Submitting to the Will of the Father

It's interesting how age and experience bring new meaning to things taught to us long ago. When we're willing to act, the Father can bless us with deeper spiritual understanding through the Holy Ghost. Over the years, I've found that often these things cannot be fully expressed in words alone how we feel them impressed upon our souls. Nevertheless, I feel inclined to try.

One day last week, I was pondering on what I would classify as typical daily experiences. It occurred to me that the Lord is constantly trying to help us to improve. I realized that even in what we think are the mundane things of life, He is constantly reaching out, through the whisperings of the Spirit, with the hope of helping us to make the right decisions. The phrase often found in scripture -- "His hand is stretched out still" -- took on new meaning for me.

As mortal beings, we must battle what seems like a natural inclination to live a duplicitous life. After all, how many of us have offered up our agency to the Father, on the proverbial alter of life, as a means of fully submitting our will to His? Even for many of us who are "active" in the Church, are there not those things that we seemingly cannot let go of? Paramount among them is our pride.

Ultimately, in order for us to fulfill our divine potential, we must be willing to submit completely. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, put it this way in the 1985 General Conference:

"Yielding one’s heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development. Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?

As we really begin to keep the first commandment—loving God with 'all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength' (D&C 59:5; see also Matt. 22:37)—giving time, talent, and treasure is then accompanied by fully giving of ourselves.

"Sometimes, our holding back occurs because we lack faith or we are too entangled with the cares of the world. Other times, there is in us an understandable tremulousness which slows our yielding, because we sense what further yielding might bring.

"Yet we need to break free of our old selves—the provincial, constraining, and complaining selves—and become susceptible to the shaping of the Lord. But the old self goes neither gladly nor quickly. Even so, this subjection to God is really emancipation."

Of course, our great exemplar in all of this is Jesus Christ. His statement in Gethsemane was simple:

"And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39)

As you can see, according to Elder Maxwell, the reason we don't yield our hearts to God really boils down to three things:

1. We lack faith.

2. We're too entangled with the cares of the world.

3. We sense what further yielding might bring.

Each one of these deserves our attention.

We Lack Faith

We learn from the scriptures that "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things" and that "if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21) As the Bible Dictionary explains, "strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Unfortunately, we live in a world that views spiritual things backwards. The world's way says, "Show me and I'll believe." The Lords way is, "Believe and I'll show you." Some may argue that this isn't true. Even a member of the Church might argue that Alma the Younger saw an angel before he exercised faith and had a testimony--- somehow indicating that his faith and testimony rested upon that experience. But as Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy explained in his masterful CES Fireside address, "Tasting the Light", that's not actually the case:

"Can you think of anyone in the Book of Mormon who saw an angel and did believe? You are likely thinking of Alma the Younger. An angel had appeared to him and to the sons of Mosiah and 'descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder' (Mosiah 27:11). You know the rest of the story—Alma’s repentance and subsequent ministry.

"Was seeing believing for Alma? No. Why? Because Alma had yet to exercise his agency in learning by study and faith and had not yet prayed to know the truth. Seeing isn’t a shortcut to faith or a testimony, as evidenced in the many examples that I just mentioned. Alma himself describes how he received his testimony, and he does not attribute it to the appearance of an angel. In fact, there is no mention of the angel anywhere in his testimony."

Elder Robbins is absolutely correct. According to Alma, his sure testimony of Jesus Christ came "by the Holy Spirit of God." And this came because he "fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself." (Alma 5:45-46)

Again, as the Bible Dictionary explains, "Faith is a principle of action and power... it must be cultured and sought after until it grows from a tiny seed to a great tree." Indeed, when we are obedient, our faith will increase.

We're too Entangled with the Cares of the World

We live in very challenging times. It's as if the world is in constant commotion. Distractions abound. The list of them is seemingly endless. Even worthwhile endeavors, when taken to the extreme, can suddenly become entanglements of the world.

In his April 2017 General Conference address, "Overcoming the World", Elder Neil L. Andersen explained:

"Those of the world have difficulty with accountability to God—like a child who parties in his parents’ home while they are out of town, enjoying the ruckus, refusing to think about the consequences when the parents return 24 hours later.

"The world is more interested in indulging the natural man than in subduing him.

"Overcoming the world is not a global invasion but a private, personal battle, requiring hand-to-hand combat with our own internal foes.

"Overcoming the world means treasuring the greatest commandment: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.'"

And therein lies the key... How much do we love the Lord?

When I was first called as a branch president, I was invited to a training meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota with then Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When we came to the Question & Answer session of the meeting, a gentleman in front of me arose and asked a question along these lines, "Elder Nelson, we have so much difficulty getting members to serve. It seems we depend on the same people all of the time. What can we do to get people to serve?"

I knew that this man's challenge wasn't unique. In fact, I could sense that other branch presidents and bishops in the room were practically on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the answer from an Apostle of the Lord. Yes, I think it's fair to say that we expected the thundering of Heaven to come from Elder Nelson's mouth. But it didn't. Instead, in a soft voice, he simply replied, "Get them to love the Lord and they'll do anything for you." I know better now, than I did then, that this is true!

You might recall that it was the Lord himself who said:

"If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Undoubtedly, the gentlemen in front of me who asked the question had members in his ward or branch who were entangled with the cares of the world. I'd suggest that most of us have been or are there. We know what it's like. As we come to love Him as we should, we will simultaneously allow the untangling.

We Sense What Further Yielding Might Bring

Our natural impulse is to control our own lives. This is usually because we see ourselves as masters of our own destinies. And as already mentioned, the drivers are often our own worldly self-interests. The idea of someone else taking the wheel can be an uncomfortable thing--- for a variety of reasons.

While serving as a missionary in Canada, we had a number of investigators who ultimately stopped meeting with us, because they admittedly "weren't ready". They fully realized what we were asking of them--- change, commitment, covenants, and service. For them, it was too much. They knew what yielding to the covenant of baptism might bring.

Many of us in the Church aren't really that much different from my investigators in Canada. As a branch president and bishop, I often heard a phrase like this one, "I'll do anything except ________." What filled in the blank line was different for different people. For one member, it might be a certain calling. For another, it might be speaking in church. There were a variety of things that filled in that blank line. On one occasion, a member told me, "Bishop, it's easy for me to pay tithing. Giving up my money for the Lord isn't difficult. But ask me to give up my time and that's another thing entirely."

Final Thoughts

Admittedly, yielding to God is a process. I believe that each of the faithful will one day face the Abrahamic test. It's that moment we must prove that we will do anything for Him. For each of us, that test might be different. But when we finally submit fully to His will, then -- and only then -- can we become who He wants us to be.

Works Cited:

1. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/04/willing-to-submit?lang=eng

2. https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/worldwide-devotionals/2015/01/tasting-the-light?lang=eng

3. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/overcoming-the-world?lang=eng