It has been over 9 months since this mobilization started. Today was the first time I have had sacrament meeting by myself. In the back of my mind, I worried just a bit about this. One of our members is experiencing visa problems, so he has not been able to make it back from his vacation. Two others were transferred to different camps, leaving me as the only LDS member (to my knowledge) on the camp. Previously, more than once, it looked like nobody would be there as I was setting up for a sacrament meeting. Then, at the last minute, someone would come through the chapel door.
Today, nobody came. A coalition soldier was in the chapel making tea and asked if I wanted some :) Then he started playing on the keyboard, so I asked him if he was going to play for my service. "What time is your service?" he asked. "1500," I said. I looked at my watch; it was a few minutes past 1500. He then gathered into the office with the Canadian Padre and the Chaplain Assistant while I finished setting up. I plugged my computer into the sound system and began the service by singing, "Press Forward Saints." As soon as I began singing, I did not feel alone. The warmth of the spirit testified to me that although my voice was the only one I heard, I was not alone. I conducted the district business (I am on the district council) and raised my hand in a vote of thanks, and again for a sustaining vote of two chaplains I knew who had just been called to the district council. It felt like a normal meeting. After the sacrament hymn, "There is a Green Hill Far Away," I blessed and passed the sacrament, and enjoyed the reverent quiet while doing so.
The message consisted of me standing at the podium, quietly reading over the talk that I was still preparing for Sunday night's Protestant gospel service. The text was Matthew 6:19-34. The theme of the message was: our uncertainty is God's opportunity. God is asking us to trust him completely. He who formed us is certainly able to sustain us. When we come to know Him more fully, we will have an increased capacity to trust him completely. Our moments of uncertainty and difficulty are opportunities for God to reveal to us who he really is, how willing and able he is to provide for us, and how much he truly cares for us. Moses, Gideon, and David are all examples of how reliance on God won the day. Think of the handcart pioneers who suffered brutally while crossing the frozen plains. One of these hearty pioneers noted that, "we came to know Him [God] in our extremities."
When we have come to the place where we know we have done all and can go no further, God is there to clear the way for us to pass, just as he did for Moses at the Red Sea, with the armies of Pharaoh bearing down upon his people, Israel. We might have our armies reduced to a handful of men, like Gideon, but if we stay true to our faith, we will recognize God's hand leading us to victory. Then we will know the victory is the Lord's completely, and not our own. David chose to come in the name of God, instead of wearing Saul's armor, when he confronted Goliath. His trust and faith bore fruit as he slew the giant that all Israel feared.
When God asks us to trust Him in difficult circumstances, it is not so much to test us, as it is to reveal Himself to us. These experiences cause our faith to grow and our testimony to be a firm foundation, built upon the rock of Christ.
Jesus is our ultimate example of trusting God. When the hour was dark as he hung on that cruel cross, his trust in his Father did not waiver. With his last breath he declared, "Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit" (Luke 23:46). May we trust God, and so follow the Spirit, especially in our dark hour. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." God will give us the courage to do so, I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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