A Covenant and Promise To Keep All the Commandments

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson says this: “After being driven from Nauvoo, the Saints faced a long journey to the Salt Lake Valley, and the first few hundred miles were slow and miserable. Brigham Young, who now led the Church as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, worried about how the Saints would survive the rest of the trek. He set up a temporary settlement called Winter Quarters and pled for guidance. In response, the Lord gave him a revelation, now section 136. Among other things, this revelation reminded the Saints ‘that their conduct on the journey was as important as their destination’ and ‘helped transform the westward migration from an unfortunate necessity into an important shared spiritual experience.’” While this revelation does give some details about the logistics of the journey that may not apply to us now—for example, the calling of specific individuals to lead companies or other specific requirements such as gathering “teams, wagons, provisions, clothing, and other necessities”—the principles taught are indeed very relevant to us today (v5, 12-14). Perhaps foremost is the principle we find that heeding the will of the Lord is essential to succeed in whatever endeavor we undertake. As the article quoted states, after Brigham received this revelation he “came to believe that the success of their endeavor depended less on manpower, maps, wagons, and supplies and more on heeding the word and will of the Lord.” Whatever we are seeking to accomplish in life, we must first seek to keep the Lord’s commandments and live according to His word. We should, as those early pioneers were invited to do, make “a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God” (v2).

                Three principles in particular in this revelation stand out to me as essential for us to likewise live by today. The first is humility—the Lord clearly wanted Brigham to understand that the people needed the be humble before Him if they were going to properly undertake this journey. He declared, “And if any man shall seek to build up himself, and seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power, and his folly shall be made manifest” (v19). Rather than building themselves up they were to humbly trust in the Lord to obtain His power. He further emphasized, “Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear. For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly” (v32-33). The Lord would bless and enlighten them, giving them the wisdom they needed to make this difficult journey, if they would be humble before Him. Surely we need that same humility today just as much as those pioneers did if we are to obtain His power. A second important principle in this revelation is the need for purity. The Lord told them they needed to seek their new place “with a pure heart” (v11). He emphasized this with some specific instructions: “Keep yourselves from evil to take the name of the Lord in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob…. Cease to contend one with another; cease to speak evil one of another. Cease drunkenness; and let your words tend to edifying one another” (v21-24). They were to cease taking the name of the Lord in vain, abstain from drunkenness, avoid contention, and speak only edifying words. All of this would help them to remain pure in heart and avoid the numerous temptations on the trail. All of those instructions are certainly applicable to us today; if we want the Spirit to guide us we must similarly shun these sins and seek to purify our hearts.  

                Lastly, the Lord emphasized their need to treat one another with love on their journey. I love the requirement He gave for them to “bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord against this people” (v8). Their love for others was also to be shown in how they prepared the way for those behind them: “Let each company prepare houses, and fields for raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this season” (v9). Other direction included the instruction to “keep all your pledges one with another; and covet not that which is thy brother’s” and “if thou borrowest of thy neighbor, thou shalt restore that which thou hast borrowed” (v20, 25). Furthermore they were also given this interesting counsel: “If thou shalt find that which thy neighbor has lost, thou shalt make diligent search till thou shalt deliver it to him again” (v26). In other words, they were to follow the golden rule and do to others what they would have done to them, not coveting others’ possessions but instead taking care of those in need. In short, they were to love one another on the trail if they were to make it to their destination in the way the Lord intended. In whatever journey we undertake, surely how we treat others in the process is no small matter. To go forth as His covenant people, we must be willing to keep His commandments, humble ourselves before Him, purify our hearts, and love and serve others.