![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_2709-800x492.jpeg\")
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Adversity is rooted in the problem of evil\u2014if God is good, then why does he allow evil to exist? Or if \u201cman is that he might have joy,\u201d why is there so much suffering in life? And worse, it often seems like for some the suffering is \u201cbut a moment\u201d, while for others the suffering continues lifelong. While our theological explanations of why this happens make logical sense, they often come across as either blaming the victims or minimizing the suffering. Worse still, too often we explain the suffering as a way of giving ourselves license to ignore it.<\/p>\n
George Handley suggests that the highly regarded LDS humanitarian, Lowell Bennion had a better approach: \u201cHe knew we could make a mess of things theologically when we tried to make sense of why things happen, which is why he believed that we are on safer terrain morally by simply accepting the responsibility to act in the face of suffering and injustice.\u201d Simply put, the \u2018why something happened\u2019 isn\u2019t nearly as important as the \u2018what are we going to do about it.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Nevertheless, both our scriptures\u2014the D&C sections around Joseph Smith\u2019s imprisonment in Liberty Jail in this case\u2014and Mormon poetry have sought to explain adversity. And often these explanations are helpful because we understand that God loves us, and that He is just, and what He is doing is often inscrutable. Its the last part that leads to the idea that maybe we don\u2019t need to figure out the details, and we should just figure out the best way to react.<\/p>\n
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Section 121 is a great example of the depths of adversity and suffering. As Joseph Smith lies in Liberty Jail, the Saints in Missouri are being chased across the state, expelled by order of the governor. The reports Joseph received were perhaps more difficult than his imprisonment, leading to his scriptural cry, \u201cO God, where art thou?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer that Joseph received was what he needed, and what we often need today\u2014the hope that the suffering will have some benefit. For what it\u2019s worth, my google image search on adversity led to hundreds of images, almost all of which showed some kind of triumph or positive benefit from adversity. So yes, I believe its still what we need today.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know who the author of the following poem is. It\u2019s possible that it was the editor of the Millennial Star in 1845, when the poem was published, Thomas Ward. Unfortunately, Ward\u2019s story after this poem was published was rather tragic, as he was mired in controversy, released as editor and as British Mission President, and then died shortly thereafter. As the poem suggests, the \u2018bow in the cloud\u2019 is sometimes in the next life.<\/p>\n
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Author unknown<\/p>\n
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1845<\/p>\n
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Religion itself, as the following poem mentions, faces adversity, and perhaps, because of that, religion as practiced on the earth is improving into what the Lord actually teaches. And when it is True, that is, what the Lord teaches, then it is has tremendous power, to \u201cbind intelligence with matter\u201d, \u201credeem by Christ\u2019s atoning blood\u201d, \u201crenovate from evil\u201d, and \u201cbestow moral fitness,\u201d\u2014all what the poet Thomas Ward describes.<\/p>\n
This poem was written a couple of years before the preceding poem, and was signed by Ward. Somehow, I think, it demonstrates the odd situation that religion is in today\u2014abused, yet glorious; and human, but with a core of divinity that can help all of us endure the adversity we face in life.<\/p>\n
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by Thomas Ward<\/p>\n
1843<\/p>\n
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For us, as Christians, the ultimate example of adversity is the suffering of Christ and the ability of that sacrifice to redeem us. As a type of adversity, it shows the same pattern that I saw in all those images\u2014the ultimate triumph after a struggle. What is different is that the struggle is by Christ, not by us\u2014so His gift to us is a triumph over sin that enables us to triumph also.<\/p>\n
The author of this hymn was the president of the Cincinnati Branch for 32 years. A native of Sweden, he immigrated to Utah in 1882, and married later that same year. It was while he lived in Cincinnati that he wrote this poem.<\/p>\n
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by Charles V. Anderson<\/p>\n
1922<\/p>\n
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If Lowell Bennion is right, that we should focus on what we can do to make things better rather than why they went wrong, then I think that it makes possible to approach what we do with a happy mindset. Relieved of the burden of the past, the future will seem bright.<\/p>\n
Adversity is then nothing more than the tasks necessary to accomplish what we want to do. It isn\u2019t, as the following poem suggests, \u201cthe half fictious burden of care.\u201d Instead, \u201cwithin<\/i> we can feel happy still.\u201d Poet William G. Mills suggests therefore that adversity is in the exterior of the situation, and what really matters is found inside, \u201cwithin\u201d the situation, in the present as we work to do the good.<\/p>\n
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by William G. Mills<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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1853<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adversity is rooted in the problem of evil\u2014if God is good, then why does he allow evil to exist? Or if \u201cman is that he might have joy,\u201d why is there so much suffering in life? And worse, it often seems like for some the suffering is \u201cbut a moment\u201d, while for others the suffering continues lifelong. While our theological explanations of why this happens make logical sense, they often come across as either blaming the victims or minimizing the suffering. Worse still, too often we explain the suffering as a way of giving ourselves license to ignore it. George Handley suggests that the highly regarded LDS humanitarian, Lowell Bennion had a better approach: \u201cHe knew we could make a mess of things theologically when we tried to make sense of why things happen, which is why he believed that we are on safer terrain morally by simply accepting the responsibility to act in the face of suffering and injustice.\u201d Simply put, the \u2018why something happened\u2019 isn\u2019t nearly as important as the \u2018what are we going to do about it.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":51534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,2904,2462,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-doctrine-and-covenants","category-poetry-arts","category-sunday-school-lesson-doctrine-and-covenants"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_2709.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51482"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51543,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51482\/revisions\/51543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}