Persistence leads to glorious success
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"Our course as members of the Church should be compliance with the principles and ordinances of the gospel," said Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve at the October 1987 general conference. "Our goal should be to fill the measure of our creation as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father - that is, to reach exaltation and eternal life. The obstacles and opposition we meet are the temptations and enticements of Satan that are designed to frustrate the Lord's work and glory: `To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.' (Moses 1:39.)
"Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly, passively waiting and hoping for some good thing to happen. It gives us hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except in giving up and no longer trying."Elder Wirthlin said that perhaps the best-known Old Testament example of perseverance is the story of Job. "As you know, it narrates the afflictions that befell a righteous man. . . . Affliction is not necessarily a sign of God's anger and a punishment for sin, as Job's friends told him. The book suggests that affliction, if not for punishment, may be for experience, discipline, and instruction. (See Bible Dictionary, LDS edition of the King James Version, s.v. `Job.')
"I do not know of anything that members of the Church need more than they need the conviction and perseverance of Job. Remaining faithful to the Lord through his indescribable sorrow and suffering, Job was able to say, `Blessed be the name of the Lord.' (Job 1:21.) `Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. . . . He also shall be my salvation. . . . For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. . . . Yet in my flesh shall I see God.' (Job 13:15-16, 19:25-26.)
