Foreordained To a Work

Joseph Smith taught, “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council.”  This is the doctrine of foreordination, which tells that we indeed have a mission to fulfill, but there is no guarantee that we will fulfill it—that is up to us.  Many scriptures speak to this idea of being foreordained in the premortal existence.  Jeremiah was told by the Lord, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).  Nephi saw Mary in vision 600 years before her life and was told she was to be “the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh” (1 Nephi 11:18).  Clearly the Lord had foreordained her to that great purpose.  President Joseph F. Smith taught us that early Church leaders such as Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff were “reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work” (D&C 138:53).  And most importantly the Savior Himself was chosen in that Grand Council to fulfill His mission, for we learn from Peter that Christ was “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). 

From Paul we learn that each of us has been called to a work even before this life: “[Christ] hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,” where the footnote suggests that “foreordained” is a better translation from the original Greek than the word “predestinated” (Ephesians 1:4-5).  God of course knows all things—He told us, “All things are present before mine eyes”—and so certainly He knows what we will choose and whether or not we will be faithful in this life.  But that does not mean that we are destined one way or the other; we must choose whether or not we will fulfill the mission the Lord has for us on the earth.  In a talk about foreordination, Elder Maxwell encouraged us with these words, “When in situations of stress we wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know that God, who knows our capacity perfectly, placed us here to succeed. No one was foreordained to fail or to be wicked. When we have been weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured before and we were found equal to our tasks; and, therefore, let us continue, but with a more determined discipleship. When we feel overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not overprogram us; he will not press upon us more than we can bear (D&C 50:40).”  Ultimately, like Joseph Smith, “God [has] a work for [us] to do,” and if we will put our faith in Him then we “can do all things which are expedient” in the eyes of the Lord (JSH 1:33, Moroni 10:23).