What Is It That Ye Desire of Me?

When Nephi was taken up into a high mountain, the Spirit asked him this simple question: “Behold, what desirest thou?” (1 Nephi 11:2) Nephi had sought diligently to see those things that his father had seen, and he expressed that desire which was subsequently granted. One of the great messages of the Book of Mormon is that God will indeed grant unto us our desires, at least as it pertains to matters of salvation. Nephi had expressed early in his record, “I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me” (1 Nephi 2:16). He sincerely wanted to know the things of God, and that desire was answered. Jacob recorded how God responded to a group of wicked and stiffnecked Jews: “God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble” (Jacob 4:14). They desired to have things that were not plain and the Lord took away their plainness and let them stumble because of that prideful desire. Alma also declared that God ultimately responds to our desires: “I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction” (Alma 29:4). In the end, if we want to be saved, it will happen for the Lord will grant unto us according to our sincere desires.

                Perhaps the most telling story about how the Lord responds to our desires is recorded in 3 Nephi 28. The Savior asked them, “What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?” Nine of them responded, “We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.” This was a righteous desire that He indeed granted: “And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom.” To the other three He asked again, “What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father?” When they hesitated He said, “Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me. Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men” (3 Nephi 28:1-7). They desired to stay upon the earth to continue to preach the gospel, and He granted that desire to them almost immediately. Both groups certainly had righteous desires, and both received according to their desires. Perhaps the Lord is more willing to grant unto us what we desire, especially when they are righteous, than we might expect. This story then begs the question posed in the Come, Follow Me manual: “What would you say if the Savior asked you, as He asked His disciples, ‘What is it that ye desire of me?’” What do we really want? Like Nephi is our overarching desire to know the things of God, or is it more like those whom he subsequently saw in vision whose “desires [were] the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing” (1 Nephi 13:8). We must each search our hearts to know what it is that we really want, and if it is not the things of God we may need to work on purifying those desires. The manual continues with this quote from President Oaks: ““To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being. … We will desire to become like [Jesus Christ].” These scriptures affirm that if that is truly our desire, if we really want to become like Him and return to the Father, that is exactly what will happen.