Verily, verily, I say
unto you, that 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 to 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. And the iniquity and transgression of my holy laws
and commandments so I will visit upon the heads of those who hindered my work,
unto the third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not, and hate me,
saith the Lord God. Therefore, for this cause have I accepted the offerings of
those whom I commanded to build up a city and a house unto my name, in Jackson
county, Missouri, and were hindered by their enemies, saith the Lord your God.
(D&C 124:49-51; cf. Refuting
James Walker on Joseph Smith's Prophecies)
In his October 8, 1985, BYU speech, "The Desires
of Our Hearts," Dallin Oaks said the following which mirrors D&C
124:49-51:
There is also good news. Under
the law of God, we can be rewarded for righteousness even where we are unable
to perform the acts that are usually associated with such blessings.
Blessings for Righteous Desires
When
someone genuinely wanted to do something for my father-in-law but was prevented
by circumstances, he would say: “Thank you. I will take the good will for the
deed.” Similarly, I believe that our Father in Heaven will receive the true
desires of our hearts as a substitute for actions that are genuinely
impossible.
Here
we see another contrast between the laws of God and the laws of men. It is
entirely impractical to grant a legal advantage on the basis
of an intent not translated into action. “I intended to sign that contract” or
“We intended to get married” cannot stand as the equivalent of the act required
by law. If the law were to give effect to intentions in lieu of specific acts,
it would open the door for too much abuse, since the laws of man have no
reliable means of determining our innermost thoughts.
In
contrast, the law of God can reward a righteous desire because
an omniscient God can discern it. As revealed through the prophet of this
dispensation, God “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
(D&C 33:1). If a person refrains from a particular act because he is
genuinely unable to perform it, but truly would if he could, our Heavenly
Father will know this and can reward that person accordingly.
Perhaps
the best scriptural illustration of this is King Benjamin’s teaching about
giving:
And
again, I say unto the poor. . . all you who deny the beggar, because ye
have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have
not, but if I had I would give.
And
now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless. [Mosiah 4:24–25]
Paul
described the same principle in his second letter to the Corinthians: “If there
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not
according to that he hath not” (2 Corinthians 8:12).
President
Harold B. Lee relied on these scriptures in another example:
[Women] who
have been denied the blessings of wifehood or motherhood in this life—who say
in their heart, if I could have done, I would have done, or I would give if I
had, but I cannot for I have not—the Lord will bless you as though you had
done, and the world to come will compensate for those who desire in their
hearts the righteous blessings that they were not able to have because of no
fault of their own. [Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the
World (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974), p. 292]
The
desires of our hearts will be an important consideration in the final judgment.
Alma taught that God “granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it
be unto death or unto life; . . . according to their wills, whether they be
unto salvation or unto destruction. Yea, . . . he that knoweth good and evil,
to him it is given according to his desires” (Alma 29:4–5).
That
is a sobering teaching, but it is also a gratifying one. It means that when we
have done all that we can, our desires will
carry us the rest of the way. It also means that if our desires are right, we
can be forgiven for the mistakes we will inevitably make as we try to carry
those desires into effect. What a comfort for our feelings of inadequacy! As
Alma said:
It
is requisite with the justice of God that. . . if their works were
good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should
also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
If
he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his
days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness. [Alma 41:3, 6]
Similarly,
in this dispensation the Lord has revealed that he “will judge all men
according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts” (D&C
137:9).
I
caution against two possible misunderstandings: First, we must remember that
desire is a substitute only when action is truly impossible. If we attempt to
use impossibility of action as a cover for our lack of true desire and
therefore do not do all that we can to perform the acts that have been
commanded, we may deceive ourselves, but we will not deceive the Righteous
Judge.
In
order to serve as a substitute for action, desire cannot be superficial,
impulsive, or temporary. It must be heartfelt, through and through. To be
efficacious for blessings, the desires of our hearts must be so genuine that
they can be called godly.
Second,
we should not assume that the desires of our hearts can serve as a substitute
for an ordinance of the gospel. Consider the words of the Lord in commanding
two gospel ordinances: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John
3:5). And in respect to the three degrees in the celestial glory, modern
revelation states, “In order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this
order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]”
(D&C 131:2). No exception is implied in these commands or authorized
elsewhere in the scriptures.
In
the justice and mercy of God, these rigid commands pertaining to essential
ordinances are tempered by divine authorization to perform those ordinances by
proxy for those who did not have them performed in this life. Thus, a person in
the spirit world who so desires is credited with participating in the ordinance
just as if he or she had done so personally. In this manner, through the loving
service of living proxies, departed spirits are also rewarded for the desires of
their hearts.
In
summary, under the law of God we are accountable for our feelings and desires
as well as our acts. Evil thoughts and desires will be punished. Acts that seem
to be good bring blessings only when they are done with real and righteous
intent. On the positive side, we will be blessed for the righteous desires of
our hearts even though some outside circumstance has made it impossible for us
to carry those desires into action.
To
paraphrase Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:29, he is a true Latter-day Saint who is
one inwardly, whose conversion is that of the spirit, in the heart, whose
praise is not of men for outward acts, but of God, for the inward desires of
the heart.