*Sunday afternoon session

President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve opened the afternoon session of general conference with an address about the expectations of the Lord.

President Packer used the story of Oliver Granger to show how the Lord knows the heart’s intent.

“Oliver Granger is a very ordinary man,” President Packer said. “He was mostly blind, having lost his sight by cold and exposure. The First Presidency described him as a man of most strict integrity and moral virtue and in fine to be a man of God.

“When the saints were driven from Kirtland, Ohio, in a scene that would be repeated in Independence and Far West and Nauvoo, Oliver was left behind to sell their properties for what little he could. There was not much chance that he could succeed and nearly he did not succeed. But the Lord said, ‘Let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church’ said the Lord, and ‘When he falls, he shall rise again for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.'”

President Packer said the Lord did not expect Oliver to be perfect.

He likened Oliver’s experience unto the current members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“We cannot always expect to succeed, but we should try the best we can,” President Packer said.

He continued with a description of the next generation.

“We see a strength in them beyond what we have seen before,” President Packer said. “Drinking and drugs and moral mischief are not part of their lives. They ban together and study the gospel in socials and in service.

“They are not perfect, not yet. They are doing the best they can, and they are stronger than the generation that came before. As the Lord told Oliver Granger, ‘When they fall, they shall rise again for their sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than their increase.’”

President Packer said the Lord knows of man’s imperfections and encouraged forward progression.

“Some worry endlessly over missions that were missed, or marriages that didn’t turn out, or babies that did not arrive, or children that seem lost or dreams unfulfilled or because age limits what they can do,” President Packer said. “I don’t think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think that we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough."

Some needlessly carry a burden of guilt, which could be removed through repentance, confession. The Lord did not say of Oliver, ‘If he falls,’ but ‘When he falls, he shall rise again.’”

He acknowledged the almighty power of God against Satan’s power in the latter-days.

“Nothing, no power can stop the progress of the Lord’s work,” President Packer said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 3 Oct 2004