Lesson 125: Doctrine and Covenants 111–114

Doctrine and Covenants 111

“I Will Order All Things for Your Good”

In 1836, the Church was deeply in debt. The Prophet Joseph Smith and other Church leaders traveled to Salem, Massachusetts, where they hoped to obtain money to pay the Church’s debts. On August 6, 1836, Joseph Smith received the revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 111. In this revelation the Lord reassured him regarding the Church’s debt and the welfare of Zion. This lesson can help students feel greater confidence in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Possible Learning Activities

How will things turn out?

Begin class by inviting students to think about challenges teenagers commonly face that could lead them to feel discouraged or fear that things won’t get better. Then you might draw a scale like the following on the board and invite students to use it to answer the question below.

• How confident do you think most teenagers are that things will work out for their good?

Ponder how you would rate yourself on this scale regarding the problems or challenges you are currently facing or may face in the future.

A troubling time for Joseph and others

Consider inviting a student to read the following contextual background, or you could summarize it in your own words. Alternatively, you could invite students to read from chapter 22 of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol. 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846 ([2018], 258–59), or you could play the audio of that chapter (available at saints.ChurchofJesusChrist.org) from time code 16:14 to 17:00. You might point out that just as we face challenges in our lives that may be discouraging, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders faced challenges in 1836 that caused them great concern about the future of Zion.

By 1836, the Church was deep in debt due to the costs of building the Kirtland Temple and of purchasing lands in Ohio and Missouri. At the same time, the Saints in Clay County, Missouri, were being forced to relocate. In late July 1836, with these concerns weighing heavily on their minds, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon traveled more than 600 miles (965 kilometers) from Kirtland, Ohio, to Salem, Massachusetts. While the reason for their trip is not certain, they may have been acting on information they thought could help them relieve the debt of the Church. One account states that a Church member had told Joseph Smith about a house in Salem in which was hidden a large amount of money. (See historical introduction to “Revelation, 6 August 1836 [D&C 111],” 35, josephsmithpapers.org.)

• How confident do you think Joseph Smith was that the problems the Church was facing would work out for good?

As students study Doctrine and Covenants 111, invite them to seek revelation about ways the Lord can help us increase our confidence that our problems and challenges can work out for our good.

“Notwithstanding your follies”

Consider writing the following verse groupings on the board. One way to study these is to read the first grouping, and then invite students to write their answers to the two questions on a piece of paper and then pass it to a classmate. Discuss what students wrote. Repeat this activity with the remaining two verse groupings. This can help students share what they are learning and be taught by their classmates.

As needed, explain that a folly is a mistake or error in judgment.

Focus on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ: For more practice with this, see the training titled “Teach about the titles, roles, and attributes of Jesus Christ” in Teacher Development Skills: Focus on Jesus Christ. Consider practicing the skill “Create search questions to help students identify roles, titles, symbols, attributes, and characteristics of Jesus Christ.” After reviewing the training, you may want adjust or add to the questions you ask students about the following scripture passages.

Read the following verse groupings, and for each grouping, answer the two questions that follow:

• Doctrine and Covenants 111:1–4

• Doctrine and Covenants 111:5–8

• Doctrine and Covenants 111:9–11

• What questions do you have about these verses?

• What truths do you learn about God from these verses?

In their responses to the second question, students might mention a number of truths or attributes of God. These could include truths such as the following: God is merciful with our follies (see verse 1); God communicates with us through the peace and power of His Spirit (see verse 8); God can order all things for our good (see verse 11).

• How might the truths you identified have helped Joseph Smith with the challenges and concerns he had?

• How might they be able to help you?

God can order all things for our good

Follow the promptings of the Spirit regarding which truths would be helpful for students to study more deeply. The remainder of this lesson will focus on the truth that God can order all things for our good. Consider writing this truth on the board and inviting students to mark the words in verse 11 that teach it.

As needed, help students understand that the word order in this verse means “arrange.” You might refer to the scale on the board and invite students to ponder how confident they are that God can arrange “all things” for their good.

Consider discussing with students that if they would like to believe this truth more strongly, they can pray for help to deepen their understanding and belief in this attribute of God.

• According to verse 11, what is required of us in order for God to arrange all things for our good?

As needed, explain that being “wise as serpents and yet without sin” (verse 11) refers to the idea that the Savior’s disciples should combine wisdom with innocence and purity.

For the following activity, you could organize students into groups of three. Ask each student in the group to read a different passage below. After students have read and discussed the passages, consider inviting them to come to the board and write something they found. They can write it around the truth on the board, with an arrow pointing toward the truth.

Study the following passages, looking for what we need to do for God to order all things for our good. Consider linking the following verses with Doctrine and Covenants 111:11.

• Romans 8:28

• Doctrine and Covenants 90:24

• Doctrine and Covenants 100:15

Invite students to read the following statement by President Gordon B. Hinckley and then add what they learned to the list on the board:

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) testified:

It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. (“Latter-day Counsel: Excerpts from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Oct. 2000, 73)

Invite students to teach one another about what they wrote on the board. They could explain why it is meaningful to them. Some of the following questions could enhance the discussion:

• What did you find that can strengthen your confidence that God can order all things for your good?

• How does having an eternal perspective help you trust that God can order all things for your good?

• When or how has God arranged things for good in your life or the life of someone you know?

The following activity gives students time to consider how what they have learned and felt today could influence their lives and their relationship with Heavenly Father. After students finish writing in their journals, you could invite a few to share with the class.

