Fear God More Than Man

The Lord told the Prophet Joseph after the incident losing the 116 pages, “For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God” (D&C 3:7).  I think this is the challenge of a lifetime to always prioritize God’s will above the people that influence us.  Elder Robbins gave an excellent talk about facing God instead of facing man in this general conference, and he shared numerous scriptural accounts related to this idea.  He suggested that the ordering of the first and second commandments is in itself a key lesson for us: God comes first.  Here are a few other scriptures that help to teach us this principle.  When Christ came to the Americas, one of the very first things He said was, “I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:11).   A crucial part of His message that He taught by word and deed while visiting the Nephites was that He always does what the Father wants.  Nephi clearly showed that he feared God more than man when he walked back into the city of Jerusalem by night after his brothers refused to go any further (see 1 Nephi 4).  Abinadi likewise showed great courage and trust in the Lord when he refused to be made afraid by Noah’s threats.  He did what God commanded him—deliver his message—and refused to do that which the priests and Noah requested of him (to deny his message).  Ultimately he was burned because he feared God more than man.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego likewise showed great courage in the face of man’s punishment as they refused to obey commands of man that conflicted with the commands of the Lord (see Daniel 3).  There are many others that we could discuss, and at some level all of the prophets of the past have shown us great faith in God and little concern for what the world would think.