Obedience

Remember a minute ago we mentioned that our power to execute choices can be increased by obedience?  Elder Robert D. Hales shared a story from his youth.  He was given the chore to varnish the floor of a room.  Foolishly he begun at the door then proceeded to paint inward towards the room.  He soon found himself painted into a corner. He shared this insight from that experience, “Whenever we disobey, we spiritually paint ourselves into a corner and are captive to our choices. Though we are spiritually stuck, there is always a way back. Like repentance, turning around and walking across a newly varnished floor means more work—a lot of resanding and refinishing! Returning to the Lord isn’t easy, but it is worth it.

“As we understand the challenge of repenting, we appreciate the blessings of the Holy Ghost to guide our agency and Heavenly Father, who gives us commandments and strengthens and sustains us in keeping them. We also understand how obedience to the commandments ultimately protects our agency.”

Can you see how obedience can increase our power to choose? “As we choose the Lord, he gives us more rope; as we choose Satan, he tightens the noose until we are in his grasp” (The Infinite Atonement, 255).  God has given us the opportunity to learn from our own experience if we will do whatever he asks of us. “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” (Abraham 3:25). It means we are obedient to what God asks of us.

Elder L. Whitney Clayton recounts Christ’s first miracle where He changed water into wine at the wedding feast.  He helped us see an important principle within the miracle that can easily be overlooked.  Christ’s mother, Mary, told the servants, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5).  He instructed them to fill the pots with water, then draw it out and serve it to the governor of the feast.  Miraculously and seemingly simply, when the servants drew out what had moments before been water, it was now wine.  This wine was so sweet, there was surprise that contrary to custom, the best had been held back for last.

Elder Clayton walks Mary’s story back to decades previously. An angel appeared to Mary discussing Jesus Christ’s miraculous conception.  “Mary humbly responded that she would do what God asked, without demanding to know specifics and undoubtedly in spite of having countless questions about the implications for her life. She committed herself without exactly understanding why He was asking that of her or how things would work out. She accepted God’s word unconditionally and in advance, with little knowledge of what lay ahead. With simple trust in God, Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’

“When we decide to do ‘whatsoever [God] saith unto’ us, we earnestly commit to align our everyday behavior with God’s will. Such simple acts of faith as studying the scriptures daily, fasting regularly, and praying with real intent deepen our well of spiritual capacity to meet the demands of mortality. Over time, simple habits of belief lead to miraculous results. They transform our faith from a seedling into a dynamic power for good in our lives. Then, when challenges come our way, our rootedness in Christ provides steadfastness for our souls. God shores up our weaknesses, increases our joys, and causes ‘all things [to] work together for [our] good’” (Same talk as above).

Some may doubt the connection between things like prayer, paying tithing,scripture study, or attending our meetings and finding answers to pressing questions or the strength necessary to face the challenges before us.  For some reason these opportunities to be obedient seem too small compared to the looming something in front of our path.  “‘We all know those are good things to do. We talk about those things all the time in the Church. But I’m not sure you’re understanding me. What does doing any of those things have to do with the issues I’m facing?’

“It’s a fair question. Over time...I have observed that those who are deliberate about doing the ‘small and simple things’—obeying in seemingly little ways—are blessed with faith and strength that go far beyond the actual acts of obedience themselves and, in fact, may seem totally unrelated to them. It may seem hard to draw a connection between the basic daily acts of obedience and solutions to the big, complicated problems we face. But they are related. In my experience, getting the little daily habits of faith right is the single best way to fortify ourselves against the troubles of life, whatever they may be. Small acts of faith, even when they seem insignificant or entirely disconnected from the specific problems that vex us, bless us in all we do.” (Same talk)

Do you remember the story of Naaman, the leper?  He went to see the prophet in order to be healed of the leprosy.  The prophet didn’t even come out in person, but sent his servant to deliver the message.  You probably remember that he told Naaman to wash 7 times in the River Jordan.  “A simple thing. Perhaps this simple prescription struck the mighty warrior as so illogical, simplistic, or beneath his dignity that he found the mere suggestion offensive. At the very least, Elisha’s instruction didn’t make sense to Naaman, ‘so he turned and went away in a rage.’

