Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy said; “As a young man, I had many questions about the Church. Some of my questions were sincere. Others were not and reflected the doubts of others.
I often discussed my questions with my mother. I am sure that she could sense that many of my questions were sincere and from my heart. I think she was a little disappointed in those questions that were less sincere and more argumentative. However, she never put me down for having questions. She would listen and try to answer them. When she sensed that she had said all that she could and that I still had questions, she would say something like this: “David, that is a good question. While you are searching and reading and praying for the answer, why don’t you do the things you know you should and not do the things you know you should not?” This became the pattern for my search for truth. Through study, prayer, and keeping the commandments, I found that there are answers to all of my important questions. I also found that for some questions, continuing faith, patience, and revelation are needed.
Mom put the responsibility of developing faith and finding answers on me. She knew that the important answers would come from my seeking truth the way that Heavenly Father has prescribed. She knew that I needed to find the truth. She knew that I needed to be sincere in my questions and be willing to act on what I already knew to be true. She knew that I needed to study and pray and that I needed to develop greater patience as I sought answers from the Lord. Willingness to be patient is part of our search for truth and part of the Lord’s pattern of revealing truth.[*] Over time I came to know that my mother was teaching me Heavenly Father’s pattern for seeking truth. Faith grew, answers began to come, and I accepted a mission call.
…. I came to know that constant nourishment and continuing effort to repent and keep the commandments are needed to never have that feeling leave. President Monson said, “A testimony needs to be kept vital and alive through continued obedience to the commandments of God and through daily prayer and scripture study.”[i]
… To know the truth, we need to live the gospel [ii] and “experiment”[iii] on the word. We are cautioned to not resist the Spirit of the Lord.[iv] Repentance, coupled with a determination to keep the commandments, is an important part of each individual’s search for truth.[v,vi] In fact, we may need to be willing to “give away all” our sins in order to know the truth [vii]…. President Monson has asked each of us to “do [what] is necessary” to obtain and keep a strong testimony. What is necessary to deepen and strengthen your testimony? Each of us has a personal responsibility to do what is necessary to obtain and keep a strong testimony.[viii]
Patiently keeping our covenants while we “do [what] is necessary” to receive answers from the Lord is part of God’s pattern for learning truth. Especially when things are hard, we may be required to “submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.”[ix] Patient covenant keeping increases our humility, deepens our desire to know truth, and allows the Holy Ghost to “guide [us] in wisdom’s paths that [we] may be blessed, prospered, and preserved.”[x]
….I have found great comfort in the Lord’s promise that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”[xi] Without knowing everything, we can know the truth. We can know that the Book of Mormon is true. In fact, as President Russell M. Nelson taught this afternoon, we can “feel, deep in ‘the inmost part’ of our hearts [see [xii], that the Book of Mormon is unequivocally the word of God.” And we can “feel it so deeply that we would never want to live even one day without it.” (xiii) Elder Russell M. Nelson, “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like Without It?”
Elder David E. Evans talk or September 30, 2015, ‘The Truth of All Things’, can be found on page 68 of the November 2017 Ensign.
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