I’d like to paint some pictures for you, and ask you a question.  The first picture is actually already painted.  It’s the picture of Noah standing on a pile of logs, with arms upraised, as he harangues the jeering and mocking crowd that has gathered to make fun of him for building a huge boat up on a wooded mountain.  He’s plainly exasperated by their hard-headedness and hard-heartedness, and they’re plainly convinced that he is out of his mind.

The question I’d like to ask is:  “Where are you in this picture?”  You’re probably not Noah, and I hope that you’re not in the mocking and jeering crowd.  If you examine the picture really closely you’ll eventually see a man walking beside a team of oxen about a quarter of a mile in the distance.  The oxen are dragging a log toward the area where the ark is being built.  There is also a solitary man standing by the ark with a plank in his hands.  He’s quietly working there all by himself.  I’d like to think that I’m one of those two men quietly doing my duty in spite of opposition and in spite of what looks like a Herculean and impossible task before me.

The next picture that I’d like to paint is Lehi’s vision of the tree of life.  You have your own version of this episode in your mind.  Take a look at it.  You’ll find four groups of people there.  One group gets lost in the mists of darkness.  Another heads for the tree, but gets derailed because of the mocking and jeering that comes from the great and spacious building.  A third group actually reaches the tree, and partakes of the fruit.  The fourth group heads directly for the great and spacious building.

Again the question:  “Where am I in this picture?”  I hope that I’m a part of the group at the tree.

Elaine S. Dalton, then first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, paints the third picture in a talk she gave March 29, 2008.  She says:

“A young man I know well was selected to be the student body president at a large university.  The university sent him to a leadership seminar where student leaders from across the United States gathered in Chicago, Illinois, to be trained and educated.  They participated in an initial game outdoors on the college campus so that they could become acquainted with each other.  The students were presented with current issues facing today’s youth and were asked to take a position.  In response to the issue presented, they were directed to run to several trees in the grassy area marked ‘strongly agree,’ ‘partially agree,’ ‘strongly disagree,’ or ‘mildly disagree.’

“Toward the end of this exercise, the leader asked, ‘Do you believe in premarital sex?’  Without hesitation, this young man ran to the tree marked ‘strongly disagree.’  To his amazement, he was the only one there!  All the other student leaders were laughing and pointing at him and saying, ‘Oh, Jess, you are so funny.  We all know you’re not really serious.’  At that moment Jess said he knew exactly what he must do and so he loudly declared, ‘I’m not funny.  I’m serious!’  There was a stunned silence, and then the group dispersed, leaving Jess standing alone by the tree.  He felt out of place and, yes, weird.  But he wasn’t weird.  He was right.  And he was not alone.  During the week, many of the student leaders came to him privately and said that they wished they had known years earlier what he knew.”  (Ensign, May 2008, pgs. 116-7)

Again the question:  “Where are you in this picture?”  Where are you in your world?  Are you standing there alone?  Are you in the right?  If you’re in the right, you’re not alone, even if everyone in sight is pointing their fingers and jeering at you.

We need to take a lesson from the story of Elisha, the prophet.  Several times Elisha prophetically warned the king of Israel of plans and traps that were being laid against him by the king of Syria.  The king of Syria became “sore troubled” and asked his servants who was the spy among them who was revealing his plans to the king of Israel.  He was informed that there was no spy, but that “Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.”  (2 Kings 6:12).

The king of Syria, therefore, sent “horses and chariots, and a great host:  and they came by night, and compassed (Elisha’s) city about.”

And when Elisha’s servant “was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots.  And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

“And (Elisha) answered, Fear not:  for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

“And Elisha prayed, and said, lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.  And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

Elisha was delivered, and so will all of us be if we’re standing in the right.  Noah looked like he was standing all alone on the log pile as the throng harassed him, but I’m sure that he wasn’t.  If I couldn’t have been the man leading the team of oxen or the man who was working alone on the ark, I’d hope that I was part of the unseen army that was undoubtedly surrounding Noah on that occasion.  The artist couldn’t paint them, but they were there.

To those who have received the holy priesthood the Lord says, “and even I have given the heavenly hosts and mine angels charge concerning you.”  (D&C 84:42).  Further, “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up.”  (D&C 84:88).

What a promise!

A prophet of the Lord, Heber J. Grant, gave this counsel and encouragement:  “I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the young man or the young woman, who honestly and conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the guidance of His Spirit.  I am sure that when temptation comes they will have the strength to overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given to them.  Supplicating the Lord for the guidance of His Spirit places around us a safeguard.”  (Ezra Taft Benson, The Ensign, November 1977, pg. 32).

We each need that safeguard.  If we’re going to safely navigate the treacherous waters that we’re swimming in, we need the protective shield that daily prayer and consistent keeping of the commandments give us.  Joseph Smith says that “if you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.”

What a wonderful thing to remember when the world and the odds seem stacked against us.  Where am I in this picture?  I’m on the Lord’s side.  I’m standing with the prophet.  I’m keeping my covenants, and obeying the commandments.