A talk given in the Phoenix North YSA Ward on February 11, 2024 based on the talk Humble to Accept and Follow By Elder Joni L. Koch
Humility
My name is Mackenzie Berry. I’ve been in the ward for almost a year and a half now. Most of my family lives here in the valley so I visit them often, which has been such a blessing.
Today I am going to be talking about the talk Humble to Accept and Follow by Elder Joni L. Koch. I thought getting this topic was pretty funny, because I definitely can learn a thing or two about being more humble. I don’t mean to brag, but I go through the pride cycle pretty regularly. Phases where I’ll get super prideful and then something happens that knocks me down. I'm humble for a bit and then I start getting prideful and the cycle starts all over again. Hopefully the slope of my humility is overall getting higher, while pride is getting lower, through all my ups and downs, but nevertheless, I still have A LOT to learn.
All irony aside, it has been a humbling experience preparing for this talk. I hope and pray I can share what I have learned with the Spirit, and that you will feel inspired to draw closer to Jesus Christ.
Elder Koch tells a story that I would like to share. He tells us about a time he wanted to show off his high status to his wife and daughter so he took them to work one day with him. But when he got to the front gate, they didn’t open automatically like they normally did. A strange guard came up to the car asking for his work badge. Elder Koch tells the guard that he never needed it before, and then asks the prideful question “Do you know who you’re talking to?” The guard is like ‘obviously not, because you don’t have your ID, and I’m not letting you in without it.’ Elder Koch apologizes for treating the guard rudely, and drives back home to get his badge.
He ends the story by saying this: “When we choose not to be humble, we choose to be humiliated.”
Sadly, I have chosen to be humiliated too many times. I was actually compelled to be humble like two weeks ago and I’m still recovering. But I know that with God, nothing is impossible. I know that through the Atonement and power of Jesus Christ I can learn and grow more than I thought possible. I just have to keep trusting in Christ, line upon line, grace for grace.
Michelle D. Craig tells us “The surprising truth is that our weaknesses can be a blessing when they humble us and turn us to Christ. Discontent becomes divine when we humbly approach Jesus Christ with our want, rather than hold back in self-pity.”
Lately one story that’s been on my mind is in Luke 18, which contrasts a prideful man and a humble man. It is called the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. These groups of people did not get along for various reasons. Jesus tells us,
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I have found myself too many times in the position of the Pharisee in this parable, instead of my rightful place of the publican. I compare myself to others and put myself above them, instead of recognizing my own faults. Jesus teaches us that it is the humble that are exalted. Jesus continues,
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So how can we be humble and not humiliated?
“Humility is inviting God in our lives. It’s saying that we need God more than what we could do alone. According to Preach My Gospel, it is a “willingness to submit to the will of the Lord. … It is being teachable. … [It] is a vital catalyst for spiritual growth.”’ (Elder Koch)
President Nelson asked us these questions to help us determine our willingness to listen to the commands of God: “Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?”
Asking ourselves these questions with the honest desire to change can help us to become more humble and more willing to let God lead our lives. Sometimes we have an idea of where we are going, but then life happens, and we get so confused and perhaps angry at God for ruining our plans. But God knows what He is doing, and He will make our lives better than we can imagine.
I love the story in Deuteronomy about the Israelites escaping captivity in Egypt. They were in the wilderness for 40 years searching for the land God had promised them. I’ve wondered how they could still be traveling for 40 years without reaching their destination. Why did it take them so long?
In chapter 8 the Lord tells them,
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (ESV)
Sometimes God leads us into the wilderness to teach us something. Sometimes we are led into the wilderness to show us that we need God more than anything else in our lives. I hope it doesn’t take me 40 years to recognize my overwhelming need for my Savior Jesus Christ, and I pray that we can see the hand of God in our lives inviting us to change today.
I can think of a special time in my life where I let God prevail, and I saw miracles happen. I was a missionary in the wilderness of Brazil.
It was the end of my mission. I was about to finish training a new missionary and I only had 2 transfers left. I had finally gotten comfortable with the language, I had held various leadership positions, I was about to finish training another missionary and I felt pretty good. I had become prideful without realizing it. I thought I had learned everything that I needed to know, but I was so wrong, and I still am most of the time.
I thought I knew the perfect ending for my mission, I had it all planned out and it was going to happen. I had been in this area for almost 6 months and I was ready to leave. My plan was to get transferred to a new area with a new companion that would be super obedient and hard working so I could finish my mission working hard.
So the last week of the training, my companion and I decided that we were going to have the best week ever, since it was going to be my last week in the area. We wrote it down in our planners and everything. But, of course, nothing went according to plan. After a couple of emergency transfers, we got stuck in a trio that week with a newer sister missionary from the area next door, who I happened to not like very much.. It definitely didn’t turn out to be the best week ever like we planned, but it would be fine because I had my own plan. I was going to be transferred next week, and I would leave all the craziness behind me.
