We live in troubled times. Trials and tribulations abound. Tragically, as if such were not enough, we often compound our troubles by trials of our own making.
“Where can I turn for peace?” the poet writes;
“Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?”
We may instinctively know the solution, but turn from that which may be obvious, to seek instead the help of learned counselors and psychiatrists. The Lord answered thus, regarding trials: “In the world ye shall have tribulation, (John 16:33) but concerning our penchant for going to the world for help, (psychiatry) His counsel was “The way of peace they know not.” (Isaiah 59:8) No man can bring us peace, nor can we will it upon ourselves. Sooner or later, in this life or in the next, we will have it borne upon our souls that peace comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ.
One who suffered much, struggling for peace, described his condition in this manner: “I was like to be cast off…I was in the darkest abyss…My soul was racked with eternal torment…While I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me…And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light did I behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! (Alma 36:17-20; Mosiah 27:27, 29, in The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ)
“Where can I turn for peace? Who, who can understand? He, only One.”