5/27/2025

After Nephi returned to the tent of his family after beholding many visions, he found his brothers complaining about how difficult it was to understand the words of their father. And so Nephi asked, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” And they said, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.” (1 Nephi 15:8 – 9)

Perhaps the most frustrating things we experience in religious life are confusion in understanding the scriptures and a sense of hopelessness in our faith, which hinders our ability to receive revelations from God. But this should not be a matter of confusion because we have been taught how to ask of God and receive answers, and how to knock and have the Lord open unto us. Additionally, we have been clearly instructed as to why we do not get answers and we have been taught why, when we knock, the Lord does not answer us.

“And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them.” (2 Nephi 9:42)

It is not a pleasant thought to learn that the Lord despises people. To be more precise, he despises many of the things we do.

Evidently, the Lord despises those who are “puffed up” because of their learning, wisdom, and riches. What does it mean to be puffed up? It means that they think that they are far better than they really are. They have inflated egos. They consider themselves far more righteous and privileged than they really are. This is bad.

It is important to note the extreme humility that the ancient prophets demonstrated in their prayers as they inquired of the Lord. The Brother of Jared was a wonderful example of this when he prayed:

“O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires… (Ether 3:2)

This ancient prophet was not delusional about his standing before God. He fought tooth and nail every day to exercise faith in Christ and to obey the commandments of God, and yet, he was still extremely humble about his fallen nature, his tendency to make huge mistakes, and his comparative unworthiness. But he scored huge points with God by being humble and by playing the “thou has given us a commandment” card in his bid for additional blessings from God. In short, his humility and faith gave him confidence and credit with God. Subsequently, he scored big-time!

In my life, I have to continually remind myself of these realities as I seek to be more humble, to repent, and to seek the blessings that God designs for me to receive.

When I am called to repentance, I tend to get defensive and to baulk at the accusations levied against me. In fact, I tend to get self-righteous and proud. When I do this, I am despised by God. And he weeps.

It’s frankly quite stunning how often most Christians seek to inquire of the Lord, with a display of humility, but without the corresponding meekness and submissiveness the Lord is looking for.

This meekness and humility is demonstrated by accepting the chastening of others, accepting correction, doing one’s best to improve one’s self, and by doing the works of righteousness we are called to do.

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25), we are entreated to multiply the blessings we receive from God by doing the most good possible every day of our lives. In this parable, we are taught that God very much cares about our productivity. He very much cares about our doing the works of righteousness. And he makes it very clear that those who fail to multiply their productivity by doing the works of righteousness all the days of their lives will be cut off from the presence of God. So much for being saved by grace without works!

As it turns out, the details matter. The technicalities matter. Our willingness to multiply our productivity in all the small details of our lives really matters.

Salvation is not a place or a destination. It is a way of life! It is God’s way of life. It is our learning to become like him, doing what he does, becoming even as he is. This mighty change in our lives must happen now, in mortality. There is no other way.

And so it is really important that we accurately portray to ourselves, in the meekest and humblest of terms, our current state, our current condition. When we pretend to righteousness we do not have, we damn ourselves, we offend God, and we end up in unhappy places and unhappy situations.

God’s way is the way of peace, happiness, and eternal joy. Repentance is the way of increasing peace, happiness, and joy. Faith in Christ is the way of increasing peace, happiness, and joy. When we see things this way, and when we make acquiring these things in God’s way our great purpose in life, then we suddenly find that everything God commands is not only possible, but absolutely guaranteed as accessible and attainable to those who completely humble themselves before him.