Whatever the Lord Commands

In Official Declaration 1, President Woodruff spoke about the vision he had from the Lord showing him what would have happened to the Saints if they had not been commanded by the Lord to stop the practice of polygamy.  He spoke about how the Church would lose their temples to the government, how the work of salvation for the living and dead would be stopped, and the leaders of the Church and of families would have gone to prison.  After this reasoning showing some of the reasons why the Lord through his prophet changed this practice, President Woodruff said this: “But I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me” (OD 1).  I love that attitude that he portrayed here--President Woodruff was determined to do the will of the Lord at all costs.  He was willing to go to prison himself and lose the Church’s possessions if the Lord required it of him. 

                The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “As my life consisted of activity and unyielding exertions, I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it” (see here).  That is the kind of conviction that has led all of the prophets, and many of the stories of the scriptures show just how faithful so many of them were in the face of very difficult tasks.  The Book of Mormon begins with Nephi being commanded to do that which was extremely difficult for him.  He was commanded to slay Laban who had been delivered into his hands, and Nephi “shrunk and would that [he] might not slay him” (1 Nephi 4:10).  But he overcame his fear of following that command and ultimately did what the Lord commanded.  Similarly Lehi had to leave everything behind and travel in the wilderness for a decade in order to fulfil the commands of the Lord, and yet he had the faith to do it.  Abraham was of course another example of one who was willing to obey the Lord at all costs when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac.  The brother of Jared and his people showed their determination to do what the Lord required when they hopped on their barges and traveled across the ocean for 344 days.  How much faith that must have taken to follow the Lord’s direction and set sail across the ocean!  Each of us has to I think make similar choices in our lives at some point or another.  The Lord told the early Saints that we must be “chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son” (D&C 101:4).  We must be fully devoted to doing whatever the Lord requires of us.