Davies Did Something Difficult

Sometimes, God asks us to do something that is terribly (and seemingly meaninglessly) difficult. Before he was called to be the First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, Bishop Dean M. Davies was asked to help find a good site for a temple in or near Vancouver, BC, Canada. He and the rest of the committee found several good sites, with one site standing out above the rest. President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was the prophet at the time, went to see that site and the others that had been considered, but he felt impressed to keep looking. He was led by the Spirit to another location and felt a strong impression that the temple should be built there. He asked the committee to look into buying the site.

As it turned out, as Bishop Davies put it, "he couldn’t have picked a more difficult property. It was owned by three individuals: one from Canada, one from India, and one from China! And it didn’t have the necessary religious zoning."

It seemed like a no-go, but the Prophet said, “Well, do your best," so they did.

"Then," Davies said, "the miracles happened. Within several months we owned the property, and later the city of Langley, British Columbia, gave permission to build the temple."

Through His Prophet, God had asked Bishop Davies to do the impossible, and with the help of the Lord and some of His other servants, he did it.

Now, I don't know why God wanted His temple built there. Maybe there's a reason that site was particularly perfect or reasons that the sites that had previously been considered weren't. Maybe there's a good, practical reason why God asked Bishop Davies to do the impossible. Or maybe God asked Bishop Davies to do the impossible just to prove that, with His help, he could do it.

We all face challenges in life. Some of those challenges are posed by God and seem arbitrary or needlessly difficult; however, God has good reasons to give us those challenges. They help us prove and improve our competence. They help us learn to rely on God. They help us gain faith in the omnipotence of God. And some of those challenges aren't actually arbitrary at all; they're vital for reasons that we just don't understand yet. Whatever God's reasons are for giving us difficult challenges, they're good ones. That's why we should always try to do what God asks of us, even when it seems terribly and arbitrarily difficult.