“For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.” (D&C 98:12). Proofs in mathematics, computer programming, and logic all start with a single axiomatic statement that is taken as true. They then add to this line or precept another axiomatic statement taken as true. And so the proofs go - line upon line, precept upon precept. Since each line is either an undeniable truth or a logical connector adhering to undeniable rules of deduction and inference, even extremely complicated mathematical theorems that on their face seem completely wrong and illogical can nevertheless be shown to be undeniably true because they have been built up line of undeniable truth by line of undeniable truth. As most of us have experienced, if we were to look at the mathematical work of someone who is a lot farther advanced in their studies than we are, it will all seem like nonsensical gibberish. But it makes sense to that mathematician because they have put in the work and built up their understanding line by line and precept by precept until it all not only makes sense but is obviously true. Whenever we find ourselves in a situation where we do not understand what the Lord is doing with our lives or the lives of our friends and family or just the world in general, maybe even to the point where we just want to doubt everything, we are like the kid learning basic arithmetic who looks at their older sibling studying Calculus and seeing all kinds of letters and Greek letters and different sized numbers and all of the rest. In our pride, we may want to skip over all of the lines and precepts at the bottom and magically understand the higher order precepts at the top. We build these great and spacious edifices of how we think the world ought to be and how God ought to act and we’re just floating up in the air with no foundation. We’re going to fall and it’s going to hurt. Anyone who has ever had to show their work with a mathematical proof knows that it can be very tedious building out the proof line by line, but that slow and painstaking process gives us a solid foundation that will support the loftier concepts that we are working towards. God tells us that everything He is doing is for our good, and if we want Him to prove this to us in a way that will make sense, then we have to start with the axiom all the way at the bottom, that God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son to perform an infinite and everlasting Atonement and Resurrection so that all of God’s children would have the opportunity to be saved and inherit eternal life. And then from this bedrock certainty we have to patiently build up our proof line upon line and precept upon precept. If we will do this, then God will be able to prove to us that all of it has been for our good in the end, and we won’t be able to doubt it because we will have proceeded from undeniable precept to undeniable precept with no gaps or holes in our logic and nothing to shake our faith and our certainty.
