Ours Not to Reason Why

I recently experienced a major life changing event, a diagnoses with type 1 Diabetes.  On the one hand, I wanted to know why this happened, but on the other I had to accept that this was the new reality.  This reminded me of other times in my life when I wondered "why?"  In this life, where we walk by faith, it is not given us to know all the answers, and seeking answers sometimes distracts us from doing the things we need to do.

Consider the Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem by Alfred Lord Tenyson, which describes an event in the Crimean War:

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.

Someone had, indeed, for the charge had been ordered against the wrong hill, and the Light Brigade would ride into the enemy's guns.

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Missionaries may wonder at the reasons for some mission rules.  Or they may wonder why an investigator who had seemed golden, and who was so close to baptism, may suddenly change their mind.  They may wonder why another pair of missonaries, who they see fooling around instead of working, are blessed with a baptism, when they themselves are not, despite their hard work.

Missionaries would do well to remember the words of Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia of the Confederacy, during the American Civil War:

"Duty is the sublimest word in our language.  Do your duty in all things.  You cannot do more.  You should never do less."

Questions can lead to doubts, and doubts can lead to a loss of faith. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed this during the October 2013 General Conference when he said, "There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith -- even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true."

He went on to say, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters -- my dear friends -- please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

I do not believe in blind faith, or in putting aside all questions to blindly follow the leaders of the church.  One of the fundamental principles of my faith is that, like the boy Joseph Smith, I can go to my Heavenly Father in prayer to ask about things I do not understand.  But I have also learned that, just as "no" can be an answer to prayer, that God will sometimes not give me the information that I think I need.  He knows what I do not, and He knows best what I need to know and what I do not.  His ways are not my ways.

Yesterday I thought I'd seen it all
I thought I'd climbed the highest wall
But now I see that learning never ends
And all I know to do is keep on walking
'Round the bend

Singing
Why, why, why
Does it go this way
Why, why, why
And all I can say is

Somewhere down the road
There'll be answers to the questions
Somewhere down the road
Though we cannot see it now

And somewhere down the road
You will find mighty arms reaching for you
And they will hold the answers
At the end of the road

Sources:

The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tenyson, accessed at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174586

Come, Join With Us by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2013, accessed at: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng

Somewhere Down the Road, lyrics by Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatric, accessed at: http://www.metrolyrics.com/somewhere-down-the-road-lyrics-faith-hill.html