Go and Do; Be Led in Righteous Motives

By Sheridan Murray
Section 058

Life is full of choices, opportunities and things to do. It is our responsibility to listen to the spirit and go and do those things which the Lord requires of us. No matter how hard it may seem. We have many examples of this in the scriptures such as in 1 Nephi 3:7 it states “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish”(1). As we go through life the things the Lord requires of us may be hard, but he will always help us through each and every challenge we face.
While Nephi and his family left Jerusalem and ventured into the wilderness the family members attitude’s varied greatly. Each was given multiple opportunities to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. Nephi grasped onto these opportunities and knew that the Lord would help him in each task whether it be traveling through the wilderness, retrieving the records from King Laban, or building a boat. Laman and Lemuel on the other hand murmured and were not faithful in the Lord and his ability to see them through their afflictions.
When we have a righteous and strong motive the Lord helps us in our goals. President Uchtdorf in the last General Conference related the story of his learning English as follows:

“After the turmoil of the Second World War, my family ended up in Russian-occupied East Germany. When I attended fourth grade I had to learn Russian as my first foreign language in school. I found this quite difficult because of the Cyrillic alphabet, but as time went on I seemed to do all right.

When I turned 11 we had to leave East Germany overnight because of the political orientation of my father. Now I was going to school in West Germany, which was American-occupied at that time. There in school all children were required to learn English and not Russian. To learn Russian had been difficult, but English was impossible for me. I thought my mouth was not made for speaking English. My teachers struggled. My parents suffered. And I knew English was definitely not my language.

But then something changed in my young life. Almost daily I rode my bicycle to the airport and watched airplanes take off and land. I read, studied, and learned everything I could find about aviation. It was my greatest desire to become a pilot. I could already picture myself in the cockpit of an airliner or in a military fighter plane. I felt deep in my heart this was my thing!

Then I learned that to become a pilot I needed to speak English. Overnight, to the total surprise of everybody, it appeared as if my mouth had changed. I was able to learn English. It still took a lot of work, persistence, and patience, but I was able to learn English!
Why? Because of a righteous and strong motive!” (4)

We have many examples of the Lord helping people with righteous motives all throughout the scriptures such as in Exodus 10: 1 and 3 “AND the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: 3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD GOD of theHebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me”(3). In the end the people were not set free, however the Lord helped them escape that they might better serve him. Pharaoh, however, did not have righteous motives and was humbled in the end.
Perhaps the most righteous motives we can go and do are those given to us through the instruction of the prophet. These instructions are straight from the Lord and are given to us for a reason, though we may not see that reason just yet, it is there and it helps the work go forth and helps each of us progress individually. The Lord has always been helping his people through prophets. In 3 Nephi 3:21, Nephi relates the story of the Gadianton Robbers and how the Nephites and Lamanites went to battle against them. Their prophet Gidgiddoni leads them in their battle. Verse 21 states, “But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands”(1). If we follow the words of the prophets well will have the strategic advantage over the adversary and our actions will come at the right time and in the right way as we strive to help others and go on in righteous motives.
When we came to earth we were given the light of Christ and when we are baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, through this the Lord is able to communicate with him and he tells us all the things we need to go and do. The Prophet Joseph Smith learned and recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 28: 15, “And it shall be given thee from the time thou shalt go, until the time thou shalt return, what thou shalt do”(2). As long as we live worthily of inspiration from the spirit we are able to receive that inspiration. It is imparitive that we do live worthy of inspiration because through it we are told what things we must go and do. Doctrine and Covenants 31: 11 states, ”Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go”(2).
I know these things to be true. I know that if we listen to and follow the promptings of the spirit that we will know where we need to go and what we need to do in order to best serve the Lord. I also know that if we strive to live worthily of this inspiration it will become easier for us to continue to live with the spirit and that the things the Lord wants us to do will become increasingly easier to do. I know that the Lord accomplishes his work through us, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Works Cited
1-The Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 3:7 3 and Nephi 3:21.
2-The Doctrine and Covenants. 28: 15 and 31: 11
3-The King James Version of the Bible. Exodus 10: 1 and 3