Whatsover He Saith

In Elder Clayton’s most recent talk in general conference, he spoke of Christ’s miracle at Cana.  He referred to the words that Mary spoke to the servants after her Son offered his help: “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5).  Elder Clayton commented, “Mary knew of His extraordinary capacity to solve problems, including one as personal as providing wine for a wedding feast. She had unshakable confidence in Him and in His divine power. Her simple, straightforward instruction to the servants had no caveats, no qualifications, no limitations: ‘Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.’”  The invitation was not just for the servants but for all of us—whatever the Savior asks of us, we should do it.  In general the miracles don’t come until after we act and show faith in His words.  We don’t get the wine showing forth obedience and bringing the water.  Faith precedes the miracle. 

               One of the points that Elder Clayton made was that it can be difficult to “draw a connection between the basic daily acts of obedience and solutions to the big, complicated problems we face.”  The Lord most often asks us to do small things: study the scriptures, pray, fast, attend the temple, serve in our callings, and in doing those we are in some sense also soliciting His help in our greatest challenges.  “Small acts of faith, even when they seem insignificant or entirely disconnected from the specific problems that vex us, bless us in all we do.”  This was, it seems, a lesson that Laman and Lemuel had a hard time learning.  They had trouble showing any kind of faith in the little things the Lord commanded; even when the angel told them to go into the city and Laban would be delivered unto their hands, they couldn’t believe that following that simple direction could yield the result they wanted.  When they were on the ship Laman and Lemuel tied up Nephi, and “it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work” (1 Nephi 18:12).  Nephi had taught that the ball worked according to “faith and diligence and heed”, and so when they started to be blatantly rebellious the ball stopped working (1 Nephi 16:28).  Laman and Lemuel “knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm.”  Surely they knew in their hearts that the compass was not going to work for them until they let Nephi go and started keeping the commandments, but it took them four days to finally give in.  They couldn’t—or didn’t want to—believe that making simple choices of righteousness could help them with their physical problems.  It took being close to death to get them to finally respond: “My brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me” (1 Nephi 18:15).  Hopefully we can learn quicker than they did such that we respond to whatever the Lord asks of us.  Whatsoever He says to us, we must do.