2018
Hope in Challenging Times
October 2018


“Hope in Challenging Times,” New Era, Oct. 2018, 48–49.

Last Word

Hope in Challenging Times

From a Brigham Young University–Idaho devotional address given on February 7, 2017.

You live in challenging times. Values and standards honored for thousands of years are now being denied or cast aside. Selfishness is replacing service. Evil is being called good, and good is being called evil.

Though men’s hearts are failing them, you should take heart. There have always been challenging times. We, the generations of your predecessors, have survived daunting challenges, and so will you. The answer to all of these challenges is the same as it has always been. We have a Savior, and He has taught us what we should do. At the conclusion of His earthly ministry, He declared, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

What overcomes the world is the power of God, manifested through His Son Jesus Christ and given to us through the principles and doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the stressful circumstances that surround us, we must trust in God and His promises and hold fast to the vital gospel teaching of hope. As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians: 

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

“Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

When we trust in the Lord that all will work out, this hope keeps us moving. Hope is a characteristic Christian virtue. I know it will counter all current despairs. When you feel down, put faith and hope to work in your lives. While others may abandon progress, you of faith should hope on and press on with your education, your lives, and your families. As the Lord said to our early Church members, “Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if you are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:34).

President Dallin H. Oaks

Illustrations by Andrew Roberts