Let us...be like the young man with Elisha on the mount. At first intimidated by the surrounding enemy chariots, the young man's eyes were mercifully opened, and he say "horses and chariots of fire," verifying "they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16). Brothers and sisters, the spiritual arithmetic has not changed!
Our own intellectual shortfalls and perplexities do not alter the fact of God's astonishing foreknowledge, which takes into account our choices for which we are responsible. Amid the mortal and fragmentary communiques and the breaking news of the day concerning various human conflicts, God lives in an eternal now, where the past, present and the future are constantly before Him (see D&C 130:7). His divine determinations are guaranteed, since whatever He takes into His heart to do, He will surely do it (see Abraham 3:17). He knows the end from the beginning! (see Abraham 2:8). God is fully "able to do [His]...work" and to bring all His purposes to pass, something untrue of the best-laid plans of man, since we so often use our agency amiss! (see 2 Nephi 27:20).
God has assured us:
"I will lead you along" (D&C 78:18)
"I will be in your midst" (D&C 49:27)
He will be "with [us]," brothers and sisters, "in [our] time of trouble" (D&C 3:8), including through the guidance of His living prophet...Meanwhile, the defining moments in the "life of the soul" continue to turn on whether we respond with self-indulgence or self-denial in our daily, individual decisions, as between kindness and anger, mercy and injustice, generosity and meanness.
Neal A. Maxwell, General Conference, April 2003
Our own intellectual shortfalls and perplexities do not alter the fact of God's astonishing foreknowledge, which takes into account our choices for which we are responsible. Amid the mortal and fragmentary communiques and the breaking news of the day concerning various human conflicts, God lives in an eternal now, where the past, present and the future are constantly before Him (see D&C 130:7). His divine determinations are guaranteed, since whatever He takes into His heart to do, He will surely do it (see Abraham 3:17). He knows the end from the beginning! (see Abraham 2:8). God is fully "able to do [His]...work" and to bring all His purposes to pass, something untrue of the best-laid plans of man, since we so often use our agency amiss! (see 2 Nephi 27:20).
God has assured us:
"I will lead you along" (D&C 78:18)
"I will be in your midst" (D&C 49:27)
He will be "with [us]," brothers and sisters, "in [our] time of trouble" (D&C 3:8), including through the guidance of His living prophet...Meanwhile, the defining moments in the "life of the soul" continue to turn on whether we respond with self-indulgence or self-denial in our daily, individual decisions, as between kindness and anger, mercy and injustice, generosity and meanness.
Neal A. Maxwell, General Conference, April 2003
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