“Glorious in the Eyes of the Lord”

When almost everything around you seems to be falling apart, how can you be “glorious in the eyes of the Lord” and God be the source of your strength?

“And now, saith the Lord—that formed me from the womb that I should be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him—though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.” (1 Nephi 21:5)

Once we enter into the covenant, we are all called to labor for the welfare of Zion. Unfortunately, Zion involves group behavior. Every group enterprise is a difficult, unpredictable and wayward thing. Although all of us should try to pursue a Zion's welfare, Zion will be uncooperative. Even if Zion is not gathered, it does not excuse the responsibility devolving upon you. You should be "glorious in the eyes of the Lord" by what you do with the covenants you make. You were formed to bring Israel (including yourself and your family) back to the Lord. Others are not going to cooperate. Priorities, practicalities, compromises, institutional needs, cultural difficulties, and lethargy will oppose this glorious work assigned to you. And Zion will largely fail, despite your best efforts on her behalf. Yet, even in failing in the larger task, you can be glorious in the Lord's eyes if you remain faithful to his call to you. Isaiah's words describe Nephi's position. Laman and Lemuel, along with the sons of Ishmael, were all unwilling to accept prophetic leadership from Nephi. While this made the ones rejecting him suffer, it did not prevent Nephi from being glorious in the Lord's eyes. No blessing was withheld from Nephi because of his audience's disobedience.

In our own day, we see most people want a broad path to walk comfortably with a larger group. It is little wonder that groups are usually headed to hell. The true path, with all the confining discomforts of being straight and narrow, is less inviting and generally a lonely undertaking. Yet if you are willing to walk there and advocate to others, you will be "glorious in the eyes of the Lord" though unaccepted among your peers. This is a recurring pattern. Why should our day be different? If our day were much different from the defects described in this verse, we should question whether things are as they should be. These patterns reoccur whenever the Lord has a people on the earth. And since latter-day history is predicted to include the same opposition, struggles and rejections, we have no scriptural basis for expecting a different set of circumstances for our time.

Sobering words in our own latter-day revelations suggest this pattern will unfold among us, to our own great distress:

“Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.” (D&C 112:24-26, emphasis added).

The smug self-assurance of any Latter-day Saint thinking membership in the Church is enough to guarantee return to the Lord, will certainly end at some point. Then those who have heard the Master's voice and followed Him, rather than his institution, will be vindicated. While the faithless, cultural, social members of His Church will find themselves among the Telestial residents of the world (D&C 76:98-102), destined to be consumed at His coming. (JST 2 Peter 3:9-12)

For those who follow the Lord as Nephi did, it will be glorious. But this will only occur when things are finally seen in their true proportions and light. Until then, Israel will not permit any true messenger to fully gather them. Israel has always been too status conscious, making them unprepared to be guided by the Holy Ghost. We prefer "bona fide" sources of information; our PhD's, our distinguished faculty; even mediocracy is deemed credible when it holds Church office. The Holy Spirit, however, is unpredictable (John 3:8) and moves in unanticipated, even counter-intuitive, ways (1 Cor 2:11). It has never been bona fide, and almost always "has no beauty that we should desire" it. Christ's pattern remains the same. To follow Him, we have to find his voice, even when it originates from unlikely places, saying unpleasant things. He will never scratch our "itching ears" with words of praise, while we lack so much. (Source: Nephi's Isaiah, pages 127-129)