Come, Follow Me
Doctrine and Covenants 58, 60–62
Hidden Treasures
Delve a little deeper into the scriptures.
Illustration by Camdyn Miller
How great can eternity be? You can’t even imagine.
The early Saints knew they were going to face trials. But the Savior promised the obedient and faithful that these challenges would be more than outweighed by the rewards.
“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” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:3).
That’s quite a promise!
The Apostle Paul said something similar: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
In other words: The blessings awaiting us in eternity for being faithful to God will be so great we literally can’t imagine them! So don’t worry about the details. Whatever they are, we’ll be happy.
Sometimes the Lord lets us decide.
God often gives us leeway in how we obey Him. Some examples:
-
In Doctrine and Covenants 60:5, the Lord commands some of the early Saints to go “speedily” to St. Louis—but says “it mattereth not” whether they build a boat or buy one.
-
In 61:22, having told the brethren not to travel by water for now, the Lord says that “after a little” they can choose whether to go by water or by land, “according to their judgments hereafter.”
-
In 61:35, the Lord says the men can “journey together [in one group], or two by two, as seemeth them good”—but adds that in any case, He wants Reynolds Cahoon and Samuel H. Smith to be companions.
We shouldn’t have to be commanded in every little thing (see Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–27). When there’s no specific direction given, we use our common sense and spiritual intuition, following the principle in Doctrine and Covenants 62:8: “These things remain with you to do according to judgment and the directions of the Spirit.”