"That They Might Have Joy" | David A. Bednar | 2018
The world we live in is often turbulent. But, if we turn to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we can find peace. All the Savior taught was given "that we might have joy."
This speech was given December 4, 2018.
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"My beloved brothers and sisters, there is an understandably subdued spirit on the campus of Brigham Young University today. I have thought about you and the student involved in the incident yesterday without ceasing since I learned of this episode.
This morning I arose very, very early, and I would like to share with you briefly just a few thoughts that may be of some assistance to all of us. I invite you to consider and to connect four things.
First, consider the titles used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ by Isaiah: “Wonderful, Counsellor [please note the word counsellor], The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”1
Connect that title of Counsellor to this verse from Alma: “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good.”2
Connect those verses to these lyrics in the hymn “Where Can I Turn for Peace?” from Sister Emma Lou Thayne:
Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.3
Last, connect those lyrics to Alma’s description of the Savior:
And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.4
With all the energy of my soul, I bear witness that the Lord Jesus Christ lives. These are not words on a page in a book. These are literal, actual spiritual truths. And as His servant and in His name, I promise you will receive the counseling you need from the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.
Susan and I are grateful to be here with you. We love you, and we love Brigham Young University.
I desire and pray for the assistance of the Holy Ghost for you and for me as we focus now together on things of eternal worth during this devotional.
Learning from the Lord’s Servants at BYU
An important time of learning for me started on this campus in 1970. I attended San Leandro High School in the East Bay Area of California from 1967 to 1970. It was a turbulent time with anti–Vietnam War protests, political assassinations, and social upheaval. The Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and Telegraph Avenue near the campus of the University of California at Berkeley were two major epicenters of dramatic drug, music, sexual, and cultural revolutions. Only a few Latter-day Saints attended my high school, and my ward had a very small group of youth.
I moved into Helaman Halls in August 1970 and quickly became acquainted with many diverse and faithful young men and young women. That fall semester was a life-changing time for me because of spiritually powerful sacrament meetings and service in my student ward, stimulating academic classes and supportive teachers, and a strong brotherhood that developed with my dorm friends as we played intramural sports, talked late into the night, and perpetrated typical but harmless freshman pranks and practical jokes.
My experience at BYU was “spiritually strengthening,” “intellectually enlarging,” and a preparation for “lifelong learning and service.”5 And most important of all, I met Susan Robinson on this campus after I returned home from my mission in 1973. She has been the love of my life for almost forty-four years.
As I started to think about and prepare for this opportunity to speak with you, I reflected on the devotional experiences I had as a BYU student."
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