As I read the account of Christ appearing to the Nephites, I found myself thinking how fortunate and coincidental it was that all twelve of the disciples whom Jesus wanted to call were right there in the crowd of 2500 who witnessed Him descending.  Why weren’t they scattered throughout the country where Jesus would have had to seek them out?

I realized that it’s a matter of positioning.  Positioning is a principle and a devise used by the Lord to have people where they need to be when they need to be there for their benefit and the benefit of others.

In the case of the twelve Nephite disciples, I’m sure they were each led to Bountiful by the Holy Ghost.  They probably didn’t originally all live there.  It’s very likely that a series of hardships in each of their lives caused them to go to Bountiful.  Bountiful is where the temple was, and where there was a concentration of righteous people.  Because of great wickedness which had spread over the land, righteous people had come under siege in many areas.  Prophets had been killed and the righteous were cast out of many great and notable cities.  During the three days of darkness, the Lord’s own voice was heard reporting on the destruction of at least 16 of them.  He reported that He caused them to be burned, sunk in the depths of the sea, buried up in the depths of the earth, and covered with earth “…because of their wickedness in casting out the prophets, and stoning those whom I did send to declare unto them concerning their wickedness and their abominations.

“And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them.”  (3 Ne. 9:10-11).

Being cast out of their homes, losing their possessions, having rocks thrown at them, and being chased out of their cities must have been a terrifying experience for the disciples, their families, and the others who were gathered together at the temple in Bountiful.  As they dealt with their hardships they surely asked themselves why these things were happening to them when they’d tried so hard to do what was right.

As they very attentively listened to the news report being given by the voice in the dark, though they couldn’t see a thing with their eyes, suddenly they were able to see very clearly how the Lord had been guiding them and positioning them where they needed to be.  Suddenly they were very, very glad that they hadn’t been back home in Zarahemla when their house and the nasty neighbors next door were burned up.  Others were very glad that their former acquaintances in Moroni on the eastern seacoast, and in Jerusalem on the western side of the country, had chased them out before they were sunk in the sea.  What had formerly seemed like the most extreme hardships crystallized in an instant into the greatest of blessings.  The thought went through each of their minds, “If they hadn’t chased me out, I’d have been there!”

Think of the feelings experienced by Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy as they lost their home and farm.  They’d had a terrible year.  Their crops all froze in what was known as the year without a summer.  All they could see was that life was very difficult, that it was hard to provide for the family, that they’d lose the farm and have to move to some unfamiliar place.

They had no way of knowing that the Lord had caused a volcano to go off in Indonesia half a world and another hemisphere away, and that the volcano was what had caused their miserable year.  The Lord didn’t tell them that He caused the volcano to go off just for the Smiths’ benefit and for the benefit of unnamed others who He was trying to position where they needed to be.  Joseph and Lucy couldn’t know that it was crucial that a certain little son in their family should in a short time be living clear across another state close to a certain hill where he could be taught by angels, have access to some ancient records, and could perform a work that would change the world.  All Joseph and Lucy could see were their hardships; but with faith they faced them, prayed for direction and help, and carried on.

Isn’t it remarkable that Peter, James and John—who worked so closely together in the pre-earth existence—should have been born together, along with the other Apostles, in the same locality in Galilee, and at the same time, and that several of them happened to be business partners, brothers, and friends?  No coincidences were involved here.  It was all by design.  The Lord needed these men near at hand when he’d begin His ministry.

Andrew was with John the Baptist the day after Jesus was baptized.  John pointed Jesus out and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”  (John 1:36).  Andrew told his brother, Peter.  Peter and Andrew told their partners, James and John.  Philip lived in the same city.  Jesus found him, and said, “Follow me.”  (John 1:43).  Philip went to his friend, Nathanael, and said, “We have found him” (John 1:45), and took the doubting Nathanael to Jesus.

These men were all positioned right there, at that time, for a special purpose.  Why do you suppose that you and I were born where we were, and when we were, and to the particular parents we were born to?  Might the Lord have been positioning us, as well as His disciples and Apostles?

The Lord said very pointedly that He “…established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose…”  (D&C 101:80).  Scholars have pointed out that never before in history had there been such a collection of able men and minds gathered together in one place as there was for the purpose of writing the Constitution.  The Lord said that He raised them up.  He caused them to be born in the American colonies in the 1700’s.  He scattered these special spirits throughout the colonies, and placed them in particular places and circumstances where they’d receive educations and have experiences that would train and motivate them.  He then caused them to be brought together in Philadelphia in 1789 to write the Constitution.  He caused that freedom of religion should be a principle that these men would write into that document.  It was a principle that was almost unheard of and unthought-of in the world.  Even the Puritan ancestors of some of these men didn’t believe in that principle, yet these men wrote it into the Constitution.

That principle had to be there because the Lord designed to have a baby born just 16 years later who would have the responsibility of bringing about the Restoration.  The Constitution of this land enabled Joseph Smith to do what otherwise could not have been done had freedom of religion not been established as the law of the land.  Had he tried to do what he did in England, Europe, or even in Puritan New England, he’d have been killed, imprisoned, or burned at the stake before the work even got off the ground.

Again I ask, why were you and I born where we were, and when we were, and to the particular parents we were born to?  Perhaps it isn’t our mission to be a Joseph Smith or a George Washington or a Booker T. Washington or a Captain Moroni or a Boyd K. Packer—(men who are my heroes).  But maybe it’s our mission to raise a Lucy Mack Smith who can become the mother and mentor of a prophet.

Zebedee (Mark 1:19) and Jona (John 1:42) never had any idea that they had been singled out to each be the fathers of two Apostles, but raising those boys was their main mission in life.  Asael Smith was given to know that he had a similar mission in life.  He prophesied, “It has been borne in upon my mind and soul that one of my (posterity) will promulgate a work to revolutionize the world of religious faith.”  (George Q. Cannon p. 26).   In life he never got to be baptized or to enjoy the blessings of the Restored Gospel.  But in his old age “after having received the Book of Mormon and read it nearly through, … he declared that (Joseph) was the very prophet that he had long known would come in his family.”  (D.H.C. Vol. II p. 443)  In hindsight we can see that his commission was to raise the boy who would be the father of the prophet.

What’s your commission?  You may never know in mortality.  But never doubt that you were placed here for special purposes.  The Lord has positioned you in just the right time and place.  Depend upon it.

Be aware, too, that you have an adversary whose goal it is to suck you out of position.  He has an infinite variety of tools to put into use to accomplish that goal.  He has alcohol and tobacco, drugs, the Internet, diversions, pornography, pride, playthings, possessions, philosophies, people, and a determined purpose.  If he can get a young man to commit a sexual sin, perhaps he can prevent a mission and the marriage that he should have had.  If he can do the same with a young woman or convince her that a vocation is more important than motherhood, perhaps he can prevent a childbirth, and divert a noble spirit into some other family and parentage.  If he can convince you not to act upon the prompting you’ve received from the Holy Ghost, perhaps he can prevent someone from receiving baptism or the help he should have had.

Don’t get sucked out of position.  You’re where you are for purposes that are just as important as it was for Lucy and Joseph to be in Vermont in 1800.  And don’t complain too much about your crop failures and hardships.  Roll with the punches, exercise faith, and carry on.  Your troubles are likely just the Lord conditioning you and positioning you.