“But Naaman’s servants gently approached him and observed that he would have done ‘some great thing’ if Elisha had asked it of him. They noted that since he was asked to do only a small task, shouldn’t he do it, even if he didn’t understand why? Naaman reconsidered his reaction and perhaps skeptically, but obediently, ‘went … down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan’ and was miraculously healed.” (Same talk)

Sometimes it can seem easier to be obedient when we are being asked to do something really big or really obvious or it’s easy for us to connect the commandment back to the blessing or what God is seeking to accomplish. But that isn’t how God usually works.  Even in the span of a 100-year lifetime on this earth, to go from a fallen, natural man, to begin to become like God is a HUGE stretch! There is much to do, but God gives us what we can handle in our progressive journey.

Elder Lawrence said, “The Holy Ghost doesn’t tell us to improve everything at once. If He did, we would become discouraged and give up. The Spirit works with us at our own speed, one step at a time, or as the Lord has taught, ‘line upon line, precept upon precept, … and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, … for unto him that receiveth I will give more.’ For example, if the Holy Ghost has been prompting you to say ‘thank you’ more often, and you respond to that prompting, then He may feel it’s time for you to move on to something more challenging—like learning to say, ‘I’m sorry; that was my fault.’”

Sometimes we must step forward, willing to do it, even when we don’t understand or see. “Some rewards of obedience do come quickly; others come only after we are tested...God will always bless us for our steadfast obedience to His gospel and loyalty to His Church, but He rarely shows us His timetable for doing so in advance. He doesn’t show us the whole picture from the outset. That is where faith, hope, and trusting in the Lord come in” (Clayton, Same talk as above).

Not being able to understand everything or see it all clearly is part of the experience we are here to have. It isn’t a mistake that we must choose to be obedient.  “God asks us to bear with Him—to trust Him and to follow Him. He pleads with us to ‘dispute not because ye see not.’ He cautions us that we shouldn’t expect easy answers or quick fixes from heaven. Things work out when we stand firm during the ‘trial of [our] faith,’ however hard that test may be to endure or slow the answer may be in coming. I am not speaking of ‘blind obedience’ but of thoughtful confidence in the perfect love and the perfect timing of the Lord.

“The trial of our faith will always involve staying true to simple, daily practices of faith. Then, and only then, does He promise that we will receive the divine response for which we long. Only once we have proven our willingness to do what He asks without demanding to know the whens, the whys, and the hows do we ‘reap the rewards of [our] faith, and [our] diligence, and patience, and long-suffering.’ Real obedience accepts God’s commandments unconditionally and in advance...Every day, consciously or otherwise, we all choose ‘whom [we] will serve.’ We demonstrate our determination to serve the Lord by faithfully engaging in daily acts of devotion” (Clayton, Same talk)

Truly it is through obedience that our power to choose good is increased.   Of this miracle of Christ turning water to wine, Brad Wilcox said, “The main point of Christ’s first miracle had little to do with wine, marriage, or titles.  It had to do with change.  Jesus was announcing in a dramatic way that He has the godly power to change things, even when it seems impossible” (Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement, 79).

“The Lord promises to direct our paths, but for Him to do that, we have to walk, trusting that He knows the way because He is ‘the way.’ We must fill our own waterpots up to the brim. When we trust and follow Him, our lives, like water to wine, are transformed. We become something more and better than we ever otherwise could be” (Clayton, same talk, emphasis added).  As we are obedient to the commandments, both those given collectively to the world and members of The Church, and also those commandments given to us personally as individuals, He can give us added power.
We can have the increased power to choose that which is of God. Just like Christ changing water to wine, He too can change us.  That change may include the ways we are hiding behind our bushes of shame as we seek to be more powerful ministers. Change may come in the ways we are responding to life because of what has happened to us in the past.  Change can also come by increasing our capacity to bear our present circumstances (or however those details of change may be individually tailored for you).

It is our obedience to the knowledge of what we know to be right and true that disproportionately allows for such miraculous changes. Remember, God’s goal for you is not only to return to Him, but also to become like Him. Such a miracle requires meticulous and consistent obedience. Like the servants, we can’t change the water to wine, but we can fill the waterpots to the brim. We do that by choosing to be obedient.

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