Foreclosure. Reduced hours. Downsizing. Unemployment. In one month, I was given reduced hours at work, my mother lost her benefits and a former bishop of mine became unemployed. This current economic calamity is taking no prisoners. We all are squeezed by the downturn.
When faced by trials, we sometimes ask, "What did I do to deserve this?" In some cases, this may be appropriate. After all, we all need improvement. But sometimes the answer is that we did nothing.
Truman G. Madsen pointed out that when we ask this question we "assume suffering is always a form of Divine punishment. It is not. (We) are convinced by Job's 'friends'
instead of by Job" (see "Eternal Man" by Truman G. Madsen, p. 55).
And sometimes we feel like Job, caught between the grindstones of daily living, with spicy trials added into the mix. However, when we make this comparison to Job we forget two things. The first is the lesson of the Book of Job: innocent people suffer. And sometimes innocent people suffer a lot.
The Prophet Joseph Smith explained:
"(I)t is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and 'the righteous shall hardly escape' (see Doctrine and Covenants 63:34); still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith (see Habakkuk 2:4); yet many of the righteous shall fall a prey to disease, to pestilence, etc., by reason of the weakness of the flesh, and yet be saved in the Kingdom of God. So that it is an unhallowed principle to say that such and such have transgressed because they have been preyed upon by disease or death, for all flesh is subject to death; and the Savior has said, 'Judge not, lest ye be judged'" (see Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 253).
"An unhallowed principle." Christ suffered. Job suffered. We suffer. And it is not all punishment. It is part of our mortal probation.
The second thing we forget is what the Lord told Joseph Smith amidst the dark, damp squalor of Liberty Jail: "Thou art not yet as Job" (Doctrine and Covenants 121:10). We are awestruck with the amount of suffering Joseph Smith experienced in his short 38½ years. But even so, he did not suffer as much as Job. And he certainly did not suffer as much as Christ.
The Lord gave Joseph Smith — and by extension us — a reality check: Things have been worse, but in your case, they are not as bad as they could possibly be.
In 1993, President Howard W. Hunter taught:
"(W)e must not walk on our lower lip every time a few difficult moments happen to confront us.
"In my lifetime I have seen two world wars, plus Korea, plus Vietnam and all that you are currently witnessing. I have worked my way through the Depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economics go crazy, and I have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which caused quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.
"So I hope you won't believe all the world's difficulties have been wedged into your decade, or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better. I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do — especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance to flourish in our lives" (see Ensign, Oct. 1993, p. 70).
That is a second reality check for us. We have survived recessions, depressions and life's curveballs. And we can survive this or any crisis: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).