A few days before the transfer, President Silcox came to do routine interviews with our zone of missionaries. I was still waiting to hear about transfers, but I was getting this feeling like I was not going to get what I had been praying for: which was an obedient, hard working companion to help me finish my mission strong. My fears were realized when President Silcox asked me to stay... stay with the emergency transferred companion, the troublemaker, the newbie, and to top it off I’d be staying in the area that I had been in for 6 months, that I was tired of….I told him I would stay, but my heart wasn’t in it. He then told me something I will never forget... He said God knew what I had been praying for, but that it wasn’t time yet. He told me it would come…but not yet. I knew that God had heard my prayers, but He had a different, better, plan for me.
Just because I knew that God had a plan for me didn’t make that transfer any easier. I still thought I knew what was best for me and my mission. Looking back it seems so ridiculous. How could I not trust a loving Heavenly Father?? Why do I continue to fight and doubt? Why can’t I seem to get rid of pride?
In the beginning of that transfer I didn’t know how to let God prevail in my life. I didn’t know how to humble myself and let my will be swallowed up by the will of my Father. But over the next couple of weeks, as I worked with this new companion, God showed me how to change, little by little. We learned to love each other, and my heart was softened. I had so many more lessons to learn, that I never could have learned without that amazing companion that I didn’t even want but came to love.
Before that transfer, I thought I had learned everything I needed to know. I thought I was doing great and growing and that there wasn’t anything else I needed to do or be. For too long I didn’t understand, for those first couple weeks I refused to understand, thinking that I still knew better and everything would have been perfect if things had just happened the way that I wanted them to--…that it was too hard…and I was too tired…so why did it have to happen this way? When we’re in the middle of the wilderness, it’s hard to see the land of milk and honey. But God had something to teach me first. I learned and grew just as much in that single transfer as I had in my entire mission before that. We saw miracles happen, not so much with our friends we were teaching, but in ourselves. I was changed when I completely trusted it to God, because I knew I couldn’t do it myself.
My last transfer, my prayers were answered. I moved areas and was with the most obedient and hardworking companion I had ever seen, and she walked me to the bone and I finished my mission strong. I know God answers prayers. Maybe not in the way we think or want, or when we want, but we’re better for it.
…But now I wonder what my last transfer would have looked like if, instead of praying and asking for what I wanted, I had prayed for what God wanted for me. What more could I have learned? What miracles did I miss because I selfishly wanted things to be easier for me?
I remember leaving that area and feeling like I was leaving my home, when just 5 weeks before I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I don’t want to imagine what my mission would have been like without those transforming 5 weeks. And now I don’t want to live a life where I don’t do exactly what God tells me to do, because I have seen the miracles of letting God prevail.
Now I try to remember this request from Reverend Phillips Brooks: "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men [and women]! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
Letting God prevail in our lives is not easy. Being humble is not easy. I still struggle so hard to always let God prevail. But we need to remember when we turn our lives over to God, He makes a lot more out of our lives than we ever could. He takes our plans and makes something even better (Paraphrase of Ezra Taft Benson).
C. S. Lewis explained God’s transforming power this way: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably. … [You see,] He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of. … You thought you were [being] made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
Having a cottage is not a bad thing. There are a lot of people on this earth that choose to do things contrary to the will of God and are still successful in the eyes of the world. But if we want God in our lives then we need to choose to be humble day by day, until one day we are perfected in Christ.
Sister Becky Craven tells us how we can use humility to come closer to Christ when we are discouraged. “Our daily choices will either help or hinder our progress. Small but steady, deliberate changes will help us improve. Do not become discouraged. Change is a life-long process. I am grateful that in our struggles to change, the Lord is patient with us. Through Jesus Christ, we are given the strength to make lasting changes. As we humbly turn to Him, He will increase our capacity to change.”
God has given us everything that we need to succeed, we just have to work for it. Every day we will make mistakes, we will fall short, we will fail. Every day we will have to remember that “talk doesn’t cook rice”, and that if we fall down seven times, we will stand up eight. Every day we need to make the choice to turn to the Lord, read His word, listen to the prophets, be what we believe, and humble ourselves. I hope and pray that we can all include God into the planning of our lives, and then see the miracles unfold.
I’d like to close with some words from Elder Koch, “May we be humble to follow the counsel of our prophets and accept that only God and Jesus Christ can transform us—through ordinances and covenants received in His Church—into the best version of ourselves in this life and, one day, make us perfect in Christ.”
I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and He loves us perfectly. I know that miracles happen on the earth today when we choose to follow Christ, humble ourselves and submit our will to the will of the Father. I know our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and wants us all to come home.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Footnotes
Ezra Taft Benson told us that “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their soul, raise up friends, and pour out peace.”
“I am building a house
Where the floor is made up of strength
Where the walls are crafted of ambition
Where the roof is a masterpiece of forgiveness
I am building myself.”
--Noor Unnahar
“God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity in the cloud, the oil in the earth. He left the rivers unbridged and the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. God gives to man the challenge of raw materials, not the ease of finished things. He leaves the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys and glories of creation.”
- In Search of the Abundant life, Thomas S. Monson
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/kevin-j-worthen/choose-to-be-humble/
1 Nephi 13:16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
