One of my favorite scriptures to quote is an old Scripture Mastery scripture - in verses 26-28 where we read the following:
For behold it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.(Emphasis added)
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
Though I've quoted this many times, I don't think I've come to a very clear understanding of this scripture until I read it in context with the entire section tonight and really researched it a little.
The Princeton dictionary defines the word "anxious" as "dying (eagerly desirous)." While this may seem like a definition that we shrug our shoulders and follow up with a "yeah, and?", we must realize the context that this particular word was used in.
If we go back several verses, we read in the 2nd through the 7th verse, the following text:
For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.(Emphasis added)
Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
For after much tribulation come the lessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.
Remember this, which I tell you before that you may lay it to heart, and receive that which is to follow.
Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you - that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come;
And also that you might be honored in laying the foudnation, and in bearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand;
This is yet another testament to us that we will be blessed for our faithfulness in tribulation, but notice the connection between this block of verse and the section of verse that I opened up with. If this evidence is not easily synthesized, allow me to cite an account from the lives of one of our Prophet's, Joseph F. Smith's, mother's that perhaps better illustrates my new understanding of this section:
“I recollect most vividly a circumstance that occurred in the days of my childhood. My mother was a widow, with a large family to provide for. One spring when we opened our potato pits, she had her boys get a load of the best potatoes and she took them to the tithing office; potatoes were scarce that season. I was a little boy at the time, and drove the team. When we drove up to the steps of the tithing office, ready to unload the potatoes, one of the clerks came out and said to my mother, ‘Widow Smith, it’s a shame that you should have to pay tithing.’ … He chided my mother for paying her tithing, called her anything but wise or prudent; and said there were others who were strong and able to work that were supported from the tithing office. My mother turned upon him and said: ‘… You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper, and to be able to provide for my family.’ … She prospered because she obeyed the laws of God. She had abundance to sustain her family. We never lacked as much as many others did. … That widow was entitled to the privileges of the house of God. No ordinance of the gospel could be denied her, for she was obedient to the laws of God” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 228–29).
The principle that I have obtained from this section of scripture is that we should be expectant of the blessings which the Lord has cause to bless us with through our tribulations. We need not fear tribulation as a means of hard work and no reward, but rather, we must embrace it with the expectation that we will be blessed accordingly by the Lord - be it in this life or the next! This is literally the commandment given to us in that scripture mastery verse, which we better understand by reading the beginning of the section - that we should be eagerly desirous as we are engaged in a good cause - or in other words - expect the Lord to bless us for our good deeds.
Why is it that in times of tribulation that we often find ourselves wondering if the Atonement is sufficient enough to cover those trials? Why is it that at the first sign of trouble we expect the Lord to simply bail us out of the trial without regard to anything else but escape from that trial? I submit that this is an adversarial trick of the Fallen Son - that he has it in our minds to take our eyes off of the eternal blessings we gain from our trails. We must strive to further recognize and expect the Lord's hand to bless us when our specific tribulations have passed before our eyes. This is a claim that we are able to make upon eternal law based on our righteousness and obedience to the commandments, and more importantly, our exercise of agency in choosing not only to follow the boundaries that the Lord has prescribed, but also in choosing to claim those rewards that we have for us.
May we all strive to further recognize those blessings which the Lord has in store for us and be mindful of the claim that we have upon those is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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