God Asks Us to Do Things that Make Sense

Sometimes we have lessons in church in which we say that no matter what God asks us to do, we should do it. That is definitely correct, and I could do better at following impressions of things to do. However, most things, if not all things, God asks us to do end up making perfect sense as we're doing them or sometime thereafter. I think it's important to recognize that God wants us to learn from what we're commanded to do and not just do things "blindly". A few examples from the scriptures illustrate this point:

1) The prophet received the revelation from God to stop practicing polygamy in the 1890s. In communicating the change with the church members we're told the following (Official Declaration 1):

The Lord has told me to ask the Latter-day Saints a question, and He also told me that if they would listen to what I said to them and answer the question put to them, by the Spirit and power of God, they would all answer alike, and they would all believe alike with regard to this matter.

The question is this: Which is the wisest course for the Latter-day Saints to pursue—to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the Temples, and the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead, and the imprisonment of the First Presidency and Twelve and the heads of families in the Church, and the confiscation of personal property of the people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice); or, after doing and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle to cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the Prophets, Apostles and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people and attend to the duties of the Church, and also leave the Temples in the hands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the Gospel, both for the living and the dead?

The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for … any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether it should be stopped in this manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our Prophets and Apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the people, so that the dead may be redeemed. A large number has already been delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we have.

2) When Nephi is commanded to kill Laban, notice that Nephi gives reasons why it makes sense to do it, even after God had told him to do it (in other words, he didn't just say - okay, happy to kill him).

1 Nephi 4:

10And it came to pass that I was ^aconstrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.

11And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the ^aLord hath^bdelivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had ^ctaken away our property.

12And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;

13Behold the Lord ^aslayeth the ^bwicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is ^cbetter that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in ^dunbelief.

14And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: ^aInasmuch as thy seed shall keep my^bcommandments, they shall ^cprosper in the ^dland of promise.

15Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the ^alaw of Moses, save they should have the law.

16And I also knew that the ^alaw was engraven upon the plates of brass.

17And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.

18Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own ^asword.

Hopefully you notice that this is a pattern. The Lord rarely asks us to do things that make no sense. When he does ask for things that are very different, he is willing to help us think through the issues/reasons. In my life, the few times I have had things I felt I should do, in time, all of them have made a lot of sense.

Blind obedience therefore is not something we generally do. Certainly not in the way most people think of the term "blind" obedience (i.e., doing whatever you're told with no idea why).

Have a good day.