Liberty Jail

I have often heard liberty jail described as a prison-temple. It affected Joseph Smith immensely. On one hand, he suffered and was tried greatly, but on the other, revelation streamed from heaven during that time. When I began thinking about what I would write on this topic, I was immediately reminded of a talk that I was lucky enough to attend at the Marriott center last year by Elder Holland called “Lessons From Liberty Jail”. That talk really touched me. The lessons he shared that we can learn from Joseph's experience in liberty jail are these:

1.Everyone has trials, and when we are faced with them, when it seems that God is nowhere to be found, we must remember that He is right beside us, bearing us up. These are times when we may be closer to Him than ever.

God will not abandon us. As Holland said in his April Conference address, “because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.”

2.Just because we are experiencing trials does not mean that God is displeased with us.

As the Lord told Joseph, “the Son of man hath descended below them all”. Elder Holland simply stated this point by saying: “If you are having a bad day, you’ve got a lot of company—very, very good company. The best company that has ever lived.” Adversity comes to us all. Even Christ, who did nothing to deserve afflictions of any kind, was laden with trials and sorrows.

3.We must not feel vengeful before God because of our trials. Being righteous is the only way to receive heavenly intervention in our trials. The spirit can enter us much easier when we are righteous.

We don't want to drive away our comforter when we need him most. As we read in D&C 121:36, “the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” There is no time that we are more desperate for intervention from heaven than during our most difficult trials, so during these times, we must remember that to get this intervention, we must be righteous.

Joseph learned a lot about suffering and how to be a stronger leader. He learned a lot about himself. When placed in trials, a person can become stronger and ready for an even bigger attack, or they can become bitter, turning their backs on God, the one source of relief. Joseph did the former. Coming out of Liberty Jail, Joseph was a different person. He gained the strength to face new persecutions and challenges in Nauvoo, and ultimately, his martyrdom. He had enough faith and trust in the Lord to be able to say, in his last days: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall be said of me—He was murdered in cold blood" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:4).