Job is classic portrait of patience in trials
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Patience is an essential element of a Christlike character, said Elder Robert C. Oaks of the Presidency of the Seventy.
Job offers the classic portrait of patience, said Elder Oaks on Saturday morning. "In the face of losing his vast empire, including his children, Job was able, because of his unfailing faith, to proclaim, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' Through all his tribulation and pain, 'Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."'
How often, asked Elder Oaks, do oppressed souls ask foolishly, "How could God do this to me?" — when they should be praying for strength to bear and endure all things.
"The greatest scriptural examples of patience are found in the life of Jesus Christ," Elder Oaks said. "His long suffering and endurance is best demonstrated on that excruciating night in Gethsemane as He uttered, in His atoning agony, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'
"He truly suffered, and bore, and endured all things."
King Benjamin taught that one is a "natural-man enemy of God" until he or she yields to the enticings of the Holy Ghost through patience, plus other virtues.
"The impatient, natural man is all about us," Elder Oaks said. "We see it manifest in news reports of parents, in a fit of rage, abusing a child, even unto death. On our highways, incidents of mobile impatience, or road rage, result in violent accidents and sometimes fatalities."
Patience is a "gateway virtue," contributing to the growth and strength of its fellow virtues of forgiveness, tolerance and faith, he added.
"We can only grow in faith if we are willing to wait patiently for God's purposes and patterns to unfold in our lives, on His timetable."
