Come, Follow Me
Doctrine and Covenants 111; 117; 124
Hidden Treasures
The Savior can accept even our imperfect efforts.
God Honors Us When We Do Our Best to Follow Him
Doctrine and Covenants 111
In 1836, the Prophet Joseph Smith and a few companions went to Massachusetts to search for a rumored stash of unclaimed money to help the Church pay its debts.
But that money turned out not to exist. These faithful brethren might have felt a little embarrassed. But the Savior reassured them: “I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies” (Doctrine and Covenants 111:1).
As it happened, there was “treasure” in the form of potential converts in the area who were ready to hear the restored gospel (see Doctrine and Covenants 111:2–3). Joseph and his companions taught and baptized several converts. So it turned out not to be a wasted trip. In fact, what they ended up accomplishing was probably more important than finding money anyway.
Doctrine and Covenants 117
Oliver Granger was a faithful Church member who was given the difficult assignment of staying behind in Kirtland, Ohio, to settle the Church’s finances after most of the Saints had left for Missouri.
This meant negotiating with some of the same people who had chased the Saints out. Unsurprisingly, Brother Granger wasn’t able to collect much of what the Saints were owed.
But the Lord had helped Brother Granger prepare for disappointment when He gave the assignment. He told Joseph Smith, “When he [Oliver Granger] falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase” (Doctrine and Covenants 117:13; emphasis added).
Think of the things the Lord asks of us. He wants us to be peacemakers, to help the poor and needy, and to spread goodness. We do all we can—but we also know, in the back of our minds, that we may not always be completely successful. War, poverty, and sin may continue right up until the Second Coming.
But we can make every effort to rid the world (and especially our own lives) of these things.
Though the Saints weren’t able to build a temple in Missouri, eventually they did build one in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Doctrine and Covenants 124
Despite their best efforts, the Saints had been unable to build a temple in Jackson County, Missouri. The persecution and violence they faced were too relentless.
Imagine their relief when the Savior told the Prophet Joseph Smith:
“When I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:49).
If you make every effort to fulfill an assignment but are prevented by your “enemies”—and that can include foes like sickness, depression, worldwide pandemics, and other circumstances beyond your control—it’s OK. Whatever you were able to do, the Lord will accept that.