Complete one or more of the following sentences in your journal:

• My confidence that God can order all things for my good was strengthened today by …
  What I learned today can help me with a problem I’m dealing with by …
  When I face a difficulty in the future, I want to remember …

Additional Resources

Doctrine and Covenants 111:1. What were their follies?

A folly is a mistake or error in judgment. It may have been a “folly” for Joseph Smith and his companions to look for money and rely on their own efforts to solve the Church’s financial difficulties. However, throughout the rest of the revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 111 the Lord mercifully promised them ongoing help and guidance.

The Lord’s acknowledgement of these Church leaders’ mistakes helps clarify the distinction between making mistakes and committing sin. President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency acknowledged that we all make mistakes and taught that our mistakes can help us progress:

Mistakes are inevitable in the process of growth in mortality. To avoid all possibility of error is to avoid all possibility of growth. In the parable of the talents, the Savior told of a servant who was so anxious to minimize the risk of loss through a mistaken investment that he hid up his talent and did nothing with it. That servant was condemned by his master (see Matt. 25:24–30).

If we are willing to be corrected for our mistakes, … innocent mistakes can be a source of growth and progress. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Sins and Mistakes,” Ensign, Oct. 1996, 67)

Doctrine and Covenants 111:8. How can I recognize the influence and power of the Spirit?

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency gave the following insights that can help students better understand the influence and power of the Spirit in their lives:

You have felt the quiet confirmation in your heart and mind that something was true. And you knew that it was inspiration from God. For some of you it may have come as the missionaries taught you before your baptism. It may have come during a talk or lesson in church. It may have come already tonight when something that was true was said or sung, as I felt when I heard the singing, as some of you did. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth. You feel peace, hope, and joy when it speaks to your heart and mind that something is true. Almost always I have also felt a sensation of light. Any feeling I may have had of darkness is dispelled. And the desire to do right grows. (Henry B. Eyring, “Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times” [Brigham Young University devotional, Sept. 10, 2006], 2, speeches.byu.edu)

Doctrine and Covenants 111:11. What does it mean to be “wise as serpents and yet without sin”?

When the Savior sent His disciples out to preach the gospel, He told them to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In modern times, the Savior gave similar counsel to His disciples, declaring, “Be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin” (D&C 111:11). Both accounts teach that the Savior’s disciples should combine wisdom with innocence and purity. The Joseph Smith Translation emphasizes the importance of being a wise servant of the Master: “Be ye therefore wise servants, and as harmless as doves” (Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 10:14; compare Matthew 10:16). (New Testament Student Manual [2018], 36–37)

Doctrine and Covenants 111:11. What else can I do so that God will “order all things for [my] good”?

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then of the First Presidency, testified:

Those who heed the inner call and seek God, those who pray, believe, and walk the path the Savior has prepared—even if they stumble along the path at times—receive the consoling assurance that “all things shall work together for [their] good” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:24). (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “A Yearning for Home,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 22)

Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared:

All things can work together for our good when we are “sanctified in Christ … in the covenant of the Father” [Moroni 10:33]. Every good and promised blessing comes to those who remain faithful to the end. The “happy state of those that keep the commandments of God” is to be “blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual,” and to “dwell with God in … never-ending happiness” [Mosiah 2:41]. (Gerrit W. Gong, “Covenant Belonging,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2019, 81)

Supplemental Learning Activities

God truly can order “all things” for our good

To help students feel more deeply the truth that God can order all things for their good, consider showing “Life Is Incredibly Unfair—in Our Favor” (13:33). Before showing the video, ask students if they think that Jesus Christ really meant “all things” in Doctrine and Covenants 111:11. As students watch the video, invite them to look for how the wife in this video would answer that question.

Doctrine and Covenants 111:2. “Many people in this city, whom I will gather”

If students would benefit from additional historical context, you could relate the account of Elder Erastus Snow and how the revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 111 helped him fulfill his mission.

In 1841, five years after section 111 was given, Erastus Snow was called to go to Salem, Massachusetts, to fulfil the revelation to gather the people of Salem into the Lord’s kingdom. At first, people were not receptive to the gospel message. Elder Snow relied on the Lord’s promise that He had “many people in this city” (Doctrine and Covenants 111:2) and kept preaching about the Savior’s restored Church. In time, people believed in the restored gospel and were baptized. By February 1843, there were 110 members of the Salem branch. Converts from Salem later traveled to Nauvoo and on to the Rocky Mountains. (See Elizabeth Kuehn, “More Treasures Than One,” in Revelations in Context [2016], 229.) Many descendants of these converts in Salem are still members of the Church today (see Kim R. Burningham, “The ‘Insignificant’ Scripture” Ensign, Aug. 1990, 47–48).

After relating the account of Elder Erastus Snow, you could discuss lessons learned from his experience. The following questions could help:

• How do you think the Lord’s promises will be fulfilled in their time?

• Why do you think patience and diligence (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:6) are important attributes to have when sharing the Savior’s gospel?

Doctrine and Covenants 111:11. God can order all things for our good

If helpful, you might consider inviting students to think of other examples from the scriptures or Church history in which God ordered or arranged for something negative to work out for good. Some examples could include Joseph Smith and Martin Harris losing the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript (Doctrine and Covenants 3:1, 7–10); Joseph, son of Jacob, being sold into Egypt (Genesis 37, 39–45); Abish gathering the people of King Lamoni (Alma 19:28–29); and Peter and John being imprisoned (Acts 5:17–20).