Notwithstanding the Greatness of the Task

When Jacob addressed the Nephites in Jacob 2-3 it was a very difficult task for him.  He described himself as “weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls.”  He admitted, “Yea, it grieveth my soul and causeth me to shrink with shame before the presence of my Maker, that I must testify unto you concerning the wickedness of your hearts.”  He further explained his reluctance, “Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes.”  Clearly he was not excited at the responsibility to tell the people of their pride and the way they were breaking the law of chastity.  The first verse also says that he spoke these words “unto the people of Nephi, after the death of Nephi,” which might imply that the death of Nephi was fairly recent.  Here he was, the new spiritual leader of the group, and he was required to call them to repentance about difficult subjects.  Given this, I’m impressed by his responsiveness to the Lord.  He did not shirk from his responsibility—though he may have wanted to—and he did not wait a prolonged period.  He said, “But, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God.”  Despite the difficulty, he was committed to doing what the Lord commanded.  He further explained, “As I inquired of the Lord, thus came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people” (Jacob 2:1-11).  He went to the people the next day—he didn’t wait for a while to figure out exactly what he was going to say or find the optimal time to bring up the subject; he gathered the people together as soon as possible and declared the word of the Lord to them. 

            As I’ve observed President Nelson, I feel that he has this same dedication to do what the Lord commands right away.  One example of this came in the last general conference when he announced that there would be a temple in India.  He later explained to a group of Saints in India, “Our plans were to announce six new temples at conference time.  The Lord told me on the eve of conference: ‘Announce a temple in India.’ … That was the Lord's doing.”  Like Jacob, the Lord told him the night before and President Nelson didn’t hesitate.  He didn’t wait until he could find a site or get some initial government approvals or counsel with the people on the administrative side of Church operations to see if it would feasible.  He simply announced what the Lord told him and the rest of that has to come later.  From my perspective a similar thing must have happened with the recent announcement to emphasize that the terms Mormon and LDS should not be used to describe the Church or its members.  It came rather suddenly—even my friend who works with Church IT did not know that this announcement was coming (and he did know about the Melchizedek Priesthood quorum change before it was announced).  One might easily argue that the more logical approach would be to get all of the Church websites and other programs at least in order first before making the announcement so as to avoid the obvious questions: What about Mormon.org?  What about lds.org?  What about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?  What about the “I’m a Mormon” campaign or “Mormon messages” or the “Mormon channel” or a host of other items with these two terms in their names?  The official response to these questions was simply, “Additional information about this important matter will be made available in the coming months.”  While this may not have been an overnight kind of announcement, it certainly showed in my perspective that President Nelson is ready to do whatever the Lord wants—come what may.  Revelation comes first for him, and we can sort through the questions later.  The Lord had “impressed upon [his] mind the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church,” and so President Nelson acted without hesitation even though questions remained unanswered.  We all need the kind of faith that Jacob had and President Nelson has to act immediately upon the guidance the Lord gives us in our own lives, notwithstanding the greatness of the task.