2 Nephi 4

(January 24, 2014)
I have always thought that lack of obedience was nothing more than a symptom of lack of faith – if our faith is high, then we will be far more likely to obey and trust in the Lord.  But recently I have begun to change that viewpoint.  I look at my own life, and see that some of the times I was the least obedient were times when I had unshakeable faith – just because my faith in the Gospel was high didn’t mean that I was prepared to bend my will to the Lord and submit to Him.  Knowing He lives and giving your life to Him are two separate and distinct things.

Likewise, we look at Nephi who had a clear knowledge of the Lord.  He had seen miracles in his extremities, had the Lord save his life a number of times, had visions, been ministered to by angels, and really progressed in his life to the point that belief seems to be too weak of a word for what he had.  But yet, regardless of the actual nature of what his weakness was, he still suffered and dealt with personal failings.  So it seems that I am wrong – that disobedience is not a symptom of lack of faith.  We can be obedient when our faith is fragile and weak, and we can be disobedient when our faith is strong.