Levels of obedience: by James Myrick

Obedience to the words of the Lord has been the fundamental precept of the gospel from its very beginning. Even early in the Old Testament the statement is made, “A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God”.[1] Overall a pretty simple concept, if it comes from god, do it, if its not, don’t; or is it always as simple as it may seem. The lord requires more than what I call “blind” or “faithless” obedience to his commandments. As said in D&C it reads, “Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.”[2] Key point in this sentence is the word “willing”. Willing obedience as opposed to faithless obedience and unwilling obedience are all quite different entirely.

Looking at the classic example, Nephi, in 1 Nephi 3:7; when asked to get the plates Nephi responded, “…I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded…”[3] and we see Nephi’s faithful and willing obedience to that which the lord had commanded. Getting the plates, he knew, would not be an easy task, however, Nephi had the faith and the willingness to carry out the assignment whole-heartedly and because of this he was successful in getting the plates. This willing attitude that Nephi takes on leads him to gain a stronger testimony of the gospel as he acts or obeys in faith.

Faithless obedience is what Laman and Lemuel exhibited early on in the Book of Mormon. In a talk given quite a number of years past the statement was made, “I fear too many of us are too much like Laman and Lemuel”. [4] These were shocking words to a “oh so recently” cheerful congregation of latter day saints. However, he continued that Laman and Lemuel were not always what we sometimes portray them to be. Although perhaps a little slow or with some complaints, they, in early on in the book of Mormon, followed the prophet, listened to what he said and what was requested of them. They were obedient. Their pitfall was murmuring. Laman and Lemuel’s obedience was exhibited when they followed the words of their father and went after the plates. But when Laman tried he was nearly killed. Nephi recounts, “…Laman fled out of his presence, and told the things which Laban had done, unto us. And we began to be exceedingly sorrowful, and my brethren were about to return unto my father in the wilderness.”[3] One key point, the word “we” was used; meaning they were all “exceedingly” sorrowful. Laman did obey; the reason that he was unsuccessful was because of his lack of faith. How often are we like Laman? We do things such as our home teaching, but when we do it without faith, or without a testimony of it, no fruit comes from it. This demonstrates the same thing that Laman and Lemuel demonstrated; action without faith sometimes is often not enough to accomplish the task before us. We need to have the faith, trust that a way will be prepared, and then, when we are obedient, our efforts will not be in vain.

Unwilling obedience is what started to occur later in the book of Mormon with Laman and Lemuel. Their main indicator of unwillingness was murmuring. The book of Nephi says “…Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?” What started out as only lacking the faith to obey, became the seed of an unwillingness to obey gods commands. That unwillingness was made manifest by their murmurings. Murmuring is not always what we make it out to be. In our time we seem to believe that we can under our breath, in the privacy of our homes or even in our thoughts we sometimes complain about the things that the Bishop, Stake President or even the Prophet tells us to do, and not be doing any wrong. However, complaining, criticizing, whatever we may call it; murmuring can easily be put in its place.

True obedience to gospel principles involves more than merely obeying or doing, it involves actively seeking to follow the instructions the lord has laid out for us and then faithfully carrying out those instructions. As the book of Mormon so clearly illustrates, the differences between those who have willing obedience and those who don’t is most evident toward the end of their lives. Laman and Lemuel became a savage and ungodly people, whereas Nephi became the prophet of a good and “delightful” people. In the end we all want to end up in the celestial kingdom, however, many of us do not always have the attitude and faith to willingly obey the commandments of god. We need to be conscious of what we are doing and in what way we are doing it. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I a Nephi, or a Laman?”

[1] Bible, King James Version. Deut. 11.27-11.28.

[2] D&C 64:34

[3] 1 N 3:7, 14, 31

[4] Talk by President Martinez