Elder David A. Bednar on the Lord's tender mercies

Elder David A. Bednar (born June 15, 1952) was serving as the president of BYU–Idaho when he was called and sustained as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in October 2004.

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness and obedience enable us to receive these important gifts and, frequently, the Lord’s timing helps us to recognize them.

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance (see 1 Ne. 1:20)."

- David A. Bednar,  "The Tender Mercies of the Lord," General Conference April 2005
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After being sustained to the Quorum of Twelve in October 2004, Elder Bednar used his first major conference address in April 2005 to address the topic of "tender mercies" in what has become one of the modern classics. Others have commented on this phrase and verse of scripture, but none so effectively as Elder Bednar did. In 1 Nephi 1, the opening chapter of the Book of Mormon, Nephi has set the foundation of the story of his father Lehi's preaching to Jerusalem and the general rejection of his message of repentance. Nephi closes the chapter with these words:

And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. (1 Ne 1:20)

Lehi was one of the Lord's "chosen" servants, filled with faith. Nephi's testimony was that the Lord will watch over those who have such faith in Him, by blessing them with his "tender mercies" and making them "mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Elder Bednar applied this promise to all of us. We receive the tender mercies of the Lord as we live in "faithfulness and obedience." Elder Bednar gives a wonderful, encouraging list of when those blessings might come to us in great power in their simple, sweet power:

• to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live
• when words cannot provide the solace we need
• when words cannot express the joy we feel
• when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable
• when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life
• when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome
• when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone

At these critical times of life, Elder Bednar's witness is that we will be "made mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2019)