Discern Between the Righteous and the Wicked

Through the prophet Malachi, the Lord said to the children of Israel, "Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say: What have we spoken against thee? Ye have said: It is vain to serve God, and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered" (3 Nephi 24:13-15). I believe that this attitude is one that disciples of the Savior have been tempted to feel in all dispensations. It can seem sometimes that those who strive to keep the commandments are burdened and have to "walk mournfully" trying to do all that is required of them while at the same time those that are proud—those who reject the commandments of God—and work wickedness are "set up" and "even delivered." Surely the early Saints of this dispensation were tempted to have this perspective as they were driven from their homes with almost nothing in Missouri and then Nauvoo while others came in and stole their possessions. Or perhaps the righteous Nephites around 30 AD also felt this, for they "would receive railing and persecution and all manner of afflictions, and would not turn and revile again, but were humble and penitent before God." While they were thus being persecuted others of the wicked "began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning" (3 Nephi 6:12-13). If they judged their situation only by material possessions and physical comfort, those who were righteous and suffering could have been discouraged thinking that their efforts to follow the Lord weren't paying off while others had lives of riches and ease.       

                So what is the antidote for this kind of attitude? Surely the righteous don’t always prosper in material things immediately and sometimes the wicked and those who reject God do for a time. To follow the Savior we must realize that things won’t always be smooth sailing in the short term; we may not be free from difficulty like we might feel we deserve when we are trying to do what is right. I believe that the next few verses of this chapter give us insight into avoiding this dangerous attitude. Malachi wrote, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard.” One of the most important ways to overcome this feeling that the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer is to speak often one to another as Saints. Gathering together, being one with another, speaking of the Lord with each other results in a strength and fulfillment that helps us to overcome the influence of the world. If we will strengthen each other as followers of Christ by speaking often—ministering to one another—the Lord promises that He will hearken and hear that. Spiritual blessings of unity and strength, of belonging and purpose, come to us as we unite in the name of the Savior. As He promised, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing, behold, there will I be in the midst of them—even so am I in the midst of you” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:32). The wicked will never have that blessing, and no amount of material wealth and possessions could even compare to having the Savior with us.   

                The other solution to overcoming this attitude is to put our eternal path in perspective. Though it may seem indeed for a time that the wicked are blessed and the righteous suffer and are restricted, we should not lose sight of the fact that “a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.” The Lord knows what we do and the righteous efforts we make, and those are recorded in a book of remembrance that will witness for us at the day of judgment. The Lord does see us, and He promised, “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” In other words, He will make us His, and He will refine us and prepare us for our return to the Father so that we will be spared the demands of justice that will come upon the wicked. At that day, when the wicked are cast out and the righteous are received into the kingdom of God, Malachi promised, “Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (3 Nephi 24:16-18). Indeed it will not be the proud who prosper and are happy in that day, and all will know the difference between those who served God and those who served the devil—and no one will long to be in that latter category then.