"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." (Mosiah 23:21)

In the sense most relevant to today's word, the Oxford English Dictionary defines "try" as a trial or a test. Try is also an older word for a sieve or a sifting screen, as in "to separate the good part of a thing from the rest especially by sifting or straining." Try can also mean "to separate one thing from another or others; to set apart; to distinguish," such as "to separate metal from the ore or dross by melting; to refine, purify by fire." Try can also mean "to ascertain, find out something obscure or secret by search or examination." Finally, try can mean "to test the strength, goodness, value, truth, or other quality of; to put to the proof, test, or prove."

In a great April 1980 conference talk, "God Will Have a Tried People," President Howard W. Hunter spoke eloquently on the indispensable need to be tried. "One hundred fifty years of church history provide us with a lesson that when resistance and opposition are greatest, our faith, commitment, and growth have the greatest opportunity for advancement; when opposition is least, the tendency is to be complacent and lose faith. President Brigham Young said: 'Let any people enjoy peace and quietness, unmolested, undisturbed -- never be persecuted for their religion, and they are very likely to neglect their duty, to become cold and indifferent, and lose their faith.' This lesson, which applies to the church collectively, also applies to individuals."



President Hunter continues, "What makes us imagine that we may be immune from the same experiences that refined the lives of former-day Saints? We must remember the same forces of resistance which prevent our progress afford us also opportunities to overcome. God will have a tried people!"

The scriptures are full of references to, and stories about, the Lord's people being tried, proved and refined. For example, "I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them ... in consequence of their transgressions; yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified" (Doctrine and Covenants 101:2-5).

Being tried and proven is not just a consequence of our need to be chastened unto repentance, but is the essence of how the Lord leads us to sanctification. "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).