Humility at College

In 2 Nephi 9:28-29, Jacob warns: “O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not… but to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.” To me, humility is seeking knowledge but counseling with the Lord in all things. The bedrock of confidence is humbly consulting with the Lord. That doctrine became real for me my first semester at BYU.

At the time, I was feeling pretty good about myself academically. I was understanding everything from my classes well, and I’m ashamed to say I thought I was smarter than I really was. Then the first round of midterms hit. After scoring a 40% on my first midterm for physics, my ego was shattered. Because I had put my trust in my own knowledge, the Lord was reminding me of a commandment I had forgotten: “Ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ” (2 Nephi 32:9). From then on, I prayed more fervently for understanding of the material. And the Lord helped me remember what I could not on my own. This taught me that the Lord does want us to have knowledge. But he doesn’t want it to come at the expense of our faith.

From then on, I made sure to ask the Lord for help and to do my best. I felt at peace. I knew that even if I did do poorly, things would work out for me the way He wanted, because I was no longer trying to secure success by my own merits.