True and Faithful Commandments

In a well-known verse in the Lord’s preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, He gave us this invitation: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:37). He called His commandments both true and faithful. For the commandments to be true is easy to understand; they are right, they are good, they are indeed from Him, etc. But what does it mean for the commandments to be faithful? He clearly meant this because He repeated it multiple times. In a revelation given about a month later He said again, “Wherefore, keep my commandments; they are true and faithful” (Doctrine and Covenants 71:11). To William McLellin the Savior similarly said, “Keep these sayings, for they are true and faithful; and thou shalt magnify thine office, and push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads” (Doctrine and Covenants 66:11). Around the same time He emphasized this again in another revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith: “These sayings are true and faithful; wherefore, transgress them not, neither take therefrom” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:34). Nephi also heard these words of the Father: “Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved” (2 Nephi 31:15). And John recorded in his great revelation that God sat upon His throne and said to him, “Write: for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5). All of these passages describe the Lord’s commandments or words or sayings as true and faithful. We certainly understand how we can be faithful; to trust in the Lord, to keep our covenants, to keep His commandments continually. But how can we consider the commandments as faithful to us?

               I think the simplest way to understand this personification of the commandments is that the Lord is telling us that we can trust and rely upon the commandments. They won’t let us down in the sense that when we keep the commandments the promised blessings will come. We will not regret keeping the commandments; we can trust that a life based on living according to the commandments will always be better than one where we do not. The world will tempt us to break the commandments, to lay them aside and “have fun” and put aside what it sees as the shackles that bind us and hold us back, but they are in fact what protect us and allow us to have true happiness now and in the hereafter. This reminds me of Elder Von Keetch powerful story from a few years ago in conference.  A group had come to Australia to surf in a particular, and they were very upset about the fact that a barrier had been stretched across the bay preventing them from surfing the big waves. As the group complained about the barrier and how it ruined their whole trip, a local gave the group binoculars so they could see what was on the other side of the barrier: “large sharks feeding near the reef.”  This man then said to the group, “Don’t be too critical of the barrier. It’s the only thing that’s keeping you from being devoured.” That barrier was faithful—it was faithfully keeping out the sharks and protecting them. So too will the commandments be faithful in protecting us; not that no difficulties will come to those who keep the commandments, but that we will be protected from effects of sin and the adversary himself. Like for those surfers we should not be critical of the Lord’s commandments—they are what is faithfully keeping back the sin and evil of the world from devouring us.

               King Benjamin gave us this beautiful promise about keeping the commandments: “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness” (Mosiah 2:41). The commandments are indeed true and faithful—they come from God and they will lead us to happiness in this life and back to Him in the next. The real question is whether we will likewise be true and faithful to the commandments so that the Lord’s promised blessings can be ours.