One of the most difficult concepts for most Christian people to understand is the idea that the Father of us all and His son, Jesus Christ, knows each of us individually. When we contemplate the billions of people who have and will habi- tat this earth before the end, it is absolutely mind boggling to believe that we are known by them. President Boyd K. Packer, at one time, estimated that there had been about 72 billion people born to earth since Adam’s time. Spencer W. Kimball in an article in the Ensign, October, 1974 titled, “When the World Will Be Converted,” stated: “And their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the seashore.” Speaking of God’s children here on the earth, he then quoted Enoch, the prophet, as saying, “And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof.” (Moses 1:27–29) Enoch had beheld the spirits that God had created. Can we even try to imagine the numberless concourses of beings like you and me who have walked upon this beautiful planet? I have been to the seashore many times, and I have picked up a handful of sand. I couldn’t count the granules in my hand let alone consider the number on the miles of shore.
Then, every once in awhile, we may witness for ourselves or even read of another who witnessed what must surely be evidence that the Father is, in reality, aware of us individually as well our needs. The following story was read in a recent Sunday Priesthood Meeting, and I must confess the thought of it brought tears to my eyes: “One of the great missionaries of pioneer times was Joseph Millett, who served a mission to the Maritime Provinces of Canada when but eighteen years of age. His mission was marked by discouragement, yet punctuated by faith-promoting experiences—even miraculous intervention by the Lord. This lifelong servant of the Lord learned on his mission and never forgot what it is like to be in need and how to give. He has left us with this final picture of himself, taken from his personal journal and using his own words: “One of my children came in, said that Brother Newton Hall’s folks were out of bread. Had none that day. I put… our flour in a sack to send up to Brother Hall’s. Just then Brother Hall came in. Says I, ‘Brother Hall, (how) are you out for flour?’ ‘Brother Millett, we have none.’ ‘Well, Brother Hall, there is some in that sack. I have divided and was going to send it to you. Your children told mine that you were out.’ Brother Hall began to cry. Said he had tried others. Could not get any. Went to the cedars and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him to go to Joseph Millett. ‘Well, Brother Hall, you needn’t bring this back if the Lord sent you for it. You don’t owe me for it.’” His journal continued,
“You can’t tell how good it made me feel to know that the Lord knew that there was such a person as Joseph Millett.” (“In Eugene England,” New Era, July 1975, p. 28). President Boyd K. Packer has stated, “Brethren, the Lord knows each of us. Do you think for a moment that He who notes the sparrow’s fall would not be mindful of our needs and our service? We simply cannot afford to attribute to the Son of God the same frailties which we find in ourselves.”
Serving at a large Family History Library with more than three hundred volunteers and missionaries, it is difficult for me to try to remember all of them by name. But as Elder Packer stated, we can’t attribute to the Son of God the frailties we find in ourselves.
It is hard to contemplate all of our ancestors, all those countless human beings, sons and daughters of God, who have lived and died on this planet and who are now on the other side the veil. There is so much work to be done to identify them and to make sure they have been endowed. Does it not make our task easier and maybe even more pressing when we realize that the Lord does know each of them and loves them as individuals. If you or I had been named in answer to another’s prayer, as was Brother Millett, we, too, might declare how good it made us feel to know that the Lord knew us by name. Regardless of the frailties that we may have, He will bless us with the tools we need to compensate for those frailties, because this is His work and His glory. “How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.” (D&C 121:33) Unlike Brother Millett, I can’t say that I was named in answer to another’s prayer, but I can say, as did Brother Millett, how good it feels to know that God knows me. He knows you, too!