Answers

I am going to refer to The Secret History of Dreaming again, because it correlated to something in my regular scripture study, when I was reading about Abinadi's testimony and death.

K'ang-hsi was an emperor in 18th century China, and a man given to study. He relied on many sources of information, but he also believed in verifying. Unlike many royals, he believed in being open to unwanted messages.

"My diviners have often been tempted to pass over bad auguries, but I have double-checked their calculations and warned them not to distort the truth: the Bureau of Astronomy once reported that a benevolent southeast wind was blowing, but I myself calculated the wind's direction with the palace instruments and found it to be, in fact, an inauspicious northeast wind; I told the Bureau to remember that ours was not a dynasty that shunned bad omens." (Moss, p. 42)

I admired the wisdom at the time, and at least in this book that was reinforced later by stories of Aztec emperors punishing those who dreamed of the coming invasion and destruction. Then I got to reading about Abinadi.

This was also influenced by a speaker I had listened to many years ago at an enrichment conference. He showed how that really seemed to get prophets killed, in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, was when the prophesied that Christ would be killed. They were looking beyond the mark, so that they could only see the Second Coming, and not the first.

This time I started to think about why it would be such a cause of outrage. I believe the speaker had focused on the aspects that would have seemed blasphemous, saying that a god could be killed. It would be a pretty big accusation of sin, but the people hearing the prophesy aren't going to be the one's doing it. I'm still not sure I fully grasp that, but it did strike me how important it is to be able to listen to things that are hard to hear.

You may be called to repentance when you didn't think you were sinning. That is not fun. It is very important to hear that message.

You may be praying for the end of a trial and receive word that it is going to go on longer. That will not feel good, but if you receive the message you can prepare, and because you leave yourself open you can receive comfort.

You may be warned of upcoming struggles, which can bring fear or sorrow or resistance, but listening will give you the tools that you need to endure.

We have to trust God. There is a plan. That plan involves suffering, but that suffering develops us. It gives us agency, and it provides healing for the results of that agency. There is comfort and restoration. There is reunion. We need to trust in that.

One of the greatest things about mortality is that we are not completely cut off from Heaven, and that while we do treasure the words of prophets, they are not all we have. We have the ability to receive personal revelation and guidance. It is beautiful and helpful. It will also sometimes be something we don't want to hear.

Listen anyway.