Jacob's Faithful Example

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson on Jacob 1-4 references these verses from the prophet Jacob: “Having first obtained mine errand from the Lord…. And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility” (Jacob 1:17, 19).  The commentary asks, “Why did Jacob serve so faithfully?”  So what did drive Jacob to serve so faithfully among his people?  He was willing to preach hard things to them when the Lord demanded, and he clearly felt a deep responsibility to fulfill his duty as a teacher of his people.  In fact, he used the word anxiety in numerous places to describe his feelings concerning his people: “Because of faith and great anxiety, it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people…. I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls.”  He also referred to his “over anxiety” for the people (Jacob 1:5, 2:3, 4:18).  Clearly he was motivated with a powerful desire to serve and teach his people.

               I see perhaps two major reasons that Jacob served so faithfully.  The first is that he understood that his responsibility was to God whom he feared more than man.  He described that as spiritual leaders they would answer “the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments” (Jacob 1:19).  He recognized that a call from God to teach and serve had to be answered to God and Jacob was anxious to be doing what was expected by Him.  The second reason was I believe out of a love and devotion to his brother Nephi.  He was anxious to continue Nephi’s legacy of being such a great spiritual leader to the people.  Unlike his brothers Laman and Lemuel, Jacob had great respect for Nephi and sought to follow his example.  He described: “The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare.”  He likewise recorded that it was “by the hand of Nephi” that he and Joseph had been “consecrated priests and teachers of this people” (Jacob 1:10).  Jacob was very aware that he had big shoes to fill as he took over the spiritual leadership of his people. 

A follow-up question asked by the manual about Jacob is this: “What does his example inspire you to do to magnify your Church callings and your responsibilities at home?”  Thinking about these two reasons Jacob was faithful, those might similarly be inspiration for us in whatever our callings and responsibilities are.  First, we must know that we answer to God for our service—however small we think that is—and we should only worry about how He views our labor in His vineyard.  Second, we can look to those who have come before us for inspiration in how to serve with devotion and magnify our callings like Jacob, Nephi, and so many others did.  We can, as Jacob said, “look upon them that [we] may learn with joy” concerning their service and devotion to Christ and become anxiously engaged ourselves in the work God has given us (Jacob 4:3).  From the prophets to the pioneers to the patriarchs of old, we too have big shoes to fill as we seek to magnify our own callings in the work of the Lord.