A Privilege To Serve God

In Mormon’s recounting of the story of Korihor, he made this aside: “Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him” (Alma 30:9).  I’ve been thinking about that statement today: it is our “privilege” to serve God if we believe in Him.  If our heart is in the right place, then serving God should not be a task to be complained about or an annoyance to get out of the way—it is indeed a privilege.  There are many examples in the scriptures of those for saw their opportunities to serve God as great blessing.  

                In the New Testament of course this was clearly the case for the apostles.  After Peter and John were beaten in prison and then released, “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41).  They did not complain about the trials of being a witness for God; rather they rejoiced that they were given such an opportunity.  Similarly when it was prophesied to Paul that he would suffer great things as he went up to Jerusalem, he responded: “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?  For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).  For Paul it was a burden to not be allowed to serve the Lord.

                In the Old Testament I think that Joseph was another great example of one who truly believed it was a privilege to serve God.  After so much suffering that he went through because of the wickedness of his brothers, when he finally met up with them and made a summary statement about all those years, he said this:  “Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life” (Genesis 45:5).  He didn’t highlight the great tribulations he had been called to pass through during those many years; instead he saw himself as blessed for having been able to serve the Lord.  In our day the modern Joseph likewise gloried in the tribulations he passed through in service to God.  After describing the “envy and wrath of man” that was his “common lot” during his life, he said this, “I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it” (D&C 127:2).  Joseph gloried that he could be a servant of God despite the incredible suffering that he was called upon to pass through. 

                The pioneers were likewise great examples of this same attitude.  The famous quote by a member of one of the ill-fated handcart companies of 1856 which suffered terribly is worth repeating again and again, “Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company” (as quoted here).  It was a privilege to serve God for them, and I guess we have to ask ourselves if it is really the same for us.