An Oliver Granger Day

Today for me was an Oliver Granger day.  In other words, it was a day that I needed to remember D&C 117:12-13 where the Lord made this statement about Oliver: “When he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.”  In a world that is fixated on our outcomes and achievements, the Lord focuses on our efforts and devotion and sacrifice.  The Lord cares less about us accomplishing things and more on how well we are progressing towards eternal life.  So when we have difficult days and despite our best efforts things just don’t seem to come together or work out like we need them too, we should remember that the Lord looks at our effort and sacrifice—not our increase—to judge us. 

               I think there is more to learn from the few verses that are about Oliver Granger in D&C 117.  The Lord gave this instruction to him: “Let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord.”  I’m not sure exactly what the Lord meant by speaking about the “redemption” of the First Presidency at that time, but I think we can apply the principle that we need to “contend earnestly” for the teachings and direction of the First Presidency in our day.  If we want the Lord to just us by our hearts and not our achievements, we have to learn to accept and support the prophet.  As He said elsewhere, “Be diligent; stand by my servant Joseph, faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word’s sake” (D&C 6:18).  As we stand with the prophet, the Lord will stand with us even if our “increase” is meager.  The other direction that the Lord gave to Oliver was this: “Let him come up hither speedily, unto the land of Zion” (D&C 117:14).  This was of course speaking literally about him moving from Kirtland to Missouri (Zion), we can certainly apply it to today.  We must “speedily” or with great earnest and devotion seek to build up Zion wherever we live.  The Lord commanded several times, “Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion” (D&C 6:6).  We should be seeking that just as much today as the early leaders of the church did in the 1830s—and that means that we must in our own lives become “pure in heart” (D&C 97:21).  The Lord doesn’t require us to have success as measured by worldly standards, but He does seek to change us on the inside, to write on the “fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3).  So we must work “speedily” to bring Zion inside of us, and then whether we fail or succeed in the worldly endeavors that we must be a part of, the Lord will see us as successful.