Faith in Leaders

President Eyring said to the Priesthood of the Church in the most recent general conference:: "My purpose tonight is to build your faith that God directs you in your service to Him. And even more importantly, my hope is to build your faith that the Lord is inspiring the imperfect persons He has called as your leaders."  He suggested the powerful principle that our leaders are more fully able to fulfill their responsibilities and receive revelation when those over whom they lead have faith in their calling.  I was impressed by how often he repeated the principle throughout the talk.  He said that one who has received a calling "has to have faith that the man who issued the call received revelation by the Spirit of God."  He said specifically about bishops and their ward members: "Without their faith, the bishop, who was called of God, will find it harder to get the revelation he needs to help them. He will not succeed without the faith of the members to sustain him." President Eyring further emphasized, "For a leader to succeed in the Lord’s work, the people’s trust that he is called of God must override their view of his infirmities and mortal weaknesses."  After telling the story about how one young man had faith in him as a bishop that allowed him to receive the revelation he needed for the young man, President Erying reiterated, "If you have faith that the Lord leads His Church through revelation to those imperfect servants He calls, the Lord will open the windows of heaven to them, as He will to you."  He then summarized, "I carried away the lesson that the faith of the people we serve, sometimes more than our own faith, brings us revelation in the Lord’s service."  He told the famous story of Brigham Young who defied Joseph Smith's detractors and stood valiantly by the prophet the Lord had called and applied it to us: "There will be times, as there were in the days of Kirtland, when we will need the faith and the integrity of a Brigham Young to stand in the place the Lord has called us to, loyal to His prophet and to the leaders He has put in place."  We need the power that comes from having faith in the imperfect leaders God calls to preside over us. 

We see this kind of faith in the leaders God calls and the power that comes from that in several stories in the scriptures.  The first that comes to mind is that of the stripling warriors who after being asked to fight "took their weapons of war, and they would that Helaman should be their leader" (Alma 53:19).  They chose the prophet to lead them, and then "they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them" (Alma 57:21).  They had faith in the leadership of the prophet Helaman, and because of that they were given miraculous power beyond their years to fight and preserve the people of the Nephites.  Nephi was another who showed great faith in his spiritual leader--Lehi--despite the latter's temporary failings.  Nephi recorded that at the time when they were in the wilderness and could not obtain any food, "My father began to murmur against the Lord his God."  Yet despite the fact that his father was showing his own weakness, Nephi still trusted in him to receive revelation: "I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?" (1 Nephi 16:20, 23)  It was Nephi’s trust in his spiritual leader that allowed Lehi to repent and obtain the revelation the family needed to find food. 

Another example in the Book of Mormon that shows the power of trusting our leaders’ ability to get revelation is the story of the chief captain Zoram.  After the Lamanites attacked the city of Ammonihah, he wanted to find those who had been taken captive.  We read, “Now Zoram and his two sons, knowing that Alma was high priest over the church, and having heard that he had the spirit of prophecy, therefore they went unto him and desired of him to know whither the Lord would that they should go into the wilderness in search of their brethren, who had been taken captive by the Lamanites” (Alma 16:5). Alma asked the Lord and was able to reveal to Zoram very specifically where he should go with this army, and because Zoram had faith in the imperfect person God had called to preside over him, he was blessed and was able to recover all of the Nephites who had been taken captive.  These stories along with President Eyring’s message help us remember that putting trust in the calling of those the Lord has called to preside in His kingdom will bring great blessings to us.