President Dallin H. Oaks on trusting the Lord's timing

President Dallin H. Oaks (born August 12, 1932) served as president of BYU from 1971-1980.  He was then appointed as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court, and resigned when he was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1984. He became President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and also 1st Counselor in the First Presidency in January 2018.

"The Lord has His own timetable. 'My words are sure and shall not fail,' the Lord taught the early elders of this dispensation. 'But,' He continued, 'all things must come to pass in their time' (D&C 64:31-32).

"The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith means trust—trust in God's will, trust in His way of doing things, and trust in His timetable. We should not try to impose our timetable on His. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said:

"'The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing. If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? The same is true with the second coming and with all those matters wherein our faith needs to include faith in the Lord's timing for us personally, not just in His overall plans and purposes.' [Even As I Am (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 93]

"More recently, during last April conference, Elder Maxwell said: 'Since faith in the timing of the Lord may be tried, let us learn to say not only, "Thy will be done," but patiently also, "Thy timing be done"' (CR, April 2001, 76; or 'Plow in Hope,' Ensign, May 2001, 59).

"Indeed, we cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord's will and in the Lord's timing."

- Dallin H. Oaks, "Timing," BYU Devotional, January 29, 2002
Click here to read or listen to the full talk

The relationship between faith and timing was a favorite theme of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, as quoted and expanded upon by Elder Oaks. It's tempting for us to claim or proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ, but to demonstrate a lack of faith in the timing with which blessings or responses or even deliverance from trials occurs in our life.

True faith in Jesus Christ necessarily includes absolute trust in His timing and the wisdom of His plan for each of us, and for all of us.

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