along not getting divine direction for each decision we make, we eventually learn how to make wise decisions. Eventually, we may even get to the point where we can make decisions that are about as good as our decisions would have been if we had heavenly guidance. We aren't anywhere near that wise most of the time, but in some instances, if we really study a decision out before making it, we may not need to receive personal revelation in that case because we'll be able to make the right decision even without it (though it would still be wise to ask for it).

Personal revelation is such a blessing that we can sometimes feel lost without it, but not receiving revelation isn't always a bad thing. True, sometimes when we don't receive revelation, it's because something is wrong and we need to fix it, but other times, when we don't receive revelation, it means that something's alright, and that God trusts us to make a good decision, even without His help. Often, we put our faith in God by asking for, and accepting, His direction, but sometimes, by withholding His counsel and letting us make our own decisions, God puts His faith in us.